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Notes from Mt. Wrangall, AK. 13,000 feet. April, 1994.

“I’m in a jam. Perched up here 13,000 feet above the sea, 80 mph winds buckling the stays on our tent and showing no sign up letting up after 5 relentless days, things are feeling just a bit dire."

So began a journal entry I penned over 10 years ago, as I sat with my future wife and a team of mountaineers high on an Alaskan glacier. We were hungry, tired and genuinely wondering if we'd make it through the night. As I read back over that journal entry and others, what's most striking to me now is how optimistic and calm we remained despite enormous adversity. Not only did we survive, we were able to reach heights and overcome challenges that none of us thought possible.

I learned on the glacier over 10 years ago what most leaders in the community relations field know already: a tightly knit community is critical to survival. Each day, my expedition-mates and I performed dozens of extra tasks with the sole aim of alleviating discomfort or overcoming obstacles. Someone would slip out of the tent before dawn to boil enough snow for an unexpected hot chocolate; someone would sit for hours with frozen fingers stitching another's torn seam; and on more than one occasion, someone even dug axe into snow to arrest another's fall towards what would have been certain death.

When I boil it down, I view corporations basically as large groups of people facing challenges, similar to mountaineers on a glacier. Most of these challenges are not life threatening, but many of them have real implications for the future health of the company. What guides my work is the conviction that only those companies whose people give of themselves constantly and look after the interests of the broader community will thrive long-term. That's why my goal is to help companies make community their best investment.