Climb On

Have you been in a meeting or a training session and seen images of rock climbers in the materials?

I get so excited when I see an image of rock climbing, thinking the conversation or topic will be about that, only then to realize its just a stock image being used to represent leadership or something corporatey. I'm not sure why portraying to me that my career should feel like I’m hanging on by a rope, at the risk of falling, alone on the side of a cliff? That’s not really the vibe I’m going for in my career. Someone must have made some parallel of rock climbing to corporate America, and then everyone else embraced a new genre of stock images to pull for their decks.

What is missing from an image of someone hanging on the side of a cliff is all the aspects of that sport that got them there.

I have been rock climbing for a couple of years now. I started during the pandemic, as a mask-on way to workout indoors, and have some social time with a new group. I really got into it (especially when there was nothing else to do), and have even climbed outdoors on the East Coast and in Europe.

The real reason I go into climbing is because you learn so much about yourself and about others in the process. It is a mental exercise as well as physical when the below aspects come into play:

Fear

How do you handle fear and overcoming fear? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of falling? Are you afraid that the belayer (person holding your rope) will mess up? Are you afraid of getting hurt? Are you afraid of failing and not reaching the top?

Confidence

How self confident are you? Do you go for a really hard route or do you stay within your comfort range? Do you show off? Do you try to challenge others?

Problem Solving

How do you go about figuring out how to climb the route? Do you plan ahead? Or do you just wing it? How do you handle getting something wrong?

Preparing

How much do you prepare? Are you careful to ensure you are safely roped in? Do you like to look at the route and plan or discuss how to go about it? Why do you prepare?

Adaptation

How do you adapt or change your approach if it’s not working? How do you handle adapting as you go? Are you open to adapting?

Physicality

How do you relate to your body? Do you know how far you can go? Do you take a break when you are getting tired? Do you push yourself and get hurt?

Communication

How do you communicate with the other person? Do you communicate you will start climbing or do you just go? Do you warn when you will take a break? Do you want pointers or do you want no one to help you?

Trust

Do you trust the other person belaying (holding the rope) is being careful and paying attention? Do you trust the belayer to catch you properly when you fall?

Challenge

How do you approach a challenge? Do you go for it and see how far you get or do you refuse to fail and push yourself to make it?

These aspects of climbing can be paralleled to corporate careers, if you really want to justify all those stock images, but at the end of the day rock climbing is an insightful activity into the individual.

You don’t need a happy hour to connect with someone, just tie them to a rope and have them climb 40 feet up a wall and see how fast you get to know each other.

#inspiration #networking #business #personaldevelopment #management