08/25/2026
This weekend, I summited Oregon's third tallest mountain with a crew of 8 volunteers who came to work, not just take a cute photo at the top (although we got those too).
Over the course of the weekend, we knocked down 25 wind walls, hauled out 11 pounds of trash, closed down a user trail, and replaced a sign post.
It was a lot of work.
Nobody posts about the part that makes this work possible. The prep. The mental and physical training people do to reach the summit and still have energy to throw boulders around for hours. The unglamorous planning that happens weeks out so the day itself doesn't fall apart.
That's the job, whether it's a mountain or a Monday.
Getting a group of volunteers to a summit together isn't a whole lot different than leading a team through a brutal quarter with competing priorities.
Different personalities, different paces, different reasons for showing up. You read people. You adjust how you lead each one of them instead of using one script for everybody. You keep pushing toward the same goal without steamrolling anyone to get there.
None of that is instinct. You build it, rep by rep, on trails and in conference rooms.
Leadership doesn't care what terrain you're standing on. Whether it's loose lava scree or a clearly defined path, the fundamentals are the same.
Mindset | Energy | Impact
People don't follow you up a mountain or through a hard stretch at work because you told them to. They follow because they trust you've got them.
If you're leading a team right now and feeling like you're improvising the climb, that's exactly the work I help people build. The skills, the mindset shifts, the capacity to lead people through hard terrain without burning yourself out in the process.
If you're coaching-curious, send me a DM me or check the link in my bio to learn more about how partnering with me can help you navigate tough situations with ease.
