From Darkness to Light: 5 Lessons from Mountaineers for Entrepreneurs

The best moments in mountaineering and entrepreneurship are when the clouds lift and the view becomes?awesome

It’s a beautiful day during the summer vacation.

My alarm goes off at 02:30 am.

We have a quick breakfast and set off at 03:00 am.

We walk through seemingly endless steep moraines in the dark.

The air is crisp, I hear the wind, I still feel the sleepiness in my legs, and I am having some random thoughts while walking in the dark.

You might ask yourself now: “Why the hell does this guy do this to himself?”

Change of scene.

You come to the office early in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and open the laptop, eager to start a productive day of well-prepared work. Despite the early hours, your phone rings.

Urgent crisis. Your immediate attention is needed.

Your well-planned day just turned upside-down in the last five seconds.

At the end of the day, you are left with everything you wanted to do today, plus all the new to-do’s from the crisis.

You feel that you’re drowning under the workload, and you know the next day will unfold as if that crisis would never have happened. Catchup will have to be done in the evening or over the weekend, without extra pay of course.

You might ask yourself now: “Why the hell does this guy do this to himself?”

Wait. Does this guy have a strenuous job and a strenuous hobby? Is he an entrepreneur and a mountaineer? Something must be wrong with him.

There is nothing wrong with me. I’m just part of a special breed of people who love building companies and climbing mountains. And there are some surprising parallels between mountaineering and entrepreneurship.

1. You are moving in a rope?team

Mountaineers never walk alone. They move in rope teams, knowing very well that they can only succeed or fail together. You can’t untie from your rope team on a difficult ridge in icy conditions, just to follow your individualism.

Mountaineers don’t jump on a rope team with anyone. I know my mountaineering friends very well, and we can master difficulties together without speaking at all. Everyone in the rope team knows what to do, and what the others do.

Despite all the buzz on solopreneurship and individual productivity , entrepreneurship is a team effort. You’re tied into a rope team of like-minded people, with everyone working towards the same goal. You can’t untie from the entrepreneurial rope team, and you shouldn’t waste too much time talking about how to do things ?—?just get things done.

2. You have to be?flexible

The alpine world is changing so fast that cartographers and mountain guides can’t keep up with updating maps and trails. The glaciers in Switzerland, my home country, melt at an unprecedented pace. In the summertime, the melting water turns quiet mountain creeks into roaring torrents .

Mountaineers need to adapt fast to change. But just because the mountain landscape undergoes fast change, no mountaineer would ever give up mountaineering. Rather, mountaineers adapt flexibly to the conditions: Instead of insisting on a prestigious Matterhorn ascent, they might change their plans to undertake a climbing trip in an unknown side valley where the conditions are better. Instead of that classic snow and ice route, they might go rock climbing.

Our entire society changes more rapidly than many people notice, with profound consequences for every business. Be a mountaineer. Never give up on what you are doing, but adapt to the conditions.

3. Sometimes, life is?hard

Life in the mountains can be hard. While sometimes the weather is sunny, it is often cold and windy. Getting lost is not uncommon in today’s fast-changing mountain landscape, and enduring such setbacks is part of a mountaineer’s life.

Being tied into a rope team, every mountaineer needs tenacity to move with the rope team, even if he suffers personally.

Think of daily entrepreneurial life and its challenges. How often is it cold and windy, and you need to hang in to succeed? When meeting difficulties, always think of how awesome it will be to look down from that summit. Even if the summit still is many hours away.

4. The beer never tastes better than after?hardship

I have to grit my teeth on every climb at some point. It’s typically during the descent, when I am getting tired, and the afternoon sun makes me sweat. My knees hurt, my eyes already had enough sunlight for the day, I am feeling the weight of that backpack on my back, and I’m thirsty.

After finally reaching the destination, sitting on the patio and looking at the mountain you just climbed in the gorgeous sunset, that well-deserved beer tastes so good.

Just as mountaineers don’t enjoy their beer at sunrise, entrepreneurs have to put off their rewards for a long time. First comes the hardship, and only when you master the hardship to the very end, then comes the reward.

5. You get to see things you would never see otherwise

There is no more awesome view of the mountains than at 6 am when the sun rises, and you are already well above 3,000 m above sea level. You can see the shadows disappear and the mountain flanks being soaked in sunlight. All in complete silence of the crisp, fresh morning air.

There are no words and no pictures to fully describe such a moment.

I often experience such moments in entrepreneurship, too. It’s when you’ve been trying to find a solution for a pressing problem for a long time, without much apparent progress, and suddenly the clouds lift and the solution becomes obvious.

How much I love mountaineering, and how much I love entrepreneurship.

Growing a company ?? in troubled times ???? is a marathon.

As a tech entrepreneur ??, active reserve officer ??, and father of three ??????, I can help you with ?? practical entrepreneurship and resilience advice for all aspects of life. To the point ??, no fluff, because entrepreneurs are busy.

When I’m not busy, I get my rest and inspiration in the beautiful mountains ??? around Zermatt ????.

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