Our Story: How Do You Move a Mountain?

Albert Einstein suggested that “nothing happens until something moves.”

Moving mountains is an intriguing and valuable concept. It is not merely a metaphor suggesting that you do what is seemingly impossible. It is instructive as to how your habits of thinking can inform the actions you take and of how the choices you make determine what it is you can accomplish or not.

Is deciding to move a mountain the same as actually doing so? And what are the consequences of determining that you must do something- and then discovering that you cannot?

The order of business here is that you must ask yourself should I?” (do something) and then,”can I?” If there is no good reason – then doing something simply because you “can” is often a cause for disaster. However, most anything difficult or heroic at one point in time was considered impossible – until it was accomplished. (Running the 4-minute mile is often cited as an example of this.) Exceptional leaders turn what they imagine into what get’s done.

To illustrate this very point, a few years back, I actually set out to move a mountain.

Not just any mountain, but an iconic one: the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, which happens to be the adopted mascot for our company, ALPS Leadership.

The Matterhorn is significant to me because, while it is not the tallest peak in the Alps (Mont Blanc in France owns that distinction) – it is one of the most recognizable mountains in the world.

For me, the Matterhorn represents the idea that you don’t need to be the largest, tallest or strongest to have great influence.

I had admired the majesty of this great mountain from afar. I had never made the trip to see it with with my own eyes. A friend and colleague of mine pointed out that fact to me – and challenged me to make that happen, which I did when I was booked for a speaking tour in Europe the following year.

I added a few days to the itinerary, flew from London, England to Geneva Switzerland. From the airport I immediately boarded a train to Zermatt – a ski resort town at the base of the Matterhorn. It was one the most remarkable and breathtaking railways I had ever traveled.

Zermatt is inaccessible to personal motor vehicles. The streets are restricted to foot traffic and some light public transportation. Movement is slow and feels more deliberate under the seemingly watchful eye of the Matterhorn, whose magnificent glacial peak rises into view from almost anywhere in Zermatt. Her presence is inescapable.

On the first day I walked the base of the ski area and stepped onto the snow. I was finally close enough to the mountain to literally touch it. The next day I took a cog-rail up to Gornergat, a former observatory that has been made into a hotel, which at an elevation of 10, 285 feet is the closest point to the peak you can get to without the need for climbing gear.

Surrounded by breathtaking snow-covered peaks – it felt as if I was standing eye-to-eye with the mountain. I spent several hours there and took the last train back to Zermatt. And the next day reversed course and traveled back to London to go about my business.

The point is that the Matterhorn had captured my imagination for years. In my mind’s eye – I had spent a great deal of time admiring her majestic beauty and finding meaning that inspired me to be my best at what I do.

It was a decision combined with planning and then action that finally moved the mountain – from inside my head – to under my feet and in front of my eyes.

Moving a mountain is really about choosing to move yourself from where you are to where you want to be.

Do you know what matters most to you? Or to your organization? Does your sense of purpose wax and wane – or drift with the changing tides of trends that are popular at the moment?

Or is your sense of duty connected to a noble and indelible purpose? If your commitment to what you must accomplish is unshakable and significantly meaningful, there can be nothing holding you back. You must do what it takes to make yourself competent. And you must make the people that form the organization around you competent as well by giving them the meaning that fuels their sense of purpose and drives them to act in concert with each other and a common cause.

General George Patton noted that “a good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

A good plan requires preparation. W. Edward Deming warns us that “it not sufficient to do your best, you must first know what to do and then do your best.” Endeavor to be be curious and insatiable in your quest to learn. Be courageous in the decisions you make. And be exceptional by striving to always be competent and accomplish what matters most.