Leadership Lifts! 5 Lessons Learned on the Slopes!

When I met my husband, Barry he was a fabulous skier.  I on the other hand,  could not imagine learning a sport in which an Ambulance was waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain!  However the man of my dreams  gave me powerful motivation to learn.  "Rosemary, no problem---I'll just  vacation alone each year".  Well the thought of my husband with cute ski bunnies on Aspen slopes was enough pain for me to overcome my fear of falling and I immediately "plowed in" to doing all the right things:  First,  I bought good equipment, then of course I got the  right outfit (at least I would look the part). Finally I took lessons.   Let's just say it wasn't pretty!  Snow plowing and falling, the cute ski outfit could not disguise my overwhelming fear and panic and the clumsiness of learning my new sport.

As I remember that  first beginner's slope, I think of Everest!  Let's forget for a minute that it carried the  mild mannered name of  Buttermilk.  I recall the fear of looking down the mountain and the kids zooming by me,  whizzing by the frozen statue I had become.  "Aspen's first Snow Woman in Fuscia Ski Pants"

But more than anything I remember the lessons I  learned on the slopes that day  about leadership and indeed tacking any business or personal challenge.

You see as I stood there frozen, looking down at the mountain before me, I began to do what we all do when faced with fear, panic or things going badly.  I began blaming everything and everybody.  "The skis weren't working, the conditions had changed and of course my husband was to blame for making me do this dumb thing to begin with".  Fortunately my mate was and is a level headed New Yorker who served as a great coach that day. 

"Rosemary, follow my tracks . Your problem is your looking all the way down the mountain---Don't do that! The way you take this mountain is to simply take the very next turn in the mountain by looking across and not down...Just look at the very next turn you need to take."   As we progressed our way with every turn, he suddenly shouted as we approach the mid-way point  "Stop".  My first reaction was I can't stop but he was insistent.  "Honey, look  back up the mountain and just see how far you've come".

With one look up the mountain  my confidence soared.  You know, I can still feel the exuberance of that day in Aspen where I tackled a mountain and tackled my fears.

Here are 5 lessons in leadership I "picked up" while falling and learning to ski:   

1.  Follow the Tracks of a Good Skier!  It's much smarter to follow the tracks of those who have gone before you and those who do it well.  As a Leader, take the lead and carve the trail for your team to follow.

2.  Focus on the Very Next Turn in the Mountain!   Looking down at that mountain or project can cause overwhelming fear and panic.  Once you have settled on your destination or goal, concentrate your energy on your very next turn in the mountain.  In the military they refer to this as "Next Action thinking".  Remember , people who did in Survival Situations say "Oh No, we're all going to die".  People who very often survive, say "What's the very next thing I need to do to survive"

3. Don't forget to look back up the Mountain! Build your confidence and the confidence of your team by not only focusing on what needs to be done but looking back at your accomplishments.  They need it and you need it.  Nothing worse than the boss who only focuses on the to do list without celebration of milestones.  Celebrating accomplishments and progress builds confidence.

4. Falling is Learning:  You're not carving new territory if you're not falling on occasion. Businesses can quickly become dinosaurs if they cease to explore new frontiers.  As skiing olympian, Bonnie St. John would say "It's not who falls that matters,  it's who gets up faster"

5. Pain is Good!  Give this mantra to your team as a reminder in times of challenge or crisis that "they must be learning something"  If you think about the greatest growth that occurs in life and business , the greatest inventions in our time, it all begins with pain.  I can't say I would want to re-live all of the painful moments in my life,  but as I look at those experiences, they have made me stronger and put into perspective other challenges.   You think to yourself "I survived the big one" and a shift happens in your thinking.  What use to be a major mountain and crisis now seems like a mole hill and you tackle it One Turn at a Time.