How to grow:
Check out 11 lessons from adventurer
Erik Weihenmayer

At an inspirational Company Connect this morning, a special guest joined CEO Sarah Iselin to encourage associates to adopt a “No Barriers” approach to life – in and out of the office.

Erik Weihenmayer is one of the most accomplished athletes on the planet, having climbed the seven summits and kayaked the entire length of the Grand Canyon. And he did all of this while being blind.

If you were not able to attend today’s session, you can watch the full video replay featuring Erik below.

“As I noted on Monday, we clearly see the challenges we are facing, and we are gaining momentum as we all work together to tackle them,” said Sarah before Erik’s presentation. “I hope you find the lessons Erik shares today relevant to our business, our culture and to you personally, and I hope we all discover something about ourselves that we can act on, including new ways we can work together to overcome barriers and lift each other to new heights.”

Accompanied by a powerful video presentation, Erik shared lessons of strength and grace, including:

• Growth isn’t easy, but it is enriching. “I wish growth were a nice, neat arc up, but growth is tumultuous like a volcano spewing lava,” said Erik, who has conducted scientific explorations of volcanos. “But after it erupts, it lays a second skin over the soil that nourishes the earth.” 

• Be a climber and welcome adversity. Many of us are campers. We start our journeys with excitement, joy and optimism but soon lose belief in ourselves, our team and the cause because we get scared. Climbers, Erik said, are that rare group who are able to continue to grow, evolve, explore and challenge themselves. 
  
  “I think we all want to climb, we just get afraid,” Erik said. “When we commit to being climbers, we bring adversity into our lives and commit to facing it head on, which releases potential in us and our teams.” 

• Say yes to opportunity. Erik encourages campers who wish to become climbers to have a good support system and to say yes to good, healthy opportunities. He recounted saying yes to a letter he received in Braille as a teenager about a rock climbing program for blind kids. “I signed up, and it changed the trajectory of my life,” he said. 

• Be an alchemist. Transform lead into gold and find a way to win because of adversity, not despite it. “Imagine if adversity was not the enemy but a pathway to the summit,” Erik said.
  
  He spoke of one alchemist, his friend Hugh, who lost both his legs on a climb. “Instead of seeing loss, he saw a blank canvas,” Erik recalled Through his tragedy, Hugh realized he was an inventor. He went on to lead an engineering program at MIT and to design some of the most sophisticated prosthetics in the world – helping others dance, climb and realize their dreams. 

• Build your rope team. “Linking ourselves with great people and building our ‘rope team’ is the best chance we have to overcome challenges,” Erik said, noting that it is physically impossible for anyone to summit Mount Everest alone. You must go as a team.
  
  He added that creating a strong team is an organic process that doesn’t happen overnight. “You have to experience things together and work through adversity together in order to build that connection and trust. If you are committed to each other, you will become a stronger team.” 

• Bring your gifts down the mountain. Everest sherpas say the culmination of every journey is not when we reach the summit – it’s when we take the gifts we’ve learned through our struggles and use them to elevate ourselves, our teams, our communities and our world. 

• Light up the runway for others. When Erik started to go blind, instead of telling him he couldn’t mountain bike anymore, his dad painted ramps in the driveway bright orange so Erik could see them. “My dad was always thinking in an innovative way. He was always figuring out how to light up the runway like his fellow Marines did when his platoon returned from nighttime missions in Vietnam.” 

• Be prepared – and patient. Erik noted his accomplishments have taken years and years of preparation and of building strong systems, tool, strategies and technologies that make his expeditions safer, faster and more efficient and productive. 

• There are lots of ways to climb the mountain. “You don’t have to do it like the climber to your left or right,” he said, adding he learned to climb by listening to the sound his ice pick made against the ice. 

• Lead by example, especially when you’re struggling. Erik encouraged associates to “Be a climber” – to take on hard things. “Let your kids and your colleagues and everyone see you living a No Barriers life. Let them see you be scared, vulnerable, overwhelmed and embracing challenges. It will rub off on them.” 

• Be a door opener. While on the journey, support people as best you can so they can rise to the level of their own potential.

Sarah closed the meeting by thanking Erik for sharing his extraordinary journey with us.