Are you experiencing extreme leadership challenges? If so, you will want to get to know Alison Levine. Alison has climbed the highest peak on each continent and served as team captain of the very first American Women’s Everest Expedition. In addition, she has skied to both the North and South Poles. See her incredible Ted Talk above.
In her book On The Edge, Alison gives the leadership insights she has gained in these extreme environments. I cannot recommend this book enough. The following are just 30 leadership quotes from someone who knows the difference between exposure and experience:
- “We can’t control the environment; all we can control is the way we react to it.”
- “Everyone is in a leadership position…Leadership is everyone’s responsibility…Everyone in an organization is responsible for helping to move forward with the mission.”
- “The top is only the halfway point. The majority of deaths on big peaks occur after people have reached the summit, because they have used every ounce of energy they have to get to the top.”
- “In extreme environments you will vastly increase your odds of success if you add proper training and preparation.”
- “Leaders have got to show up ready for battle. People will expect more from you than they do from others.”
- “To be an effective leader, its important that you condition yourself for times when sleep is not an option.”
- “Identify folks who are going to push you and make you push yourself, and spend as much time as you can observing their technique and absorbing information from them.”
- “If you surround yourself with talented people and you’re willing to learn from them, your skills will improve and you will get better.”
- “One of the most important keys to successful performance…is empowering everyone on the team to think and act like a leader.”
- “Good leaders understand it’s their duty to develop leadership skills in others by routinely asking team members to step into roles of greater responsibility.”
- “A great fallacy regarding progress is that it is defined by constant forward motion in the same direction.”
- “Champion athletes on the court, on the field, or in the ring, keep in mind that they got there by focusing on the fundamentals – over and over again.”
- “When you’re taking on a big mountain, you have to find people who are the perfect mix of skill, experience, and desire. And not just desire to climb, but desire to be team players.”
- “When you are trying to put together a high-performing team, you want people who are good and who know they’re good – because that gives them confidence to know they can win.”
- “A group is only a team when every member of the group cares as much about helping the other members as they care about helping themselves.”
- “Don’t leave the relationship building to others. Be strategic…Make sure you have relationships in place before you need the help.”
- “People will always be more inclined to help people they know as opposed to people they don’t.”
- “If you don’t have money to do something you are passionate about, you can find the money if you are willing to put in the time.”
- “No deal is a done deal until the check is in hand.”
- “Risk exists all the time, even when things feel calm.”
- “In extreme situations – when the stakes are exceptionally high, when the environment is precarious, and when the hurdles are extraordinarily tough – the way you deal with the weak link on your team often means the difference between success and failure.”
- “Leadership involvers compensating for your own weakness and helping other people do the same for themselves. Good leaders know it’s their responsibility to help every team member become more productive, so that everyone on the team benefits.”
- “Leaders are supposed to know what skills and equipment are needed to get a job done right or to achieve a goal. If you have one but not the other – if you have the right skills but don’t have the right equipment – you’ll fail.”
- “As a leader, it’s your job, even when new to a particular role, to know what you need in order to achieve a particular goal.”
- “Never discount the value of courtesy and compassion when it comes to achieving a goal.”
- “Don’t ever underestimate the importance of treating others with respect and kindness.”
- “You also need to show your team that you are willing to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and work side by side with them in order to achieve the common goal. You need to demonstrate that you are willing to take the same risks, endure the same pain, and make the same sacrifices as everyone else.”
- “It’s important for leaders to come off as human.”
- “Great damage can be done when you robotically follow rules.”
- “The key to surviving storms is the ability to take action based on the situation at the time, regardless of the plan. Because whatever plan you came up with last year, last month, last week – or even this morning – it is already out-dated.”
And this is just scratching the surface of all the leadership principles in this book. Once again, I cannot recommend you purchase On The Edge fast enough. Click HERE to do so today.