Just a few weeks ago I was hiking in the Austrian Alps – don’t ask me why, but I’m happy I joined. It was a great experience, being offline for a week, walking above the clouds, facing some of your fears (heights) and closing off each day with a nice Weizen beer.
But I’m a nerd (or geek if you will) and even at moments most people clear their minds, I see connections, I think about work, I think about Lean and ancient philosophies. My mind starts spinning and shows me some things that were brilliant then but makes me doubt when trying to put them in a blog post. But let’s try…
I never hiked before. I never hiked at 3000 meters. I had no real idea on what I was getting myself into. I bought all the gear from a list my friends shared. Paid special attention to shoes, socks and backpack (it was a hut-to-hut hike – I carried all my stuff around for five days). And then we went off, three guys and bunch of alps.
when you want to go fast > go alone
when you want to go far >> go together
A few thoughts/concepts that hit me during the five days:
1: It’s crucial to know where you’re going, while you only need to focus on the next step.
That sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? There were days when I could see the top of the mountain we were going for. I could also see the long and winding road. And while focusing on that long road, checking my phone to see the altitude and distance, I got overwhelmed. It felt like an impossible thing. How on earth can this (somewhat chubby) 40-something consultant do this? Why am I here? And then I tripped on a rock.
My friend warned me: don’t look up. When hiking in the mountains on narrow paths (like 20cm) or on big stepping stones, look down. You need to be clear on where you’re putting your feet, you need to make sure it’s stable before you put your weight on it. If not, you’ll trip, you’ll fall or worse. Looking up is dangerous when the ground you’re walking on isn’t stable.
And isn’t that a lesson in business as well? Sometime you zoom out, very often you zoom in. The combination of daily management to ensure progress right now, the monthly and annual strategy reviews to ensure you’re still headed in the right direction.
zooming in and out
2: The solution lies in the problem
It was Marcus Aurelius who said something like “the impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way” (Meditations 5.20), or paraphrased by Ryan Holiday as The obstacle is the way.
I’ve been in places, going up a mountain, where it looked like a big rock was blocking my way. It’s too big for me to move. It challenged me. It asked for real life problem solving skills. And then my friend said “just use the rock”. Use the rock to climb to another rock that helps you go back to the path.
What seemed to be getting in my way, became the way. How about that?
It even taught me something and it inspired me to write this post. Just an ordinary big rock, like there are so many there in Austria.
3: Paths are great, until they aren’t anymore
I think I read in a Morgan Housel book something like “traditions are nothing more than peer pressure from dead people”. Which makes me smile, it’s controversial, it makes sense.
In my work I promote agility, keeping an open mind and continuously calling the status quo. In private live, my autistic dispositions makes me value traditions, rhythms and fixed ways of doing things. How to arrange the dish washer, how to fold clothes, my routine in the gym etc.
Walking in the Alps, knowing you have 16 km and 900 height meters ahead of you, seeing a sign that says ‘road blocked’ was an interesting experience. Apparently, few weeks earlier a bridge collapsed because of the rain fall. It took some moments for me. We later found out that because of limited rain we could cross the stream walking – just fine.
In the alps, paths show you where people have gone before and you can very much trust these are safe ways. When going in wild nature, it can be dangerous to leave a path. But you have to remember paths were made under certain circumstances, in certain contexts. And sometimes circumstances, contexts change. And then it’s ok to leave the path.
‘We always do it this way’ can be a valid response when doing a genba-visit. Just make sure you find out if the context is still the same as it was when the ‘way’ was designed. If not, change the way, leave the known path.
