Mountain trek offers peak experiences in leadership - Executive Briefing

HR Magazine, Feb, 2003 by Steve Bates

How high can executive education take you these days? In at least one program, near the top of the world.

About 20 participants in an annual spring trek sponsored by The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania hike through the Himalayas, reaching heights as great as 18,000 feet near Mount Everest in a two-week journey that provides daily lessons in leadership and teamwork. The trek is open to graduates of Wharton's MBA and executive MBA programs.

It's not limited to accomplished mountain climbers or Olympic-caliber athletes, though participants must be in reasonable shape, notes co-leader Edwin Bernbaum, an author, lecturer and expert in mountaineering and Asian studies.

There are experienced local guides and sturdy yaks for support throughout the journey. No one is asked to push higher or harder than they can manage, though everyone at times battles cold, fatigue and thin oxygen.

The cost might seem as steep as Everest--as high as $6,000 depending on how far the participant must travel to reach the start of the trek. But participants find payback not just in the majestic scenery but also through vivid experiences that drive home lessons in cooperation and offer new ways of looking at leadership. A new leader is chosen each day.

Last year, the group faced a series of critical decisions during and after a surprise 36-hour snowstorm that hit when they were 4,000 vertical feet short of their objective. Their options were to press on and run greater risk of injury or to head back down, recalls co-leader Michael Useem, a professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton.

Ultimately, after much discussion about individuals' desires and honest appraisal of their limitations, the group pressed forward. The decision-making process provided valuable lessons that Useem uses in the classroom. "The setting helps sharpen the importance about being confident about your capacity without being overconfident," he says.

Bernbaum recalls one participant who had been reluctant to assume leadership in his company, always concerned about the consequences of his actions. Through the Wharton trek, "he learned to focus more on acting" and became a more effective business leader, Bernbaum says.

At press time, trek coordinators had not settled on this spring's itinerary, in part because of political strife in Nepal. Alternate routes could involve Tibet, India or Bhutan.