Scott Wood, Your Experience Provider
Adventure education has been an important and guiding influence in my life for nearly 40 years. At age 18 I worked for North Cascades National Park in Washington state, and had the great privilege of meeting and spending an afternoon with Willi Unsoeld. Willi had been a member of the first successful American Mt. Everest expedition in 1963. Willi had a unique ability to single people out as the soul object of his concern, to make them feel nurtured yet at the same time make them feel challenged – challenged to prove to themselves and to him what they were capable of achieving. This experience with Unsoeld has set the tone for my philosophy of teaching and leading in the outdoors. The idea of helping people discover their personal strengths and abilities led to the establishment of Action Integrated Management.
Along with Willi Unsoeld another who has influenced my life and teaching philosophy is Ernest Shackleton, leader of the ill-fated ImperialTrans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 to 1916. Shackleton’s goal was to travel by foot and dog sled 1,800 miles across the harshest terrain in the world. Due to early season ice packs the expedition never reached the Antarctic, in fact their ship, the Endurance was eventually crushed in the ice leaving Shackleton and his men to survive on the floating masses of ice. With no modern means of communication or travel, Shackleton’s goal changed from crossing the continent to insuring the survival of his 27 men. Several books have been written about Shackleton including ones relating his leadership traits to the needs of modern business and organizational leadership. One book, Shackleton’s Way by Morrell and Capparell, dissects Shackleton’s leadership into many areas including the importance of hiring an outstanding crew, creating a spirit of camaraderie, leading effectively in a crisis, and forming teams for tough assignments.
At AIM we focus on leadership development with the idea that any person willing to expose their qualities and defects can become a great leader. We emphasize that every one has within themselves the qualities of an Unsoeld or a Shackleton, and that these qualities can present themselves given the right form of motivation. Recognizing the value of teamwork, compassion, honesty, communication and risk taking AIM attempts to place individuals and groups into situations where these important qualities can be realized, developed and practiced. Our goal is to enable or facilitate personal growth, which will in turn strengthen teams.