Today's guest is a return guest, my friend Brian Harder. If you're a regular listener, you know that Brian has been on the podcast many times. And today, we talk about the price of admission to the wilderness. We are not talking about permits and park fees. I should preface this by saying that we don't proclaim to be experts and most of this is simply opinion. We don't really have any solutions, but we hope that we provoke some thought and conversation the next time you're sitting around a table having a glass of wine with some friends.
Brian is a former Exum Mountain Guide and is currently an orthopedic physician assistant. This is an important context to give you an idea of where his background is and where he's coming from. So we talked about ebikes as sort of a microcosm to this bigger concept of the price of admission to the wilderness, meaning that if you are willing to pay a lot of money, but maybe not put in a lot of sweat equity, you can still access some of the most remote areas of wilderness, without the effort, but with the money, but maybe you get less return less reward. And how does that make everybody else feel and how does that change the experience for everyone as a whole.
We started off with the ebike situation as an example and then we launched into guided mountain climbing as well as guided backcountry skiing and what that means for the broader experience and access to the wilderness.
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again.
So why bother in the first place?
Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above.
One climbs, one sees.
One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen.
There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up.
When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
― Rene Daumal
So with that, let's listen in and gear up for what's next.
Where to find Brian:
Instagram: brian.skimolife
BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.
I’m always fascinated by the paths we take, and how a decision here or there leads to the next thing and then on to the next thing. Of course, extra bonus points for marrying two separate passions into one successful career, and a path of happiness. Zoë Routh is UK-born, Canadian-raised and Australian resident who is a highly successful leadership expert specializing in the people stuff. She shows leaders and teams struggling with office politics and silos, how to work better together. She’s worked with individuals and teams internationally and in Australia since 1987 from the wild rivers of Northern Ontario to the remote regions of Australia. Zoë has spent the last 30 years, showing teams how to navigate the wilderness of people stuff. Her past leadership roles include Training Director at Outward Bound Australia, Chair of the Outdoor Council of Australia, President of the Chamber of Women in Business, and Program Manager at the Australian World Leadership Foundation.
This month, her fourth book, The People Stuff – beyond personalities and advanced handbook for leadership won the 2020 Australian Business Book of the Year from Smart WFM Australian Book Awards. She also has a podcast called The Leadership Podcast. She’s outdoor adventurous, Telemark skier, has run six marathons, survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. Today, we talked about how she escaped Pluto. Kidding. Only sort of, and made it to where she is today. We talked about how she translates lessons from the wilderness into being the best leader you can be.
And with that, here is our conversation.
Where to find Zoë and other links:
BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.
What does it mean to be a man or a woman? I bet many of you have never considered that thought. I know I haven't, I'm a female that's the end of the conversation but what if all of that came into question. What if you simply don't identify as a male or a female and what does that feel like? The stories we have been told our whole lives shape our world and what we do. What becomes so ingrained in us doesn't even prompt us to question it, we simply don't even think about it. Well, that's not the case for everyone and I spoke with Jessica Johnson, who doesn't identify one way or the other. We didn't solve any real problems today and we don't have any answers but I'm thankful to Jessica, for coming on and sharing their experience. I thought I'd put this conversation out there to question our own thinking. We talked about things like fitting in and not fitting in, finding the need for it, fitting in, and then being okay with not fitting in. We also talked about little things, many people don't think about, like ticking the M, or the F box on your race application and how that small thing actually impacts people like Jessica and keeps them from doing things they love. Hopefully, this conversation opens your eyes to gender inclusivity in sports, and maybe even to questioning things you simply take for granted.
So with that, here's our conversation.
Where to find Jessica and other links:
BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.
Courtney Condy was a recent college grad who felt disillusioned with the corporate grind while living and working in San Francisco. A last-minute trip to Nepal in 2015 changed her life forever when her trekking group got caught in the middle of an 8.1 magnitude earthquake two days away from Everest Basecamp. Upon returning to the US she quit her job and became an Adventure Travel Guide and began leading trips all around the US and the world. In 2018, She founded Occupation Wild, a job board for the outdoor, adventure, and travel industry, based on the belief that if it’s just for a season or a lifetime, there is nothing more rewarding than working in the outdoors.
How fitting is that? I love Courtney’s story - I love when people bring their idea to life. We talk about that - it’s incredible, we are a generation apart, and both had similar experiences where we weren’t exposed to all that is possible when growing up, so she pursued what she thought she was supposed to. I love it when people reconcile what they want to do with what they are supposed to do.
With that, let’s listen in to our conversation.
Where to find Courtney and other links:
BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.
There is a ski area in Japan called Asahidake that is essentially a summer tram they open for winter to allow for tram-served backcountry skiing. It’s not patrolled or groomed (although there are two groomed roads that serve as sort of a thoroughfare to the bottom.
We couldn’t wait to check it out. pass this up.
On our first tram ride to the top and exited onto a stunning mountain side. Looking above, you could see the volcano. Below and to the sides many options but hard to tell where one would end up. Skiers immediately clicked in and dispersed, some climbing higher and others descending. We hung out for a moment discussing our options since we were completely unfamiliar with the terrain.
For our first descent, we made the conservative decision to follow the majority of ski tracks down and we enjoyed a good run but it wasn’t anything mind-blowing.
We knew we would need to venture out. We just needed to get our bearings.
Next run, we saw a tiny ski track heading off to something inviting. We took it. It dead-ended. So we backtracked. Third run, we saw an opening in the trees that looked like it might drop off into something worth exploring so we headed off the ski track altogether and enjoyed a dozen memorable, breathtaking turns in hip-deep fluffy powder before we bottomed out at a river and put our skins on to climb back up. Exhilarated and ready for more.
We spend a lot of time studying people we admire and trying to follow their path. That makes sense when you are first starting out but at some point, you have to venture off the track and break your own trail.
Success isn’t replicable. We each find on our own path and it can be hit or miss along the way. There are no guarantees. No signs telling you to go “this way.” And if there were, everyone would be going there and it wouldn’t be mind-blowing. Sometimes we have to backtrack with lessons learned.
We find our reward when we pursue the narrow opening in the trees and break our own trail to find the goodness we’ve been working so hard for!
In honor of each of us who struggles with that restlessness: The restlessness to make change for the better, I am excited to finally relaunch my podcast, formerly the Gear Show, as Breaking Trail and bring to you stories of individuals saving the planet, working for change, creating our own definition of success and breaking trail to get there. I hope it inspires you to do the same. But not in the same way. <wink>
I can’t wait to hear what you think and you have a guest idea, I’m all ears.
DEFEATING THE STATUS QUO
Today, on Breaking Trail, Rich Hohne director of marketing at Oboz Footwear based in Bozeman, joins me today - to talk about unexpected changes, being side blinded by divorce and moving on from it. Finding lack of joy at work and moving on from it. It’s easier to just stay with the status quo, isn’t it? But at what cost?
So with that, let’s listen in and gear up for what’s next.
Where to find Rich and other links:
BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.