Reflections on The Camino

In April of this year, I hiked the Camino Frances, an 800 km backpacking journey that took me 35 days to complete. It's a pilgrimage route that starts in Saint Jean Pied de Port, France and ends in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. For over a thousand years, people from very diverse backgrounds have been walking "The Way" for many different reasons. I’ve wanted to do the Camino for the last decade, although I don't think I could have articulated exactly why, even to myself.

The Camino had a profound impact on me, who I want to be, and how I want to live moving forward. It re-grounded me around the beauty of our planet, its people and how happiness is achievable with only the simplest of things, the same things that we often take for granted. It also impacted how I think about leadership in my professional life.

Unlike in the workplace, on the Camino there is no hierarchy or power dynamics. Everyone starts the journey on an equal playing field. Your success on the Camino is in you and cannot be controlled by any other external element. The only currency you have is your fitness and mental resilience to make it through day after day of ~30km hikes with thousands of feet of elevation changes. Your age, gender, socioeconomic status, and career level have absolutely no impact on your experience and whether your pilgrimage is successful or not. None of that impresses anyone or gets you anything in the community of other pilgrims on this journey. What matters most is who you are at your core and whether you will push through physical and emotional hardship to accomplish this.?

And this is where I learned something at a deeper level then I have appreciated before.?

People on the Camino were building their own resilience and strength by supporting others. Their personal Camino experience (their individual success) improved by helping, cheering for, and simply supporting others. I felt this effect almost daily. The days that I assisted a struggling pilgrim, helped with their blisters or shared my prized "snickers bars" were the days that I felt physically and mentally the strongest. The days that I focused on myself were the days that my experience was hardest and my will to push forward was the weakest.

My struggles on The Way also impacted others. I came very close to quitting on day 6 due to injuries I sustained, thanks to my own mistakes. That evening, when I was contemplating whether I could carry on or not, fellow pilgrims I had just met (and who have now become my dear friends) built my confidence and resolve to carry on. What I didn't appreciate at that moment, but what I know with certainty now, is that making me succeed helped them succeed personally.?

Since the experience in Spain, I continue to ask myself how much more organizations will achieve if teams and individuals embrace that dynamic: Helping others realize their potential will translate into realizing your own potential. How much more can be accomplished with that simple re-framing of the mind.

At LivaNova, our Innovation Strategy is to lead through realizing the potential of our company through its people. Visit https://careers.livanova.com/us/en to learn about opportunities to join our Community.?

To all my Camino family and my saviors from Day 6 (Jeff, Pamela and Reeve): Buen Camino and Thank You!?