The Mountaineer

In 1987, Feyzi Fatehi decided to climb Mount Whitney, the highest mountain peak in the lower 48 United States.?

Self-described as “not really a hiker…much less a serious climber,” Fatehi decided to train with two of his friends from Silicon Valley and climb Mt. Whitney together.?

Though he was the last of his group to ascend, Fatehi got there. His friends had waited the additional 15 to 30 minutes it took Fatehi to reach the summit, and they were able to enjoy the moment together. Then, they descended.?

It was a phenomenal journey.?

The experience now serves as a metaphor to illustrate the rationale behind some of Fatehi’s more astonishing personal and career leaps.?

In a recent Disrupt Yourself podcast, he told me, “You get to a peak; you have to come down and then go up to the next one. And then, with each experience, you see new vistas and new beauties that you haven’t experienced before. So, it becomes a journey of experiences —new experiences.”

After 14 years with Hewlett-Packard (HP), Fatehi found himself at the top of his professional growth curve—his metaphorical peak of Mt. Whitney—with nowhere to go.?

He said, “I felt too comfortable. I always told myself, when you feel too comfortable, you have to move.”

He had reached mastery.?

Since adolescence, Fatehi has been on a quest to learn as much as possible. Early in his career at HP, he completed his MBA. Then, over time, he worked with several different HP teams, developing peer-to-peer computing, electronic health record systems, and more.?

Each new experience was a new S Curve—through which he moved from the relatively flat launch point to the steep-sided sweet spot and finally flattening out again at mastery.?

Up Fatehi went. He would start a new project, join a new team, move through the launch point and sweet spot, reach mastery, celebrate, and move on to the next quest. After reaching the summit, he always had his eye on the next climb.?

It’s what made the absence of a new curve after 14 years with HP challenging. During our conversation, Fatehi reflected, “It’s like climbing; you can’t just camp somewhere. You can rest, and you can look around. You can take a deep breath, and have a snack. But you’ve got to keep moving; otherwise, you get complacent.”

So, Fatehi left Hewlett-Packard in search of a new growth curve. In doing so, he left behind a significant number of stock options and took a 50 percent cut in compensation when he joined a startup pioneering software-as-a-service (SaaS) ahead of its time.?

His peers thought he was out of his mind.?

But Fatehi saw himself in a learning decline and knew he needed a new mountain—a new S Curve.?

This predicament is common for individuals who, like Fatehi, find themselves in the sixth and final stage on the S Curve of Learning—Mountaineer.?

The Mountaineer stage of smart growth is marked by a sense of satisfaction at reaching the top and a curiosity about what is next. It is important to plan your next mountain to climb before you stagnate, fall, or get pushed off the summit of your current S Curve.?

Fatehi suggests, “If you set a goal, it should be audacious—bold; it shouldn’t be easy. It should challenge you to muster all your mental and physical and possible training that you can get.”

Where have you grown complacent in your growth??

When you think about what’s next in your growth journey, what curiosities do you have?