On the Edge Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Bring It

“Leaders are supposed to know what skills and equipment are needed to get a job done right or to achieve a goal. “

Levine talks about the importance of bringing the right equipment to be successful.  Her example in this chapter is when she climbed Carstensz Pyramid, the highest peak in Australia.  

Her lack of preparation almost costed her goal to climb the mountain

Mistakes

1. She forgot to bring extra hand warmers - which was important to treat her Raynaud's syndrome (fingers and toes become numb in cold temperature)
2. She did not bring an extra light bulb for headgear
3. She forgot her regular prescription glasses

You are responsible for knowing what tools are needed to be successful.  There are no excuses.    

On the Edge Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Coming up short

There always be a weak link in the group, and sometimes it could be you.

Even though you are the weakest link, you always find a way to compensate.

Compensating for a weakness can be done by leveraging attributes and innovative ways that can move you.

A good leader knows that it is their responsibility for every team members productivity.

In this chapter, Levine talks about her expedition to the South Pole as an example.

Here are some fun facts about traveling to the South Pole

1. You must consume 5000 to 6000 calories a day.

2. They have to consume entire stick of butter without bread everyday.

3.  You have to wear a lot of sunscreen because the UV rays reflect off all of the lovely white snow. If you do not, you will get terrible blisters on your face

Because of Levine's short stature and small size, she was slower than her taller teammates.

She felt terrible that she was the weakest member on the team

Luckily, she had a good leader. He offloaded some her stuff and did it in a way that she did not feel any worse than she already did.  She found a way to compensate by helping them shovel snow on to their tents every night.  

“Great leaders find unexpected ways to bring out the best in themselves and in others.”

“Most people no matter how talented, will at some point find themselves in a position where one or more of their skills don’t measure to the skills of those around them.”

Guinea Pig for a Day

Today, I volunteered to be apart of a class for a potential new teacher.  Next year's class is very lucky.

On the Edge Chapter 5

Complacency will kill you

Levine starts off by talking about all of these very experienced and world renowned climbers fall to their death because of many stupid reasons.

One died because he had climbed so many times he was assured he did not need to clip himself to a safety line while going across the ladders through the Khumbu Icefall

Another decided to use a slightly worn harness that ending up snapping and he fell to his death

It is easy to become complacent when something seem routine. It will kill because unpredictable things can happen like an avalanche. To avoid complacency, you must keep yourself and your teammates in check. Complacency is also following the crowd and not knowing how to adapt.

This is why companies  like Ford and Blackberry almost went bankrupt

She also talks about the Khumbu Icefall moving ice with many dangerous cervas that you get across by walking across shaking ladders.  There are also 62 foot tall seracs that could fall at any time.  It is also in between Camp 1 and Camp 2. Even though an Everest climber goes through it up to 7 times, she stresses that it is important that a climber does not to become complacent because it is very unpredictable terrain

On the Edge Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Friends in High Places

This chapter really taught me about the importance of networking.  

The first thing Levine does when she gets to base camp is to go introduce herself to the other teams. People are more willing to help people they know.  She gave the example of climbers leaving an injured climber to die on summit day.  She talked about an instance where a lone climber was left for dead by others because they did not know him.  Another example is where a man saw a guy that he met at base camp and gave up his chance to reach the summit to save the other man’s life.  

“Think about who you may need to call on for help at some point, and make sure you have relationships in place before you need the help.”

“ There are time in life where you have to step up --- even if you feel like you aren't ready.”

Levine talks about how she got her corporate sponsor, Ford.  If she would not have maintained her college network, she would have never had a friend who worked at Ford who could send her proposal to executives.

The statement “people are more willing to help people they know” really resignated with me.  I am usually a little nervous about networking especially with adults.  I now know if I do not put myself out there, I could miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime.  

On the Edge Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Choosing a Team

Levine talk about how she picked the ladies to participate in the first American Women’s Expedition to Everest.  She talks about some people were in it for the wrong reasons, asking how much they were getting paid and what private jet would they take.  They actually did not get paid at all to do this trip

She learned about the importance of ego from Coach K, a renowned coach for Team USA’s basketball team.

He talked about two types of egos

1. performance ego - which shows that they players has confidence in their abilities
2. team ego - players feel like they are privileged to be apart of this team

In the end, players are confident their own and the team’s abilities to be successful

“Just because you have a group of people doing the same thing at the same time with the same goal does not make you a team.  A group is only a team when every member of the group cares as much about helping the other members as they care about helping themselves.”  She compares this to a time to when she climbed Mount Everest without a team.  No one had any obligations to take others people’s opinions into consideration

because everyone was there for their own reasons. There was no common goal

Coach K said’ “If you try to win alone and you’re successful, you’re going to jump up to celebrate alone.”

On the Edge Chapter 2

It is false that progress is “ a constant forward motion in the same direction”

Levine talks about the rigorous climb of Mount Everest.  An Everest climb is not straight to the top.  Here is the order

1. Base Camp
2. Camp 1
3. Back to Base Camp
4. Back to Camp 1
5. Camp 2
6. Back to Base Camp
7. Back to Camp 1
8. Back to Camp 2
9. Camp 3
10. Back to Base Camp
11. Back to Camp 1
12. Back to Camp 2
13. Back to Camp 3
    then the Summit (or the top)
     

There is so much back tracking you must do because the human body has to go through acclimatization - the process of getting use to higher elevations by the body producing more red blood cells to carry oxygen more evenly through the body

If you dont do this, you can get very dangerous altitude illnesses

“The mental trick is to understand that going down does not mean you’re losing ground, but rather strengthening the foundation of your effort.”