Discussing character and a cool head - a conversation with Louis Carstens

I recently watched a snippet of a Simon Sinek talk in which he described the relationship between trust and performance, defining performance as knowledge and skills and trust as "the kind of person you are". 

He combined the factors in a 2 by 2 graph pointing out the undesirability of individuals who inhabit the “low performance and low trust” box and naturally, the reverse. 

Sinek went on to suggest many teams and organisations, because of their reward and recognition strategies, find themselves burdened with self-serving “high performers” who fail to inspire trust. Such individuals are easy to spot (“just ask the team who they are”) because their behaviour creates a toxic culture that will eventually undermine the organisation itself. It’s far preferable, he argued, to have lower performers who generate higher levels of trust. The audience enthusiastically agreed - as they usually do with the redoubtable Sinek. The clip was a 2 minute vignette but it seemed to strike a chord with the lived experience of many of us inside organisations. 

How have we ended up here? Why is it necessary to trade off trust against performance? In our own development and as we seek to develop others, surely we should aspire to grow both capacities?  To me, Sinek’s definition of “trust” (the kind of person you are) is the perceivable outcome of certain values, traits and virtues which comprise elements of character. Our characters send signals - trust is a potential response.

Scholars at Ivey Business School[1] argue character is one of three essential pillars of leadership – along with competences reflecting what a person can do and commitment as the effort someone puts into doing it. They claim character underpins effective decision making and functioning. It shapes: what we notice; how we engage the world around us; what we reinforce through rewards and punishments; who we engage in conversation and how we conduct those conversations; what we value; how we interpret feedback; what we choose to act on; how we deal with conflict, disappointment and setbacks; the goals we set for ourselves and how we communicate.

But while a studies of leadership show competencies and commitment have been well researched in both the academic and practitioner literature, character is far less well understood, perhaps because it is also harder to define.

They conclude the character of leadership, even though it is one of the most widely and heatedly discussed leadership topic of our times, has received too little attention in business schools or corporate leadership development programs.  So perhaps we should look beyond the classroom and organisation to a different learning environment where character is also intimately connected with commitment and competence – a mountaineering expedition.

In my research into the value of an explorer’s mindset – the attitudes and beliefs with which one approaches a situation - it's been my privilege to meet a wide variety of extraordinary individuals who share an interest in exploration. Recently I was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Louis Carstens, a leading South African mountaineer with the Seven Summits and four of the world’s fourteen 8000m plus peaks under his belt. While we may have talked about his wide experience of expeditions, I felt we also discussed the nature of character.

Louis Carstens is a successful C-suite executive with deep expertise in strategy development, change, leadership and business performance management. His experience spans industry, private equity, and consulting, in multiple countries in Africa and in the UK in financial services, retail, and consumer goods. 

His life as a climber began in 1998, at a rugby club barbecue where a new friend had revealed he was planning to climb Mont Blanc. Without knowing anything more, Louis found himself saying “I’ll come too.”

The two turned up in Chamonix in shoes more suited to a nightclub dance floor than a mountain. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Europe west of the Caucasus, rising to 4,808 m. Despite hiring but then “being ditched by a guide who despaired at our lack of equipment and preparation”, they summited successfully. 

But it might have been other – Mont Blanc is the most fatal European mountain because it is attempted by so many unaccompanied amateurs. 

Carstens reflects,

In truth I think summiting Mont Blanc, without really having properly trained for it, was somehow unsatisfying … so I went to Kilimanjaro and I climbed successfully there too. But again I hadn’t really prepared for it and I had the same feeling. In fact I swore an oath that Kili was the end of mountaineering for me. 

But on the flight home I saw a magazine photo of Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside Asia and I realised the bug had bitten. Despite my oath, I made up my mind to climb it….and I failed twice.

I got my ass soundly kicked by that mountain.

Discussing failure with such an accomplished individual yields some powerful insight about the value of self-awareness and personal reflection. Actively seeking self-knowledge underpins the type personal growth required for leadership – and character - development.  As Warren Bennis says, ‘you are your own raw material.’’

Carstens explains,

 After failing on Aconcagua more than once, I had to look in the mirror. Mountaineers can be great at making excuses – why it’s the weather, or illness or a guide’s fault.  But eventually you have to look beyond blaming external factors… and I realised it was me. 

I needed to work harder, to be fitter and to be really committed to my goal.

Of course, I realise now not all mountaineers make excuses, perhaps that’s one of their qualities - you don’t make excuses, you own the outcome. When you make excuses, perhaps you're not a mountaineer yet.

Character is developed over one’s lifetime and individuals can enhance the development of character through goal setting and effortful self reflection. Every situation we meet in our personal or professional lives offers opportunities to exercise, apply and develop our characters. For individuals in or seeking leadership roles, it is critical to make time to fully understand both one’s strengths and developmental areas to grow. It requires deep thought and finding honest feedback from others.

While he worked with guides early in his climbing career, Louis now prefers to either self-guide or to informally take on such a role when climbing with others. This progression marks a climber’s evolution to the point when one make one’s own decisions about routes, conditions or goals. 

But independence is hard won. Carstens shared a story:

When climbing Cho Oyu in Nepal (8201m) my oxygen mask was too large for me. I'd been too lazy to check it and change it. It didn’t fit me properly and so my cornea froze. My Sherpa helped me summit.

I learned again mountaineering reveals all your weaknesses. If you’re too idle to have trained properly, you’ll be found out. If you’re carrying excess weight because you haven’t prepared properly, you’ll be punished. You have to fight your weaknesses in the work you do before you reach the mountain.

Now when I guide others, I'm kind of autocratic and direct in my advice.  I expect people to put in the preparation.

Climbing, like organisational life, is a shared enterprise. Louis’ views on climbing with others provides further evidence of the role of character in successful mountaineering teams where success is not necessarily measured in summits, but in reducing risk.  

The relationship between group members in mountaineering teams is one of co-dependence and trust. Tenzing Norgay described his relationship with Hillary as “comrades in life and death”. Friendship may exist or emerge – but it's not a necessary precondition. Judgements of character are made instead, and often instantly. 

Louis described what he looks for – and tries to emulate - in an ideal climbing team-mate. 

 I like to see a commitment to predictability of performance. They've done their homework, have the right kit, trained. 

I like to see and, I hope, show humility. Even though I might now be the most experienced mountaineer in the group, I hate any form of arrogance... arrogance can get you killed on a mountain.

A sense of humour and humanity are also very important – generosity in spirit and kindness really matter.”

We also discussed what can undermine trust and Carstens was forthright,

While in organisations we often say there are no such things as stupid questions… in mountaineering there are. People can ask guides for the most absurd information – the precise weather conditions days into the future or the exact time the group will summit. It shows a lack of respect and responsibility. Some people seem unable to deal with any kind of ambiguity and so really, a mountain is not for them.”

On his LinkedIn profile, Louis Carstens says “the more I climb, the more I learn” and so we discussed what specifically he’d taken from his mountaineering accomplishments into his business life and our conversation turned to the importance of preparation as a mitigation of fear

Ultimately you don’t climb mountains in your study. You have to get to base camp and clip onto a rope. In business we sometimes kid ourselves into thinking because we've researched what it takes to climb Everest, we’ve actually done it. But we haven’t. 

We talk too much rather than fixing problems to help get us there.

I’ve learned the importance of preparing properly for myself but also as a responsibility to my team so our focus can become pure execution. Mountaineering – like life - can present increasingly complex problems that really test you to dig deeper and respond.

Louis shared a powerful example from his first expedition to Everest when he was asked to complete the Body Disposal Election Form as part of the required paperwork. It's the form on which you tick a box telling expedition organisers what to do with your body, if you die.

I looked at the form and thought about the huge amount of preparation I’d done to get there. And I just wrote “F**K death”. 

It was my way of coping with the possibility. And I've used that thought now on subsequent 8,000m climbs because it forces me to train harder, work harder, be better prepared.

But on Everest, no question it helped me climb without fear.

Over the many years studies have sought to examine whether mountaineers have a shared personality traits that set them apart from the rest of us but evidence is weak. What is certainly noticeable however, among the climbers and guides I've met, is the cool-headed confidence that springs from a character that truly understands the power of Hillary's words when he said "it's not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves".

Louis, it was a real pleasure to speak with you and wishing you the best of the conditions on your next peak.

[1] Character matters: Character dimensions’ impact on leader performance and outcomes

Gerard Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan, Mark Reno, Organizational Dynamics (2015) 44, 65—74.