Resonance, Leadership and Purpose of Life
UVA-OB-0626
RESONANCE, LEADERSHIP, AND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
I’ve always been interested in the mountains. The first time I went to Switzerland,
I saw the mountains, and I said, “This is where I’ve got to be.” I dropped everything and found a mountain-climbing school and spent a couple of weeks in
Switzerland and learned some basics of climbing, how to cut ice steps in glaciers and basic mountaineering. I really liked that. Clearly, in technical climbing you get in situations where, if you slip, you are dead. You don’t consciously seek those situations, but you reach dicey points where you basically can only go forward rather than back. And the level of concentration and thrill of operating at that level is just. . . you are alive then, and it’s almost like your sense of. . . your visual acuity and sensual acuity dial up tenfold, and you can see things and you are aware of things that you are not aware of in everyday life. That is the part of rock climbing that I really enjoy.
—Tom Curren, former senior vice president of strategic planning, Marriott Corporation
A world renowned musician performs in concerts all over the globe.
The world record holder in a swimming event wins the gold medal at the
Olympics.
The CEO of a consumer electronics firm reports annualized growth of 40 percent per year for the last ten years.
The head of thoracic surgery at a major teaching hospital performs a coronary bypass operation on his 400th patient
What do all of these people have in common? First, and most obviously, they are performing at the peak of their professions and probably at the peak of their abilities. Second, they are performing at these high levels repeatedly, not just on an occasion here and an occasion there. Third, surprisingly, although they come from radically different backgrounds and are performing in very different careers, they seem to be following a consistent pattern.
Interestingly, what seems to work in music also seems to work
RESONANCE, LEADERSHIP, AND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
I’ve always been interested in the mountains. The first time I went to Switzerland,
I saw the mountains, and I said, “This is where I’ve got to be.” I dropped everything and found a mountain-climbing school and spent a couple of weeks in
Switzerland and learned some basics of climbing, how to cut ice steps in glaciers and basic mountaineering. I really liked that. Clearly, in technical climbing you get in situations where, if you slip, you are dead. You don’t consciously seek those situations, but you reach dicey points where you basically can only go forward rather than back. And the level of concentration and thrill of operating at that level is just. . . you are alive then, and it’s almost like your sense of. . . your visual acuity and sensual acuity dial up tenfold, and you can see things and you are aware of things that you are not aware of in everyday life. That is the part of rock climbing that I really enjoy.
—Tom Curren, former senior vice president of strategic planning, Marriott Corporation
A world renowned musician performs in concerts all over the globe.
The world record holder in a swimming event wins the gold medal at the
Olympics.
The CEO of a consumer electronics firm reports annualized growth of 40 percent per year for the last ten years.
The head of thoracic surgery at a major teaching hospital performs a coronary bypass operation on his 400th patient
What do all of these people have in common? First, and most obviously, they are performing at the peak of their professions and probably at the peak of their abilities. Second, they are performing at these high levels repeatedly, not just on an occasion here and an occasion there. Third, surprisingly, although they come from radically different backgrounds and are performing in very different careers, they seem to be following a consistent pattern.
Interestingly, what seems to work in music also seems to work