Leadership Under Fire

Reaching the top of Mount Everest starts with a push through the most dangerous part of the mountain, the Khumbu Icefall. The glacier moves an average of 3 or 4 feet per day, but averages are misleading. It can move a few inches one day, and many feet the next. And it can move suddenly without warning, causing towering seracs to collapse and crevasses to gape open. Ladders and ropes placed one day may be found bent or torn the next because of the movement of the icefall.

It’s difficult to determine the total number of deaths on Everest. From 1980 to 2002, the American Alpine Club reports that 129 climbers have died on Everest. The web site mnteverest.net refers to the Khumbu Icefall as the most dangerous area with 19 deaths.

On August 31, 1982, the Canadians rose at 2 AM to continue their push through the Icefall to Camp I. While laboring in the dark, a mile long portion of snow and ice breaks free of the South wall and bears down on the Icefall. A tail of the avalanche strikes the climbers, burying some and knocking others free from their ropes. In the end, 3 Sherpas are dead. Only the body of Sherpa Pasang Soma is found.

Team Leader Bill March, who has a deep love and respect for the Sherpa community, accompanies the body of Pasang Soma back to Lobuche. There, he participates in the mourning as the body is cremated. Then, as he prepares to return to Base Camp, a Sherpa arrives to tell March that another member of his expedition has been killed. The team had decided to repair the route while March was away. Working on a collapsed ladder, the Icefall once again shuddered and shifted. Cameraman Blair Griffiths was pinned by a falling serac and killed instantly.

In five days, four lives are lost. The team is torn apart. It appears that the mountain is going to defeat them before they are even to Camp I. Some think the expedition should be cancelled. Others think there is too much invested to stop and the team should proceed. The possibility of death had been discussed before the team arrived in Kathmandu, and March had said that they would continue even if there was an accident. Now, in the face of actual death, some of the team members were reconsidering the cost. Most had families and responsibility back in Canada. For others, this might be the last opportunity they would have to climb Everest.

March knew that the dissention would be devastating to the team. The constant bickering and in-fighting would destroy the morale of the team, and cast a negative pall on those who wanted to continue. So March made a democratic but masterful leadership decision. Each man was allowed to make the choice for themselves whether they would continue or drop out. But those who chose to drop out must leave Base Camp immediately.

I thought this was a stroke of genius and masterful leadership on March’s part. He didn’t demand anyone stay. He didn’t even beg some to stay. Every man could make up his own mind. And when the decision was made, those who were going to go had to leave immediately. No hanging around to chat with other team members and try to talk others out of it. No sitting around casting negative vibes over the rest of the team. And on the other hand, no hard feelings toward those who were leaving. But the decision was made, so carry it out right now.

In the final count, eight stay and six leave. All the Sherpas stay with the climbing team. I won’t dwell on the details of the climb. Laurie Skreslit would go on to become the first Canadian to reach the summit of Everest. The example I wanted to share with you here was March’s leadership under such stress. The death of four people. The bad press resulting from those deaths. The change of attitude of some of the team. These are extreme examples of situations managers face regularly. Perhaps not death, but think of situation where the corporate earth trembles and shifts under your feet. In the current economy, layoffs and plant shutdowns are an everyday reality. The stress of dealing with life altering situations is as great as the stress Bill March faced. What lessons does March teach us?

First, I believe that one of the greatest attribute of a leader is compassion. Perhaps you call it something else – empathy, charity, even love. Whatever you call it, it is the trait that allows you to feel the emotions of another, and to enter into their joy and their sorrow. March had a deep love for the Sherpas, and he felt the pain of the loss of the three Sherpas as much as their family. And he recognized the emotions of those who wanted to leave the expedition. It wasn’t what he was going to do, but he didn’t criticize those how had a different perception of risk than he had.

Second, March showed the ability to make hard decisions. It would have been easy to have those who didn’t want to continue just hang around Base Camp. Maybe they could help with communications or something. But I’ve seen what happens in cases like this. Those that don’t agree with the rest of the group spend their time undermining the efforts of the rest of the team. They are like a cancer. They start small, almost unnoticeable, but soon they grow and suck the life out of the rest of the group. The best way to deal with cancer like this is to cut it out. When March cleared the camp of those who didn’t want to proceed, he was left with a unified group who were prepared to attack a common goal.

And finally, leaders are able to separate emotions from the mission at hand. It would have been understandable if March allowed the deaths of his climbing companions to cancel the climb. But he recognized the greater goal. He recognized his responsibilities to others on the team. Separating emotions from action is perhaps the most difficult thing to do. But emotions can cloud thinking to a point where our actions become a threat to others. March made his decisions based on facts, and the end result was a successful summit.

You can read a full account of the adventure on John Amatt’s home page. Amatt, an experienced climber in his own right, was the business manager for the expedition. He had the unenviable task of dealing with media and sponsors following the tragedy on the Icefall. He now shares his experiences by consulting with businesses on topics of change management, motivation and teamwork. He is also one of the founders of the Banff Mountain Film Festival held in the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains at the Banff Center.

And the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has completed a documentary of the expedition. Laurie Skreslit and Pat Morrow return to Everest to revisit the events that led to Skreslit being the first Canadian to summit Everest. Morrow survived the first avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall. From a promo for the documentary:

The Climb traces the build-up to the 1982 Canadian climb of Everest, tracks the drama of the journey up the mountain, and follows Skreslet and Morrow as they piece together their recollections during an emotional trip back to Nepal and Everest's storied base camp.

The film delivers the immediacy of the events as they unfolded on the mountain through the use of unique archival footage shot in 1982, while gripping the audiences with a present-day narrative of those still haunted by those tragic and triumphant days as they re-visit Base Camp together for the first time since The Climb.

The documentary is scheduled to be shown on CBC Newsworld on February 28^th. I doubt that’s a very popular channel in the US, but as they say, check local listings. Canadians, get out the popcorn and gather around the telly for a great story.