To The Top: Further Leadership Lessons from My Climb Up Kilimanjaro (part 3)

My journey was underway to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest peak in Africa. My last two newsletters set the stage and highlighted lessons to: (1) Clarify Your PURPOSE, (2) Establish a PLAN, (3) PREPARE, and (4) CONNECT with people.

Here's more of the story about getting To The Top, plus leadership examples from my roles as State Chief Information Officer and serial technology entrepreneur. How will you apply these principles to your life?

Lesson 5. Persist

Persistence is the act of steadily pursuing purpose despite hindrances or obstacles. The Persistence Strategy, one of the six success strategies in the Pursuit of Passionate Purpose formula, states, "Mindfully persevere with focused determination toward the goals using a divide-and-conquer approach. This brings the real rewards — tangible results, positive feedback, and a stronger self with more confidence and passion, which fuels the next pursuit stage."

Once I committed to reaching the top via the Marangu Route, my climbing team and I divided the journey into parts and conquered the whole, piece by piece. Working with unremitting will toward a portion, we continued to made progress. This progress provided a positive feedback loop.

After an easy three-hour hike from the park gate through the forest, we arrived at the first huts at 8,860 ft. This was Mandara where we spent the first night. The next day, after five hours of hiking through moorland, we reached the next set of huts, Horombo, at 12,204 ft. Because I was committed to get to the very top, I did some gentle hiking around those huts the next day and spent another night here. The following day, after another five hours of hiking through alpine desert, we reached Kibo, a stone hut at 15,446 ft.

Along the way, we learned:

Pole Pole. The first day I charged forward fast, just like I do every day in my business life. My guide stressed going "Pole Pole" during the hike. This is the Swahili term for slowly, slowly, pronounced "po-lay po-lay." Pole pole is often used to describe a relaxed lifestyle or a "what's-the-rush" outlook on life. Yes, I realized there are many things to learn from the African culture. How can we apply this to our rushed business and personal life? If we slow down we may actually get better results faster.

Enjoy the Journey. On the second day, I noticed my hard-working porter had stopped for a break, sitting on a rock looking toward the Horombo camp. This made me realize the wisdom to pause, take a break, and enjoy the journey.

Bring the Right Resources. After leaving Horombo and walking toward Kibo, we came to a small stream crossing the path. It was marked "The Last Waterpoint." My porter wanted to fill and carry only one liter of water. I insisted on a second liter knowing this point was at least eight hours from the summit. I carried it.

Keep Your Eyes on the Goal. Along the way as we conquered each part of the route, we could see Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance. It was getting bigger and bigger and we could see we were making progress. Yet, as you keep your eyes on the next part of the journey, don't be distracted. Say NO to many things in order to say YES to your goal.

BUSINESS LESSON. As the Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) for the State of Colorado, I set a wildly important goal for OIT to provide virtual access, anywhere anytime for people to connect to state services. We needed a platform for this digital transformation. The myColorado app became that platform.

Some big government projects are similar to climbing Kilimanjaro, challenging yet meaningful. We started part by part, with the most important capability. Digital ID, implemented first. Over time, other parts would be added to store vaccine records, insurance information, and hunting and fishing licenses. We started with Digital ID because every Coloradan could use it and it was sticky — people would keep the app on their smartphone.

We persisted. We conquered the big goal piece by piece.

Summary

Look for my next newsletter which will continue with more of the story and lessons learned on getting To The Top. (Or ask me to speak on that topic at your next meeting or conference.)

Perhaps you are not have difficulty climbing a mountain now, but what challenges keep you up at night? My organization can help through coaching and consulting. Topics include, strategic planning and marketing, growing sales and market share, spurring innovation, reducing costs, and getting started with AI. Contact me for a complimentary exploratory discussion.

Remember, whether you're climbing a mountain or striving to perform in other aspects of your personal or business life, the journey is a pursuit of passionate purpose. The lessons learned in reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro align with the proven 4-phase Szczurek Process: (1) find your passion, (2) align it with a meaningful purpose, (3) pursue it persistently with a plan and the proper people, (4) until you assess progress, make midcourse corrections, and celebrate success. You will get top results.