I didn’t come to business school with the expectation of hiking through Patagonia, but boy am I glad that I did. Please allow me to share how I got there.

My Leadership Journey

Before Fuqua, I received my first opportunity to manage a team at work. I’ve always fancied myself a leader, but this was the real deal; I would be managing a real team with real people and there would be real consequences.

I like to think I did a decent job in that role, but a major part of my decision to attend Fuqua was to develop as a leader. I’ve pursued several outlets in doing so: I’ve read books and attended seminars, I paid close attention in our Leadership, Ethics and Organizations (LEO) class, and joined the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE) as a COLE Fellow. Each of these opportunities has been tremendously valuable in my development, but our trek to Patagonia, Chile may be the most surprising factor in my growth.

A BOLD Choice

Building Outdoor Leaders at Duke (BOLD) is a club that supports students through outdoor opportunities to learn and grow as a leader. The annual trek takes students on a 9-day adventure and is highlighted by a 4-day hike through one of Chile’s most beautiful parks in the heart of Patagonia, Cerro Castillo National Park. I would love to say that I decided to go on the trip due to a deep desire to better myself as a leader, but honestly, some of my good friends were going and I was itching for some good views.

We traveled in groups of four to six, each supported by a knowledgeable local guide. For four days, we hiked through forests, on top of and around mountains, and alongside rivers, stopping as we saw fit to drink and fill our bottles from the glacier-fed streams. In the evenings we camped and pretended tortilla-salami-cheese “quesadillas” were Michelin star entrées.

My group was fortunate to be led by Javier, a veteran ice climber and trailblazer in Patagonia. He was soft-spoken and even-keeled, and he had a deep love for his region that was exemplified through his actions. As we hiked, without mention he would go off trail to pick up a piece of litter, or to move a felled tree that was crushing another sapling. He taught us about native plants and animals, and all the way was shadowed by a 17-year-old Chilean who represented the next generation of Chilean Patagonian guides.

Key Takeaways From Patagonia

I’ll never be able to put into words how breathtaking the views were, or how grateful I am for the experience, but I do feel compelled to share a couple of lessons learned.

1. Leaders can reflect grit and optimism while maintaining authenticity and transparency. (re: even though I can’t feel my fingers and it’s raining sideways; I am confident we will get through this safely and look back on it fondly.) On a precarious day of hiking (rain, wind, sheer cliffsides), Javier indicated he wanted to move quickly to miss the worst part of the storm. He articulated that he wasn’t deeply worried about the weather and wore a smile, but did indicate that it would be wise to avoid it. I trusted him because of his honesty, but I wasn’t filled with fear as a result of his tone.
   
   
2. Leaders are good stewards of what they’ve been entrusted, and they take action to equip future generations to do the same. Said more eloquently: “A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”* Javier, as well as his apprentice and the other guides on the trek modeled this by the way they took care of their environment. There would never be a discrete payoff for their actions, but they still took them.
   
   * Google is giving me ambiguous results as to the origin of that quote. It may be Nelson Henderson or a Greek proverb, but it certainly wasn’t me.

While I can’t say I’m the perfect leader, I feel confident I’ll reflect on my Fuqua experience as a time of deep growth, and that the Patagonia trek through BOLD was an integral part of that process. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to sign up for the trek. At best you’ll grow in depth of character, and at worst, you’ll do numbers on your Apple Watch in one of the most beautiful areas of the world.