#369 Chris Schrader: From Rainy-Day Idea to Global Movement—The 24 Hour Race Story–Part Two
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Who is Chris Schrader and what is the 24 Hour Race movement?
Today's guest is Chris Schrader, founder and executive chairman of 24 Hour Race, which is a global movement against human trafficking that has raised over 20 million US dollars in the last decade. I've known Chris for almost 10 years. Our first encounter was back in 2016 when I invited him to be a panelist at an event I hosted on education technology. Chris is sharp, well-read, and definitely unconventional. He took a leave of absence from Harvard Spent an extended period of time away and eventually finished his studies in neuroscience while also building and growing tech businesses around the world. Along the way, he founded a charity based on his love for expeditions. And it's safe to say he sees life and business leadership as a journey too. We have talked for about an hour, split into two parts. In the last episode, part one, we touched upon the genesis and evolution of 24-hour race. What started as a casual suggestion on a rainy day turned into a life-changing journey for a teenager.
The walk across England raised five-figure in US dollars and sparked an eight-figure US dollar global movement at the end. Today's episode, part two, will focus on Chris' approach to leadership and team building, drawing parallels between leading an expedition and managing a business team. Here, we'll highlight how lessons learned from life or death situations in the wilderness translate into effective leadership strategies in the corporate world. Chris also offers his genuine advice for young, ambitious talents on balancing life goals, family expectations, and career direction. Let's get started.
As you walk us through this journey, from the humble beginnings all the way to raising 20 million US dollars over the years, it almost sounds like magic, but I know it's not magic. There must have been plenty of challenges along the way, not just in the beginning when teachers were dismissive of your idea, but throughout the whole process.
What early challenges did Chris face while building the 24 Hour Race?
Could you tell us more about some of the difficulties or obstacles that you and your team faced? And how did you eventually figure things out? Maybe you can share some specific examples?
yeah that's a great question look we've honestly had hundreds of thousands of challenges and they can really span from existential through to incidental so existential for example was just identifying our purpose what are we we're not quite a grassroots organization we put these races together we raised quite a bit of Are we in a grassroots NGO? Are we an events provider?
How does Chris Schrader use the mountain climbing analogy to explain leadership challenges?
Are we an anti-slavery charity? Just figuring that out in the early days was really tough. We've had other stuff since. For example, we had one event that was literally received a threat from ISIS at the peak of the ISIS terror wave in the 2010s. And we had to make a spot decision whether to cancel our event or to continue it. So you have these sort of momentary hurdles and you have the existential ones. The way I always think about it is like climbing a mountain. When you climb a mountain, and let's say it's a totally novel new mountain that hasn't really been climbed before, you identify an approach from where the perspective that you have, you'll of course miss things. And then you attempt to summit or wherever you attempt an approach. And often there are obstacles and maybe you get about halfway and then there's an ice field and... It's insurpassable, and so you turn around and you reevaluate your approach. But fundamentally, the goal is the same, which is to summit that mountain.
And sometimes you get really close, and you're so close that it's very tempting to carry on. But again, there's some kind of threat, a big crevasse or whatever, that just isn't worth the risk. And of course, if you're very lucky and if you're very good at it, you do summit the mountain.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Chris Schrader and what is the 24 Hour Race movement?
0:39–4:33
2
What early challenges did Chris face while building the 24 Hour Race?
4:33–5:21
3
How does Chris Schrader use the mountain climbing analogy to explain leadership challenges?
5:21–7:25
4
What lessons did Chris learn from his Gobi Desert expedition?
7:25–12:19
5
How does Chris apply expedition leadership principles to business and team building?
12:19–15:03
6
Why does Chris believe a team's performance is defined by its weakest members?
15:03–18:22
7
What mindset does Chris adopt as a leader to support his team?
18:22–34:28
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble
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