Weblog (Blog) for The Five Insights

January 26, 2007

Bruja and a Spark

I rarely get to do extended expeditions any more, but ever couple of years I manage to assemble a group of clients and friends to go on a little adventure. In the winter of 2001, I ran a canyoneering trip to Big Bend National Park. We backpacked and descended a series of technical canyons. The canyons we were descending where technical in that you have to use ropes for rappelling and climbing to get down them. Once you enter into most of these canyons, your committed, the only way out is down, so there’s a bit of risk to doing them.

The people I was with were leaders, business owners, and experienced professionals in their own right, so we spent a lot of time talking about life, our families, business and of course, leadership. On the last day of our trip, we were descending a canyon called Bruja – Spanish for “witch”. It had been over 10 years since I had been down the canyon, and when we got to the last rappel, instead of a sandy bottom at the bottom of the rappel, a huge pool of water 10 feet deep and about 200 feet long had formed. Apparently, some rocks had blocked the bottom of the canyon forming a dam. We couldn’t rappel into the water with our 50 lb. backpacks on, or we would have drowned, so we had to figure out another way out. After several hours of problem solving and talking over options, we managed to zip our packs across the pool with ropes and had to jump into the water, 30 or so feet below us, and swim across the pool.

We walked away proud of ourselves, wiser and better for the experience, but things had not gone according to plan. Of the 5 days we spent in the desert, that final rappel in Bruja became the highlight of our trip. We had to use limited resources and rely on our own resourcefulness and make up a strategy for succeeding in the moment amidst some pretty serious risk. The experience made me think, leadership isn’t about dealing with what is known or obvious, it’s about dealing with what is unknown and unclear. Over the next year, my business partner, Betsey Upchurch helped me develop my thinking and I began writing The Five Insights.