After months of preparation and investment, David Breashears and his veteran team of high-altitude Himalayan mountaineers and filmmakers faced an extremely difficult decision. The team was at 24,500 feet on their way to accomplishing what many considered an impossible endeavor: to film an ascent of Earth's highest peak, Mount Everest, in the world's largest film format, IMAX. Because of unpredicted jet stream winds and uncertain weather conditions, the team decided to descend -- a truly life or death decision. Over the next two days, four other teams kept climbing Everest's overcrowded slopes and suddenly without warning the now infamous blizzard of May 10, 1996 hit Everest killing eight climbers.
Breashears and his team, who were still in the midst of making their historical film, ceased all filming activities and courageously climbed back to 25,500 to assist the exhausted survivors of the storm. Breashears' team also selflessly volunteered their precious and irreplaceable supply of bottled oxygen. These efforts were not only physically debilitating and a tremendous blow to his team's resources, but they also took a terrible emotional toll. And yet in the aftermath of this tremendous setback, Breashears rallied his team and kept them focused on their grand objective. Twelve days later, Breashears and his nine member team reached the summit of Mount Everest becoming the first to film the Summit with an IMAX camera. The Everest IMAX film went on to become the highest grossing IMAX film in history. The leadership skills that Breashears learned, refined and applied during his twelve expeditions to Mount Everest are highly relevant to managing the Everest-size challenges companies face in today's business world.
Participants in this program will learn how to:
- Keep your team focused and never let them lose sight of the primary objective
- Have conviction and vision and a belief in the mission
- Have the courage to embrace big idea and big goals and have the willingness to take well-considered risks
- Believe in careful, thoughtful planning, and apply this philosophy by selecting motivated, talented and ambitious team members
- Realize that one of your greatest strengths is knowing when to pause, when to turn around, or to modify the plan
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David Breashears is a world-class filmmaker, adventurer, and mountaineer. He has worked on such feature films as Seven Years in Tibet and Cliffhanger, as well as the award-winning documentary Red Flag over Tibet. In 1983 he transmitted the first live pictures from the summit of Mount Everest and in 1985 became the first American to twice reach its summit. He is the recipient of four Emmy awards for achievement in cinematography. In 1996 he co-directed, photographed, and co-produced the acclaimed IMAX large-format film Everest and contributed his still photos from that climb to the bestselling book Everest: Mountain Without Mercy.