I Asked 3 Mountain Guides Their Biggest Lessons…None Said Survival
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025
The most experienced guides in the Dolomites don’t point to tactics as their deepest lessons, they point to respect, empathy, and patience with people. Growth isn’t about conquering terrain; it’s about how we navigate it together.
On your next challenge: at work, at home, or even on a trail, pay more attention to the people beside you than the obstacles ahead.
Haviland and I spent six days trekking the Dolomites this summer. The rock spires there look like something from another planet: sheer walls of white stone shooting into the sky, trails winding across valleys that feel stitched together by time itself.
We went to trek, yes. But we also went to learn. To experience. To see if this place could hold a future No Matter What retreat.
We had three guides with us throughout our time there: Julian, Roberto, and Claudia. All of them seasoned mountaineers who’ve spent decades walking those ridgelines with groups like ours.
True to form, I asked each the same question:
“What’s the most important thing you’ve learned guiding in these mountains?”
I expected something about safety, about technical skills, about weather patterns or rope work.
Not one of them said anything like that.
Julian talked about patience: that growth in the mountains isn’t forced, it unfolds.
Roberto spoke of respect: respecting not just the mountains, but also the pace and experience of each person.
Claudia said empathy: how everyone shows up with their own fears, strengths, and breaking points, and how a good guide meets them there.
People who’ve spent their lives mastering terrain that can kill you didn’t name their gear, their knots, or their survival tactics as the most important thing. They named qualities about how to be with people.
That’s what stood out to me. The Dolomites aren’t just a proving ground for physical endurance; they’re a mirror for human connection.
And with the chaos we’re seeing in the news lately: war, shootings, division, destruction, I think that’s exactly what we need more of. Not just strategies to survive the climb, but the humanity to walk it together.
Because transformation doesn’t come from conquering the mountain. It comes from how we treat each other along the way.
Key Idea
The mountain (in the world, in our work, in ourselves) teaches, but it’s the people who transform us. The most experienced guides in the Dolomites don’t point to tactics as their deepest lessons, they point to respect, empathy, and patience with people. Growth isn’t about conquering terrain; it’s about how we navigate it together.
Takeaway
On your next challenge: at work, at home, or even on a trail, pay more attention to the people beside you than the obstacles ahead.
Build your Movement
Where in your life do you need to trade strategy for empathy?
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