Growing up we wanted to be like the former beekeeper that looked up to the mountains and thought what it would be like to climb them. After "knocking off" some 20 major peaks, Sir Edmund Hillary announced that he would climb Everest despite the failures of others. At 11:30am on the morning of May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit, 29,028 feet above sea level. Yesterday, the greatest explorer of the 20th century passed away at 88. In his honor, we focus in on 5 important things we apply to banking nearly every day.
The obvious lesson is courage. Hillary wrote prior to climbing Everest that he had no idea what would happen to a human life above 29k feet. All he knew was that the climbing parties before him never made it back alive. He went anyway.
Hillary was focused. At 24 he decided to climb the highest peak on earth. Despite being badly burnt in an accident, he never gave up. At 34 he achieved his dream. As his friend Jim Wilson said about him, "While we all have dreams-Ed has dreams, then he's got incredible drive and goes ahead and does it."
Hillary had humility. After hearing him speak in San Francisco, we asked a question calling him "Sir Hillary" in the process. He quickly corrected us and said, "Just Ed, please." He used his fame and fortune for philanthropic reasons. He went back to Nepal some 120 times to help build schools, raise money for health projects and increase awareness in the region.
Hillary always had a sense of humor. There are no pictures of Hillary on his first Everest accent. The famous picture marking the occasion was of Norgay. When Hillary returned and the press asked him why Norgay was in the picture and not him, Hillary replied, "He [Norgay] had never taken a picture before, and the summit of Everest was hardly the place to show him how." Hillary would always choose climbers for his expeditions that had a good sense of humor, because "People who can make you laugh under dire circumstances are very valuable indeed in an expedition."
Finally, his most enduring quote was that "life isn't about conquering mountains, it is about conquering ourselves."
These are all solid lessons to keep in mind as bankers head into 2008. We will miss you Ed.