Many Mountains to Climb: Reflections on Competence, Courage, and Commitment

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Summary: First American Woman on Everest Shares Life's Lessons
Review: As Director for the Center for Management Development at Boise State University, I've had the opportunity to meet many nationally known motivational speakers and authors. None present a more compelling inspirational story than Stacy Allison's journey to be the first American woman to climb Mount Everest, the highest point on earth.

"Many Mountains to Climb...Reflections on Competence, Courage and Commitment" overviews the high and low points of Allison's climbing career with a reflective maturity that reveals both personal and organizational insights for the reader. This book is a wonderful companion to Allison's first book, "Beyond the Limits", a dramatic and detailed true-life adventure story of a woman's triumph on Everest.

In "Many Mountains to Climb," Stacy Allison succinctly recounts her life journey of overcoming personal and cultural obstacles in her quest to live life to the fullest...to dare to live out her dreams. This is an inspirational and thought-provoking book for both the casual reader and the organizational employee or executive.

The first 28 chapters are high adventure short stories that end with Allison's reflections on how her challenges and experiences can relate to one's own personal life and work situation. Numerous personal and workplace issues are addressed including: competence, commitment, courage, fear, leadership, risk taking, handling failure and success, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, decision making, planning, organizing, teamwork, interpersonal conflict, biased thinking, self awareness, the drive to survive, cultural conflicts, values and vision. With acute insight into individual and group behavior, the author identifies these issues in the stories and suggests where the reader might draw personal and organizational relevance.

I found this book to be an enjoyable companion for easy reading while travelling and for relaxing nighttime reading. The short stories allow you to enjoy the book in segments and mentally process the stories significance between reading sessions. Workplace trainers could easily utilize selected chapters as issue-related material for group discussion. I highly recommend this book for both the causal reader of adventure stories and the organizational employee looking for a fresh perspective of organizational issues drawn from high adventure.