HIGH ALTITUDE LEADERSHIP

WHAT THE WORLD’S MOST FORBIDDING

PEAKS TEACH US ABOUT SUCCESS?

By:
Ami. Kothawala
ROLL NO. 06
PG A
Introduction on Leadership
 Leadership is a challenging task whether it’s a mountain
expedition or managing an organization

 Overcoming the fears relating to leadership will help in

developing a better leader

 Arrogance in the mind of a leader can ruin the progress

of an organization

 Working in situations out of the comfort zone helps

develop a better leader
SIMILARITY
 Leadership qualities required for a mountain expedition and
managing an organization are similar

 Leaders in both cases face tough situations

 Reaching the summit of the Mt. Everest is like a leader

performing at highest levels possible in an organization

 Both have to make instinctive and decisive decisions to

overcome dangers

 Both always face “life-and death” situations

8 GREATEST DANGERS
1. Fear of Death
2. Selfishness
3. Tool Seduction
4. Arrogance
5. Lone Heroism
6. Cowardice
7. Comfort
8. Gravity
1. FEAR OF DEATH
 Fear of death plays against leadership both incase of an
mountain expedition as well as managing and organization

 Mountaineers cannot reach the summit without facing their

fears neither can the leaders achieve their goals

 Problem is that leaders are scared of making right and bold

decisions

 Leaders must find out their fears and confront their fears
and not be scared of take chances
2. SELFISHNESS
 Root cause of a selfish behavior is ego

 Both a mountaineer and a leader in an organization with

a selfish attitude can affect progress

 Selfishness depicts a dangerous, unproductive,

dysfunctional (DUD) behavior

 Selfishness is biological in nature, one needs to create a

“vision that inspires others” to counter it

 Adopt a strtegic approach for desired result.

3.TOOL SEDUCTION
 The best leaders and climbers are not the ones with the best
skills and gears

 Leadership qualities and skills evolve over a period of time

 Individuals with the best knowledge fail to succeed in

leadership roles

 Leaders are required to be adaptable, professional, potent

and co-operative

 Leaders should be flexible and not rigid.

4. ARROGANCE
 Egotism has a lot to do with arrogance which has
doomed lots of climbers as well as organizations
worldwide

 Arrogance arises when leaders refuse to face reality and

believe that they know everything

 To overcome arrogance in an organization, leaders

should accept their mistakes and failures

 Co-operate and appreciate work of subordinates.

5. LONE HEROISM
 Is when leaders and climbers refuse to ask for assistance
from others feeling it’s a character flaw

 They want to take all the credit and believe they alone can
do what it takes

 Lone Heroism lowers team morale, hamper the progress

which leads to failure of team

 To counter this, partnerships should be developed

 Partnerships can be developed between the various

departments of the same organization
6. COWARDICE
 Cowardice is when leaders hesitate to accept their mistakes

 Hesitate to raise questions against the ill-practices and the

wrong doings

 Cowardice affects the organization as people hesitate to speak

up when things go wrong

 Cowardice evolves out of secrecy which is a corporate culture

 The only solution for cowardice is shame, i.e. people should

act bravely and push others to do so
7. COMFORT
 Comfort arises when people are resistant to change

 People want to operate and work in their own comfort zones,

which hampers the progress of an organization

 High Altitude Leadership refers to confronting people who

disdain to come out of their comfort zones

 Facing the toughest challenges is a perfect antidote

 To do away with comfort, leaders should push themselves to

the limit without ignoring the reality
8. GRAVITY
 Unfavorable conditions affect High Altitude Leadership

 Leaders can do every right thing possible and still fail

 Gravity refers to the sudden change in situation face by

the leader or the mountain climbers

 Following instincts helps a leader greatly

 ‘Luck’ is the only factor which can counter such

situations
CONCLUSION
 Overcoming these 8 dangers will make a great leader
and eventually will prosper the growth of an
organization

 Leaders should use every bit of his talent and every

ounce of his strength to guide his team to peak
performance

 A high altitude leader becomes leader whose career,

team and company excel in the most extreme
environments