A week at Alptitude: My internal rafting adventure

Last month, I embarked on an adventure trip to the beautiful French Alps with a group of inspiring individuals, including entrepreneurs, coaches, artists, change-makers, and managers. Our plan was to spend a week white water rafting, climbing a mountain, biking, discussing leadership and business questions, and having meaningful conversations over beer or wine. If the week had gone as planned, this would be a typical "look-at-what-an-interesting-leader-I-am" post on LinkedIn. However, things went wild.

???I went on an internal rafting adventure (without any water) that I never imagined, and it turned out to be one of the weirdest weeks I had in a long time. Just being by myself and with others in the mountains, I revisited my values, faced some old fears, tapped into an underdeveloped strength, and returned home with a load of fundamental questions.

The starting point for all of this was pure, simple authenticity. In the first "get-to-know" session, which took place less than 24 hours after we met at the station, people dropped the stories (they would normally tell themselves and others) and became real. The questions and challenges brought up were met with empathy, compassion, and inspiration.

Grubengold, our company, is currently growing at a fast pace. As a result, new questions and challenges have arisen around my leadership. Specifically, I asked myself: "How can I structure the relationship/leadership setup with my company in a better, more efficient, and healthier way?" As a rational person, I was looking for a structured, systemic answer. However, our dialogues and thoughts took a very different turn and the internal rafting trip continued.

We are all driven by our values and needs, which is not a new realization. But considering how conflicting needs, such as "changing the world" and "being loved and connected," shape the way we behave and show up, leads to many new insights and the necessity to be clearer. We only have a certain amount of time (but probably more than we think) to create the impact and change we want to see in the world. So, it's time to start to live up to our potential, right?

"Focusing on your strengths" is a key mantra in personal development, and it's true. By doing so, we can develop our talents further and become, as McKinsey puts it, "edgy leaders." I've honed my structural, analytical, creative, and problem-solving skills over the years, which has helped me become a solid manager and entrepreneur. However, there's more to it. Like a coin has a second side, we all have another set of skills - also strong, important, and beautiful - just not practiced as much. In order to experiment with them, you need a safe but challenging space.

In my case, I started paying more attention to my emotions, listening to and expressing my needs, and showing vulnerability to the group. This brought deeper meaning and more meaningful connections to light, much like the sunrise over the mountaintops at 5:30 am (yes, we woke up early to experience that beautiful moment of reverence together), allowing us to see and be seen.

After spending a week in the mountains, I left with a wide array of impressions, emotions, ideas, and, most of all, questions. The river of my "internal rafting adventure" may have accelerated greatly in that valley in the Alps, but it flowed all the way down into everyday life in the lowlands at home. I'm sure it will continue to flow, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it will lead. ??

"Why do you share this?" is a very fair question for such a lengthy LinkedIn post. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to the awesome people who have accompanied me on my journey and held space for me. That's why this post is in English.

Secondly, and just as importantly,

I want to encourage all of you to pause, get inspired by awe, dig deeper, go beyond your comfort zone, show vulnerability, love, and pursue your other strengths. That's what the world needs.