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[georoc01]

Today we had at our Leadership forum at work a talk by Alison Levine.

http://www.alisonlevine.com/

She is a mountain climber, having done the adventure slam, having climbed the highest peak on every continent plus skied to both the north and south pole.

She talked about going to Everest and as I listened to her talk, it reminded a lot of diving, especially when you get into tech diving.

She made the trip twice to Everest. The first time she led the first all American women team, and came within 200 yards of the summit. The second time, with another group of climbers, actually did make the summit.

One of the first things was something we talk about in diving. #1 don't be afraid to call a dive. The water will always be there, but only if you make it back to the surface safely from the current one.

#2 Always better to dive with a group you can trust. When making the ascent with the team, her confidence was reinforced when you know you can trust the team around you. You should be prepared to take care of yourself, but having others around you that you can rely on increases the performance of everyone.

#3 This one involved traveling to Nepal, which really could apply to any dive trip. Being friendly and taking the time to get to know both the locals and the people traveling around you makes a huge difference in the case of an emergency or if you are in a jam. People are far more likely to go out of their way to help someone they know, even if casually, than a total stranger.

#4 Where there is a will, there is a way. When you are told no, keep asking questions until you can find a path to yes.

I'm sure there are many others once I finish her book. But those were a few that I could think of off the top of my head.

[WreckWench]

Thank you for sharing George! Sounds like a great read and one that everyone in our sport ...tech or not can relate too. I know when I first learned to dive it might as well been "Mt Everest" as it was such a huge hurdle for me.

Diving gives us all a chance to overcome the greatest hurdle of all...breathing in water safely. If we take it further fine but we are not meant to breath underwater so diving becomes a huge accomplishment for all of us.

Keep us posted if you find other similarities.