Leadership Icon: Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary is renown as the legendary mountaineer and humanitarian who first conquered Everest in 1953.  And today, as people around the world celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund’s conquest of Everest,  I would like to pay a special tribute to him as a great leader.

He may not have led a big team of people or headed up a corporation in his monumental feat of Everest, but he demonstrated many traits of an accomplished leader – both in his actions in reaching the summit, and in the way he lived his life following the event. The values he lived and the way he conducted himself give all of us pause for thought.

He was a shining example (and believer) of the concept that ordinary people can aspire to great things – not necessarily by possessing exceptional skill, but through harnessing desire, courage, and determination to succeed.

A ‘we’ man, rather than an ‘I’ man, he believed wholeheartedly in doing the right thing, for the benefit of the communal whole – rather than seeking individual advancement at the expense of others. This is demonstrated in the fact that he devoted most of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded.

He also displayed enormous courage, showing us that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision to keep going in spite of it.  On his struggle to reach the summit; “My solar plexus was tight with fear as I ploughed on. Halfway up I stopped, exhausted. I could look down 10,000 feet between my legs, and I have never felt more insecure. Anxiously I waved Tenzing up to me.”

Although he is most famously remembered for his quintessentially Kiwi statement upon reaching Everest, “We knocked the bastard off”, there are many other quotes from Sir Edmund which signify what a great leader he was.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes from Sir Edmund Hillary:

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things; to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”

“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

“I don’t know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I have enjoyed great satisfaction from my climb of Everest and my trips to the poles. But there’s no doubt, either, that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics. That has given me more satisfaction than a footprint on a mountain.”

“I’ve always hated the danger part of climbing, and it’s great to come down again because it’s safe … But there is something about building up a comradeship — that I still believe is the greatest of all feats — and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It’s the intense effort, the giving of everything you’ve got. It’s really a very pleasant sensation.”

“I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top. They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.”

“In some ways I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed.”

“People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.”

So thanks Sir Ed, for your continuing inspiration.