Praise for High Altitude Leadership
"A totally original and breathtaking (literally!) journey into the unexplored terrain of fearless leadership."
-Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business at the University of Southern California and coauthor of Transparency and Judgment
"Chris Warner and Don Schmincke transport us to the highest peaks in the world for a fresh eye on what too often goes wrong at sea level, whether it's corporate cowardice, personal selfishness, or just plain fear.?Drawing on gripping accounts of both conquest and survival in the Himalayas, High Altitude Leadership offers compelling lessons on the art of bravery, selfless leadership, and high performance under the most daunting outdoor-and business-conditions." ????
-Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Leadership Center at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author, The Go Point: When It's Time to Decide and The Leadership Moment
"Using harrowing first person accounts of life and death on the mountaintop, Chris Warner and Don Schmincke pinpoint eight lessons leaders need to learn to reach the highest peak of success in business. Dare to be a high altitude leader. Read this book!"
-Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager(r) and The One Minute Entrepreneur(r)

CHRIS WARNER is a climber, educator, entrepreneur, and an Emmy-nominated filmmaker. He has led more than 150 international mountaineering expeditions (from K2 to Kilimanjaro). Chris has been teaching leadership and group development for more than twenty-five years. In 1990 Chris founded Earth Treks, whose chain of climbing centers serve over 100,000 customers a year.

DON SCHMINCKE is a dynamic keynote speaker and mad-scientist turned provocative management sage. From CNN to the Wall Street Journal, his use of anthropology and evolutionary genetics to remedy the high failure rates of management theories established him as a consultant renegade and leading global authority. In 1990 Don founded The SAGA Leadership Institute. Each year over one thousand CEOs find his work refreshingly irreverent and revolutionary for bottom-line impact.

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction xxiii

1 Danger #1: Fear of Death 3

2 Danger #2: Selfishness 25

3 Danger #3: Tool Seduction 49

4 Danger #4: Arrogance 73

5 Danger #5: Lone Heroism 105

6 Danger #6: Cowardice 125

7 Danger #7: Comfort 137

8 Danger #8: Gravity 167

9 Danger #9: The Journey Begins 183

Resources 205

Notes 207