Finding your own Eskimos

I spent part of the weekend at the Willow Creek Association Global Summit in Coventry. Over the course of 2 days we heard from 10 speakers many of whom were giving talks which were linked to their recently published books. The summit was about leadership and was applicable to commercial, not for profit and church contexts.

As with all these type of events one tends to suffer from information overload by the end of two days but it is always interesting to discover a couple of days later the ideas and thoughts that have resurfaced and will be of future use and worth greater reflection.

One of the speakers, Jim Collins, spoke about a study which he had undertaken to identify the factors that made projects or organisations succeed where others failed. He referred to a comparative study of Scott and Amundsen and their respective expeditions to the South Pole.

One of the key features in Amundsen's success was his use of dogs to pull supplies on sleds. Scott had used untested new technology, the motorbike and then resorted to using ponies. The motorbikes could not cope with the extreme temperatures and neither could the ponies. The result was that the men in Scott's expedition had to pull their own sleds.

As part of his preparation Amundsen went to live with Eskimos. He learnt from people who were used to living in extreme cold how they lived, what tools and technologies they used and how to survive and thrive in a frozen wasteland.

He discovered that dogs were the most reliable method of transport and ideally suited to the cold conditions.

There were other key differences i their approaches. Interestingly, Amundsen decided that whatever the weather or conditions his team would walk 20 miles each day. This thorough research before the project and the steady progress once the project commenced, together with other similar strategic preparations and decisions, resulted in success.

I have been challenged to find my own 'Eskimos' in connection with some of the more challenging and innovative aspects of my work. I have also been thinking about the need to pace oneself and be realistic about what can be achieved each day in order to get there be back without risking health and wholeness.

Do you need to find some Eskimos, people who have gone before you, people who have experience and expertise that you can learn from and use?