1st Edition
From the Death Zone to the Boardroom What Business Leaders and Decision Makers Can Learn From Extreme Mountaineering
This book explores experiences and reflections of an extreme sports athlete within the context of business, the latest scholarly works and research on topics that are relevant and timely for today’s managers and business leaders, and the daily challenges they face.
Conviction, discipline, managing fear in high stakes situations, leading, working with teams and making decisions in extreme conditions - what will help you in extreme sports can also get you to your goals in business. In From the Death Zone to the Boardroom, speed ski mountaineer Benedikt Boehm tells gripping and inspirational stories about his fears, pain, suffering and facing death during his expeditions to some of the world's highest mountains. Throughout, his co-author and professor of leadership and management, Stefan Gröschl integrates scholarly ideas and works beyond traditional business boundaries providing you with unusual insights and thought-provoking alternatives for managing your business.
The combination of extreme athlete, company leader, and business school scholar is unique, and ensures the relevance and timeliness of the selected themes, and the pellucidity of the conceptual context to a readership beyond academic boundaries. The result is advice that is both highly personal and empirically tested; a combination that makes for an absorbing read and unparalleled advice for you and your career.
Chapter 1: About the book and the authors, Chapter 2: About the unthinkable, Chapter 3: About uncertainty, Chapter 4: About fear, Chapter 5: About failure, Chapter 6: About death and mortality, Chapter 7: About suffering, Chapter 8: About leading teams and making decisions in extreme conditions, Chapter 9: About speed and lightness, Chapter 10: About managing my many lives, Index
Biography
Benedikt Boehm is CEO of the leading ski touring equipment brand Dynafit and a well-known speed ski mountaineer. Ben has shared his experiences to leading multinational companies and on German national television. He has been featured in national and international journals, newspapers, and television ads.
Stefan Gröschl is professor in management at ESSEC Business School. His award-winning writings have been published in numerous books, chapters, and articles in the international trade and academic press. Aside his scholarly works Stefan has a strong interest in long-distance triathlons and apnea diving.
"This book makes for an excellent read. Ben and Stefan have chosen topics that are unusual and that aren’t typically discussed in books of this type. I love Ben’s stories and reflections about the experiences he encountered during his stunning climbs. Stefan did a great job in relating Ben’s experiences into a theoretical perspective. Finally a book that is entertaining and informative at the same time." - Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management BMW AG, responsible for: MINI, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad, Customer Engagement and Digital Business Innovation BMW Group.
"This book makes for an excellent read. Ben and Stefan have chosen topics that are unusual and that aren’t typically discussed in books of this type. I love Ben’s stories and reflections about the experiences he encountered during his stunning climbs. Stefan did a great job in relating Ben’s experiences into a theoretical perspective. Finally a book that is entertaining and informative at the same time." - Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management BMW AG. Responsible for: MINI, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad Customer Engagement and Digital Business Innovation BMW Group
"This is an extraordinary book. Böhm reflects on key issues for extreme sports athletes such as uncertainty, fear, suffering and death. Gröschl relates Böhm’s fascinating stories to scholarship relevant for business executives. Those who choose to or must go to extremes will learn a lot from this insightful and unique book." - Dr Horst Eidenmüller, a Statutory Professor for Commercial Law at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford
"This book is the result of an exciting collaboration between a scholar and extreme sports athlete (who also happens to run a global business). While there are important differences between sports and organizational leadership, there are similarities too, and this book does a good job at foregrounding the best of these. It is a refreshing change from the usual in drawing on Ben's powerful experiences to highlight the challenges of leadership, and innovative strategies for tackling them." - Mark de Rond, Professor of Organizational Ethnography at Cambridge University (Judge Business School).
"A book that is entertaining and informative at the same time. I enjoyed how Stefan was able to translate Ben’s experiences as leading speed mountaineer into real life business situations. Great to read about topics that give you a totally new look at yourself." - Dr Thomas Sedran, CEO of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
