45 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Free Solo

“El Capitan is these most impressive wall on Earth.” – Alex Honnold

If you do not know Alex Honnold and not infinitely fascinated by him, just watch the video above.  There are few if any leaders as compelling as Alex.  He is the world’s most famous mountain climber.  This is because he has participated in over 1,000 free solo climbs.

Free soloing is climbing mountains without the benefits of ropes or harnesses.  Climbing mountains in this manner is so dangerous less than 1% of the people who climb attempt it.  El Capitan was considered the unreachable star in mountain climbing.  It is 3.200 feet of unforgiving, sheer granite.  Climbing El Cap is like climbing glass.

Recently, Alex’s June 3, 2017 climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park was the subject of the Oscar-wining documentary Free Solo.  I am going to make a strong statement right now – Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of El Capitan is the greatest athletic achievement in human history!!!  No doubt!!!

Alex’s story of this historic achievement is also captured in his new book The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life.  This will definitely be on my Spring reading list.

The following are 45 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Free Solo.  The quotes are from Alex unless otherwise noted.

1. Apex Leaders Focus On Only One Or Two Things And Then Obsess Over Those One Or Two Things – They are not distracted by other pursuits.
2. Apex Leaders Are Made Over Time, Not In A Moment Of Time – Alex trained mentally, physically and tactically for 8 years before scaling El Capitan.
3. Apex Leaders Are Uniquely Equipped To Do Their Jobs – Alex is physically built to be a mountain climber.  He is incredibly flexible with over-sized hands and feet.
4. Apex Leaders Often Lack Interpersonal Skills – Alex was more comfortable hugging a granite wall than he was hugging people.
5. Apex Leaders Must Deal With Immediate And Present Realities – “I feel like anybody could conceivably die on any given day.  So for me it’s far more immediate and far more present.”
6. Apex Leaders Can Lack Perspective And Get Too Close To What They Are Doing – “Maybe that’s why it’s dangerous for me.  Maybe I’m too close to it.”
7. Apex Leaders Make Hard Decisions Every Day.  They Must Constantly Wrestle With The Tension Of Risk And Consequence. – “I like to think the risk, the chance of me falling, is extremely low while the consequence is extremely high… To take something that feels difficult and dangerous and make it very safe.”
8. Apex Leaders Know The Value Of Getting Reps In – After climbing the 950 ft. Moon Buttress in Zion, Utah 950 feet, Alex said “It felt easy and quite secure.”
9. Apex Leaders Find Comfort In Simplicity – “I love living in a van.  I’m very comfortable here.  I’ve been living in a van nine years…  At a certain point, it’d be nice to have a bathroom.”
10. Apex Leaders Made Tremendous Sacrifices To Get Where They Are – “I will always choose climbing over a lady.”
11. Apex Leaders Need A Great Plan – “If the ultimate dream is to climb El Cap then I need a good map for how to do it.”
12. Apex Leaders Do Not Like Pressure Either – “I’ve done all of my soloing without telling anyone because I don’t want the extra pressure.”
13. Apex Leaders Are The Ones Earning A Living Doing What They Love – “It’s the best thing in life to take the one thing you love most and have it work out that you can make a living that way.”
14. Apex Leaders Must Learn To Balance Their Family And Their Profession – Alex had a girlfriend named Sonni McCandless whom he would come to learn.
15. Apex Leaders Count The Costs For Success – “I’ve imagine falling free-soloing from 50 meters up and my body would just explode on impact.”
16. The Success Of Apex Leaders Is Determined By The Team Around Them – “The team (filmmaker) Jimmy (Chin) assembled are all professional climbers, the best possible crew for this sort of thing.”
17. As Leaders Our Actions Affect Those Around Us – Chin said, “I’ve always been conflicted about shooting the film because it’s so dangerous… and him falling through frame to his death.  We have to work through that and live with that even in the worst case scenario.”
18. Apex Leaders Learn From The Failures Of Others – Free soloist John Bachar was 52 when he fell to his death.  Sean Leary was 39 when he died attempting a free solo climb.  Derek Hersey was 37.  Dan Osman died at age 35.  Dean Potter passed away at 43.  Recently, Ueli Steck died earlier in the year on April 30th.
19. Apex Leaders Simply Think And Are Wired Different Than Others – When tested in a MRI machine, Honnold’s Amygdala, the fear center of the brain, was discovered to have no activation.  Things that stimulate the Amygdala for the average human simply have no affect on him.
20. Apex Leaders Step Outside Their Fear – “You’re not controlling your fear.  You’re stepping outside of it.”
21. Hard Practice Brings Comfort – “I try to expand my comfort zone by practicing my moves over and over again.  I try to work through my fear until it’s not scary anymore.”
22. There Is A Fine Line Between Success And Failure – “It’s just two tiny points of contact that keep you from falling.  And when you step up there’s only one.”
23. Apex Leaders Must Accept Responsibility For Their Results – “I wanted to blame Sonni to some extent because whatever, I have been injured in seven years and I start hanging out with this girl who doesn’t climb and I start getting injured all the time.”
24. You Feel Most Alive When Doing What God Called You To Do – Dierdre Wolownick, Alex’s mom, said, “When he’s free soloing is when he feels most alive… and how could you even think of taking that away from somebody?”
25. Apex Leaders Know What Assets To Leverage To Get Maximum Results – “Crack-climbing (cracks in the mountain) are all ankle dependent.”
26. Everyone Has Daddy Issues, Even Apex Leaders – “No one in my family got hugged in my formative years… Love, no one in my family’s life has ever used that word.”
27. Apex Leaders Seek Perfection – “I don’t want to fall off and die either.  But there is a satisfaction in challenging yourself.  That feeling is heightened when you are facing death.  You can’t make a mistake.  If you’re seeking perfection, free soloing is as close as you can get.”
28. Apex Leaders Need Human Connection Too – Sonni said, “I tell him I love him all the time and he shows me he loves me all the time..  In terms of communicating emotion, Alex has a long way to go.”
29. The Performance Of Apex Leaders Flows From Their Confidence – “There always has to be something to give you confidence to free solo.  Sometimes that confidence comes from being physically fit.  Sometimes it comes from preparation and rehearsal.  There’s always something that makes me feel ready.”
30. Apex Leaders Do Not Make Incremental Advancements.  They Make Quantum Leaps. – Peter Croft, professional climber, said, “There’s incremental advances that happen in all kinds of things.  Every once in awhile there’s this iconic leap.  Scaling El Cap, if he pulls this off, is this quantum leap.”
31. An Apex Leaders’ Team Owns The Results As Well – Cameraman Cheyne Lempe said, “The worst possible scenario is one of us to do something that would kill him.  It could be the drones.  It could be the ropes.  It could be us accidentally knocking out a rock.”
32. Apex Leaders Must Deal With Failure And Disappointment – Alex turned back from his 2016 attempt at climbing El Capitan when he was about 400 feet up.
33. Often People Do Not Understand The Motivations Of Apex Leaders – Sonni said, “It’s really hard for me to grasp why he wants this.  But it’s his dream and he obviously still wants it.”
34. Apex Leaders Are Warriors – “It’s about being a warrior… This is your path and you will pursue it with excellence. You face your fear because your goal demands it.”
35. Apex Leaders Know Challenging Times Require Extra Practice And Preparation – In a section of the mountain at 2050′ called Pitch 23, it required a tremendous amount of extra work to learn how to navigate this portion of the climb.  After going through several unsuccessful practice attempts using ropes, Honnold discovered his best option.
36. Apex Leaders Simply Trust Their Unmatched Preparation – “Trust…. Auto Pilot.”
37. People Have Great Expectations From Apex Leaders – Sonni said, “What if you die?.. I don’t want to expect that.”
38. Apex Leaders Must Deal With Goodbyes – “It’s not goodbye.  It’s just goodbye for a few days.”
39. Apex Leaders Must Deal With Unexpected Challenges – While climbing the mountain, Honnold had to pass a climber dressed in a bunny outfit.  Yes, you read that right.
40. “Alex is having the best day of his life.”
41. Doing Great Work Feels So Good – In a historic understatement, Alex said immediately after climbing the mountain, “I’m so delighted.  That felt so good.”
42. Doing Great Work Brings Such Joy – “I’ve never smiled so much.”
43. Apex Leaders Do Not Compromise Their Success – “I didn’t compromise on any of the things that were super important to me.”
44. Apex Leaders Do Not Get Paid By The Hour – Alex scaled the 3,200 feet of El Capitan in only three hours and fifty-six minutes.
45. Apex Leaders Never Arrive – “Maybe I need to keep turning heads… What’s bigger?  What’s cooler?”

Make sure to watch Free Solo on the National Geographic channel.  It is simply one of the most character studies you will ever watch.  Once again, in my opinion, this is the greatest athletic achievement in human history.

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