22nd Nov, 2023
Stories of Tenzing and Hillary have inspired generations of mountain climbers to push themselves to take on the challenge, brave adversity and get to the top.
Not everybody who starts the climb to Mount Everest makes it back alive, though, and that only adds to the lure of the challenge.
A recent study of failed missions to Mount Everest came up with an interesting finding.
Eighty-five percent of the deaths at Everest expeditions took place when the climbers were on their way down.
Think about it, We all know climbing Mount Everest is very tough, But no one told us that climbing down could be even more dangerous!
And that set me thinking. What explains this strange statistic?
Why do more people die on the way down than on the climb up?
Why do people falter after accomplishing the most difficult challenge?
Everyone talks about climbing Mount Everest and Nobody talks about climbing down from there,
but they should.
There’s a lesson here. Organizations and individuals, all make plans on how to win, how to be successful, and how to be the best in the world.
But we also need to plan for what we will do after we get there. We need to have a plan for climbing down Mount Everest.
We all think of Everest as this hard-to-reach goal.
We build strategies to overcome the terrain and the obstacles.
We build perseverance and tell ourselves that we mustn’t give up, even if the goal seems far. But we don’t think too much about what we will do after we get there, do we?
Is it this lack of planning that spells doom? Or is it that the euphoria of success makes us drop our guard and become careless, causing us to fail?
You’ve reached the summit, hoisted the flag, the dream has come true and then, the slip.
Some experts have pointed out that the way down from the peak of Mount Everest is in fact a treacherous path. In some ways, that’s true of our lives too.
Except no one has told us that. Business strategy documents and vision statements, all talk about the goal. About where we want to go, how we will get there, and the metrics and milestones we will use to monitor progress. But they don’t talk about what we will do once we get there. We are all missing an important piece.
It’s time to add one more chapter to your business plan, we need to answer the question, ‘What will we do after we get there?’
What do we need to ensure that we get to the top of Mount Everest and come back alive & victorious?
That will be the ultimate secret & skill to ensure business longevity and success.
Do climb up, and climb down safely too, and stay blessed forever.