The Mt. Moosilauke Principle
Wisdom for Today
- The process of achieving breakthrough in business is very much like climbing Mt. Moosilauke, a peak in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College uses the mountain as a team building climbing exercise for its first-year MBA students. The objective is for the class to coalesce as a team and to reach the summit successfully. How ever, climbing Mt. Moosilauke is no easy feat. First, the journey takes several hours. There is often a 20-30 degree temperature difference between the base of the mountain and its peak. The paths are narrow, slippery, and surrounded by thick brush, so it is difficult to see much until you reach tree line. There, however, you enter a whole new world. Dozens of other footpaths appear that were hidden until you reached the top of the mountain. Without the aid of binoculars, you can see parts of Maine and Vermont, and you become encouraged by the newly discovered paths that offer safer and more navigable options for your descent.
- In the beginning phases of business, your options as an entrepreneur may appear quite limited, and your perception may be that you are forced to operate under tight and unfriendly constraints. Often you are afraid to venture off your designated path for fear of encountering an obstacle that you will be unable to overcome.
- If you can endure to the end, you often will be presented with new opportunities and choices that you would have missed had you not taken the journey.
- By plunging into your venture by giving – it all you have – you will automatically open up new and exciting opportunities for yourself and your company that were initially off of your radar screen. Remember that one of the benefits of climbing your entrepreneurial mountain is that the effort alone will expand your range of choices and entrepreneurial possibilities.
Wallace, R. (2000), Soul Food 52 Principles for Black Entrepreneurial Success, New York: Perseus Publishing
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