Chris Hare

You have to demonstrate qualities, the best qualities that maybe they see in themselves. You have to exemplify that. But those qualities don't necessarily mean obviously beating everyone else at their own game. Those qualities could be patience, wisdom, experience, humility, strength, ruthlessness. This is an underrated one, I think.

You have to demonstrate qualities, the best qualities that maybe they see in themselves. You have to exemplify that. But those qualities don't necessarily mean obviously beating everyone else at their own game. Those qualities could be patience, wisdom, experience, humility, strength, ruthlessness. This is an underrated one, I think.

Every one of your team members trusts you not to make the best decisions for each of them individually, but to make the best decision for the expedition as a whole, right? This is a typical lesson you learn as an expedition leader. You're not there to make everybody individually happy. You're not an adventure tour guide, let alone just a regular tour guide.

Every one of your team members trusts you not to make the best decisions for each of them individually, but to make the best decision for the expedition as a whole, right? This is a typical lesson you learn as an expedition leader. You're not there to make everybody individually happy. You're not an adventure tour guide, let alone just a regular tour guide.

You're there to achieve a particular goal. That's what expeditions, that's what sets expeditions apart from tourist holidays, right? They have specific goals, typically scientific goals.

You're there to achieve a particular goal. That's what expeditions, that's what sets expeditions apart from tourist holidays, right? They have specific goals, typically scientific goals.

or attainment goals, you try to do something for the first time, and everybody should walk into this experience understanding that they're walking into the unknown, and that ultimately, they're going to have to trust one person who will make decisions, perhaps against your own interests, maybe with you, but incidentally, but overall, contributing to the final goal.

or attainment goals, you try to do something for the first time, and everybody should walk into this experience understanding that they're walking into the unknown, and that ultimately, they're going to have to trust one person who will make decisions, perhaps against your own interests, maybe with you, but incidentally, but overall, contributing to the final goal.

And I think this analogy is particularly important when it comes to low performers in the business world, by the way. Which is that too often I've seen great leaders in every other sense who go this particular person's maybe dragging their feet a bit or is lagging a bit. But you know what?

And I think this analogy is particularly important when it comes to low performers in the business world, by the way. Which is that too often I've seen great leaders in every other sense who go this particular person's maybe dragging their feet a bit or is lagging a bit. But you know what?

The team performance overall is so strong that we can just basically mask that and I can avoid an awkward conversation. The expedition world has taught me that you nip that in the bud as soon as you sense that, right? Whether it's with a particular plan or just understanding what's going on, you need to address that almost immediately.

The team performance overall is so strong that we can just basically mask that and I can avoid an awkward conversation. The expedition world has taught me that you nip that in the bud as soon as you sense that, right? Whether it's with a particular plan or just understanding what's going on, you need to address that almost immediately.

Too many times in life, I've made so many mistakes, but too many times in life, I have a gut sense, like a gut inclination towards a particular direction, and it becomes vindicated months or even years later, even though I knew what I needed to do a year ago or months ago. Now in an expedition scenario, that's life or death, right?

Too many times in life, I've made so many mistakes, but too many times in life, I have a gut sense, like a gut inclination towards a particular direction, and it becomes vindicated months or even years later, even though I knew what I needed to do a year ago or months ago. Now in an expedition scenario, that's life or death, right?

So you don't, the pressure to make that type of decision is much more to a business decision where someone loses their livelihood or their income, which is still a big deal, but obviously not as big a deal as on an expedition. And I've seen a lot of leaders who just fail to understand that. And so they let low performers continue working in their organizations. But guess what?

So you don't, the pressure to make that type of decision is much more to a business decision where someone loses their livelihood or their income, which is still a big deal, but obviously not as big a deal as on an expedition. And I've seen a lot of leaders who just fail to understand that. And so they let low performers continue working in their organizations. But guess what?

The people you work with, if you've done a semi-decent job, are not stupid. They can see that this person has slack and is being let off. And it really affects the morale in particular of your top performers who say, what's the point? What's the point of me pushing towards this big vision that I've been sold on that I want to work towards?

The people you work with, if you've done a semi-decent job, are not stupid. They can see that this person has slack and is being let off. And it really affects the morale in particular of your top performers who say, what's the point? What's the point of me pushing towards this big vision that I've been sold on that I want to work towards?

If I don't have to put in the same effort and still be around. And it's the same thing on an expedition. The last thing you really want on expedition is someone who requires a lot of energy and a lot of support, but contributes very little. You have to be agnostic to the reasons for this, right? You can be very sympathetic with someone on an expedition who's having a really difficult time.

If I don't have to put in the same effort and still be around. And it's the same thing on an expedition. The last thing you really want on expedition is someone who requires a lot of energy and a lot of support, but contributes very little. You have to be agnostic to the reasons for this, right? You can be very sympathetic with someone on an expedition who's having a really difficult time.