Business lessons from the AT part 11 Let’s talk real business

“I took a little journey to the unknown and I’ve come back changed, I can feel it in my bones.” Lord Huron, Meet me in the Woods

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“It’s a curious title I know.” ?What business lessons could there possibly be to learn on the Appalachian Trail (the AT)? a 2200-mile wilderness hiking trail along the Eastern United States. You may have guessed it, its the business of humanity (people), and how we get-along (or don’t get-along) with, help, and cooperate with one another. ?While these lessons might be gleaned slower and more simply on a backwoods trail than a brick-and-mortar building, they’re also more real, authentic, and somehow produce more than any day at work. What can they teach us about finally getting real work done and being our best?

What matters most

To a “no-nonsense”, get to what matters guy like me, there’s no other business worth the investment of burned calories and brain cells than the humanity and life business. Oft times in the past even to my detriment, what can I say, “I guess I’m a people person” first.? And that also goes for the personal business of cognitive self-management (also important), that’s why I wrote a book on the subject.? Not “woo-woo” or pseudoscience, (even quantum mechanics was pseudoscience before it became real science), my book UNTHINK, all you have to do is nothing is on the understanding of things like nature, consciousness, and reality as it pertains to us and represents the fringe of our current understanding. To me it’s like peering into a vast unexplored wilderness from the edge of a familiar meadow.? Not quite testable, not exactly measurable with the scientific method, the exploration of these topics looks at the “felt” experience of living, what is it like for you? and, what connects us all together? Accordingly, what should we do about it and with all the (physical) material stuff around us that we interact with as a result of this new learning?? While not conclusive, measurable, or even physically material, consciousness still feels like something real, like we could rap a knuckle on it.? It’s something that deserves our consideration, scrutiny, discussion and incorporation into the experience of life. ?

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My point to what matters can be summed up with a few simple answers to life's nuanced and complex questions. Get the people right, get yourself right, and more ethereally and most importantly, get the “energy” right, and everything else becomes easier, a cake walk! ?When you do this, you will start doing things with a new confidence drawn from the understanding-based intention a larger connected world and a sentient universe provide.?

Pick your idiom. When you do this, things in your world will begin to “stack up nicely”, the “planets will (metaphorically) align”, things will “fall into place”, your ducks will “get in a row” and even “your butterflies will (begin to) fly in formation.” ?You get the picture. ?And, at first, in this new state of being you will think you’re just having a good day, or a good week even. But its better than that, and bigger, now you’re having a good life! ?How do you do the things I mentioned? Those lessons are outlined in the pages of these articles. Enjoy.

The wild within

An evening bath in a crystal-clear mountain lake in late September can be an uncomfortable, or pleasant experience as experiences go, it’s a matter of your point of view. ?Just like this, life can be a beautiful daydream when you want it to be or it could also be a struggle when you want it to be, the secret is it’s up to you, did you know that? Think about it. On a larger, and smaller scale this “people business” we’re talking about scales, and when it scales it also becomes the business of physics, both relative and quantum depending on the direction. It’s the business of nature (of which we are part), and it’s the business of consciousness, the universe, and reality, and we stand at their intersection. You see and feel these principles unfold on the AT in mindfully real-time ways where hiking the trail in nature is the order of the day. ?As my son and I stepped out once more in the fall of 2024 on our quest to section-hike the Appalachian Trail on 180 miles of (this time) some of the toughest terrain we had encountered to date, we ended up getting more than we bargained for.? In the words of Dr. Andrew MacLean Pagon we also wound up hiking (and exploring) the wilderness within ourselves, rekindling ourselves, spiritually moving forward.? And what about the American Indie rock band Lord Huron’s lyrics above? ?Their haunting music and words were fitting to the wild places we visited, both inside and out, listen HERE. Several of their songs were used in the 2015 movie A Walk in the Woods starring American actors Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, a movie (and book) about old friends hiking the Appalachian Trail, rekindling their lives, their connections, and their friendships.

Intrepid Maine

?Maine is no joke, its wild, difficult country. Sometimes inviting and comfortable and sometimes threatening or miserable. ?On our hike we frequently found ourselves in 75–80 degree Fahrenheit temperatures one day and 35-40 degrees the next depending on a number of factors to include elevation and cloud cover.

We successfully got ourselves to Maine and to the embarkation point for our hike via planes, trains, and automobiles. There seemed to be no direct path nor one single mode of transportation to get us where we needed to be, the end of the AT in Baxter State Park and Mount Katahdin, our starting point.? After flying to Bangor, taking a bus to the town of Medway, and then a shuttle to the picturesque town of Millinocket, we were finally at the hostel where we were to begin. Millinocket, originally a logging town built by the lumber company in the 1800’s , looked like a movie set, it was beautiful. ?After checking in to the Appalachian Trail Hostel for the night we preemptively resupplied at the camp outfitter store and scheduled a food drop halfway through the 100-mile wilderness at a place called Johnson Pond Road mile marker 62.9. This turned out to be a smart idea by my son Anthony (more on that down the road).

Dreamy locations

Have you ever had a dream that was connected to a place? It's called a place-based dream or location specific dream. it wasn’t the first time I had an unusual, specific place dream on a trip, It happened a few times on the trail this time, though I don’t remember it happening on our last hike in 2022. The first one occurred before we even stepped onto the trail.?

Our first night in Maine found us sleeping in an attic room of the Appalachian Trail Hostel in Millinocket. The dream I had there was both a little bit creepy and a little sad, and it felt like I was watching someone else's memories, seeing a scene through their experience.? Children dressed in what looked like early 20th century costumes were quietly playing in the attic I was sleeping in, and it was apparent they didn’t have much. With unbrushed hair and wearing dresses that looked as if they were sewn together from cloth flower sacks, the scene, and mood, was somber at best, even melancholy.

The second time I had a place dream we were camped on the shore of Lake Nahmakanta in the north Maine woods, and I felt as if I was part of an ancient past event, a ceremony or celebration happening on the shore of the lake.? The people appeared indigenous, and at first, due to their features, I thought they were Asian and perhaps I was in some other part of the world than where I was. China, Korea, or south of the Ural Mountains in Russia, Kazakhstan? ?It wasn’t long however before I recognized the familiar shoreline and surrounding mountains as the place where we were camped.? In the dream It was night and there was a large bonfire, around the fire people were gathering, talking, laughing, dancing, eating, and singing and I couldn’t make out their language or dress. It all felt real; it was a lucid dream. ?What are dreams? Are they prophetic magic or part of the brain's nighttime ritual, sorting, sweeping out toxins, and rearranging thoughts? I like to think maybe a little bit of both is happening.

Natural leadership

Is there an inherent, natural leadership that shines through in each of us once we are able to clear out the clutter blocking it from the consciousness of our everyday lives? I believe there is and this innate ability comes out when we are directly immersed in nature without the (oftentimes arbitrary) manmade layers of abstraction we heap onto life.? In a conversely opposite way (though it shouldn’t be so) do we “give up”, “give in”, “relinquish”, and surrender our leadership aspirations to this higher intelligence which comes from nature only when we are overtaken by it? I think so. But perhaps this should be our default. ?Bill Fox, a LinkedIn contributor of content about pioneering leadership wrote something interesting recently called the Dandelion effect. What did he say? What caught my attention was that Bill said something true about nature. He said we should “look to nature for profound lessons,” and “bring more feeling to our doing”, if you want to be your authentic self he said, learn to be still enough, want to know your true nature, be present enough, want to find wisdom within? Learn to be quiet enough. “Is leadership about becoming more?” He asks. ?I would say maybe its about becoming empty or creating the capacity for an empty space to be filled with the unknown, maybe it's about becoming less along with Bill’s advice of being still, present, and quiet, learning to quiet the noise in your mind.

What is it about nature that feels simpler than being in the office? ?Bill asks, “when the noise of your mind finally quiets, what truth of your being is waiting to be heard?” Nothing quiets the mind quite like hours of walking in the wilderness. Why can nature have a profound effect on us like this? Maybe it is because nature is a direct connection to our source energy, the universe. Who is our leader here in this life? Is it us or nature? See you next time.

Dr Zabiegalski is available to talk to your organization or venue about ambidexterity research or speak informatively and eloquently about organizational culture, leadership, strategy, learning, complexity, business neuroscience, creativity, mindfulness, talent management, personal success, emotional intelligence, Action Learning, and storytelling. Contact Eric on LinkedIn about a talk, keynote presentation, or workshop today!

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