We invite you to register for Leadership & Hardiness.

"The last lesson the mountain taught me was that leadership is more of a whisper than a shout. I thought this would be the best metaphor to describe what I saw from out Gonzaga crew on the mountain. Over and over again, there were incredibly subtle and un-announcing opportunities to become a leader. We all shared our final liters of water, split pack weights, carried each other's packs, shared food, sent a train of packs down a steep slope, others escorted sick climbers down to lower elevations. These are all examples of subtle opportunities to help another person - but they weren't written in neon lettering in Times Square, if you know what I mean. No one demanded help, no one said, "This is a great time to be a leader." It was simply an individual choice at a specific moment. Sometimes, it would even go unnoticed. And when those individuals stepped forward to be a leader, there was no fanfare or gloating. It simply happened."

Student Climber - Class of 2013

(for more student impressions click here)

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8 Month Mountaineering Training Plan

Due to popular demand, Fit Climb recently launched an 8 month Advanced Training Plan. This training, or what I call lifestyle will not only help those of you who have your sights set on 7000 meter peaks, but also for those of you considering the Leadership & Hardiness course and experiential climb of Mt. Adams July 2014. Enjoy the schedule for the climb or simply for a lifestyle. Click on Fit Climb.

Spokane REI — Everest: A Journey Of Commitment

You will remember Kay from the interview she provided our class. If local or regional, come and see Kay at Spokane REI next Wednesday. I will be in class teaching, but thinking of her presentation. Enjoy the talk!

Adventure

• Date: 10/2/2013
• Event Location: Spokane REI
• Event Fee: Free

• Time: 7:00 - 8:30 PM PDT
• Presenter: Kay LeClaire
• Group Size: 60

Description: In 2001, Kay LeClaire set a goal for herself. She would attempt to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents," Seven Summits" By 2009, in spite of setbacks, she became the oldest woman in the world to successfully reach the summit of all seven. In her slide presentation, Everest: A Journey Of Commitment, she will share the story of her four attempts to climb the last remaining and the highest peak on earth. Kay will inspire you with her story of a woman over sixty who found the strength and courage to accomplish this daunting task.

More Partner Information:

• Kay LeClaire

Mt. Adams 2013 Photos

Hi Everyone - the long awaited images from our trip are here and available by clicking on the photo.

(click on image for pictures)

2013 Leadership & Hardiness Class returns from Mt. Adams

Dear friends and colleagues - Leadership and Hardiness 2013 recently returned from Mt. Adams with many memorable moments and epic experiences. It was a long awaited journey with tremendous introspective work and much growth. As many of you know, we conclude this course with an experiential exercise of climbing Mt. Adams, for we firmly recognize that in order for us to learn about leadership hardiness we need to engage an Aristotelian tradition that "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them". The course integrated a blend of didactic but mostly experiential learning captured from learning about hardiness through Frankl's narrative account, film on stress/adversity, analysis of a poem, health and exercise plan, interview with Kay, a personal reflection, and an organizational case study. Kolb, who was largely influenced by Dewey, Lewin, Piaget, and others deconstructed the basis of experiential learning as involving * concrete experience, * reflective observation, * abstract conceptualization, and * active experimentation. We are interested in learning through reflection on doing given that we have been actively involved in the experience - arguably for many weeks and not just on Mt. Adams. It is following the experience on Mt. Adams and ongoing reflection that we will begin to use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience of the past 10 weeks. Finally, it is experiential learning and reflection that will contribute to developing a higher order understanding of hardiness in order to use and scaffold new ideas gained from this experience.

So once again, a reflection is strictly that - your own subjective story - a narrative on how the course content, colleagues, and experiential exercise on Mt. Adams impacted your learning, growth, search for meaning, will to meaning, '(trans)formation', leadership, strength, clarity, and future. Consider how this course and final experiential exercise that required a physical, mental and spiritual challenge provided you with a new context for leadership and/or coping with adversity. What did you learn about yourself from the context of this course? What do you plan to with content gained from this course? Consider implications of these experiences for organizations or your personal life. You have license to be creative in how you capture this reflection. These are just some simple thoughts to get you thinking about this final reflection. 

Most importantly - Have FUN and ENJOY the reflection.
Please comment on this blog with your reflective posts when ready.

(click on image to enlarge)

What are you stressing about?

Please view Stress: Portrait of a Killer (also on Netflix) and consider the following questions for discussion. As critical thinkers, you may find gaps and strengths in his methodology and interpretation of findings, not to mention implications and generalizations of his work; however, this video also captures some simple principles and unavoidable truths that we experience in organizational culture and our daily lives. Enjoy learning about these principles through this entertaining documentary. Given this context, consider the following questions for discussion:

• What can we learn from this study in the context of human social systems, organizational life, climate, culture, role of hardiness for leadership etc.?
• One of the findings in the study indicated that the amount of control is directly related to where you are at in the hierarchy. What is the prescription for individuals not at the top?
• What is your role in contributing to a work setting that allows for human flourishing from the context of this film and other readings? Discuss struggles and successes and weave in hardiness principles, coping & self-care.
• Anything else?

  

Are you 'unconquerable' or 'undefeated'?

Please view this film scene to listen to the poem Invictus (William Ernest Henley) recited by Morgan Freeman; read the poem slowly several times...study and reflect on each line...perhaps pause...and read again. The INVICTUS Poem.doc  took on a different meaning for me the more I studied hardiness in post conflict societies, and even after visiting Robben Island and hearing personal stories from one of the inmates. Many of you may have seen the film Invictus, know about the history of Apartheid, the ongoing sanctions against South Africa, the oppression, racism & classicism that is still very vivid and visceral  throughout the townships, yet the country and its youth embody hardiness principles towards healing, forgiveness, transformation, reconciliation, and resilience. I was greatly humbled and learned much during my research in Cape Town, SA. Knowing what you know about existentialism and hardiness, I encourage you to study and critically evaluate each word, every line and every stanza through the lens of hardiness. Take notes, highlight and comment in the margins on the words, lines, & sections that are meaningful to you. Next, please post a response to our blog expressing what the poem and/or specific stanzas mean to you now that you are studying hardiness? How does your initial face value impression change, enrich, deepen, shift when looking at this poem from a hardiness perspective? Discuss & engage with colleagues as you feel inspired.