Leadership and Change

July 4, 2006

Leadership Lessons from Survivors: 'Climbing on the Mountain's Schedule, Not Ours'

At Wharton's 10th annual leadership conference on June 13, the theme of "Leading with Resilience: Coming Back from Challengeand Adversity" brought together speakers who had faced hardships in a number of different areas. Perhaps none of the speakers, however, had experienced as much physical danger as David Breashears, filmmaker and mountaineer, who recounted how he and his team survived one of the deadliest accidents in the history of Mt. Everest.

"So where does a mountaineer and filmmaker fit into this conference?" Breashears asked. "Resilience, excellence, determination, conviction, resolve" -- words that are often used to describe a successful team anywhere, whether on Wall Street or on a cliff.

Another speaker at the conference -- organized by Wharton's Center for Human Resources and The Center for Leadership and Change Management -- was Sylvia M. Montero, who recounted her own journey from a farm in Puerto Rico to a position as senior vice present, human resources, at Pfizer.

external page http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1511.cfm