Summary Of Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air—Discuss Leadership examples (good and/or poor) from the novel that you have been reading all term.

When I read the novel, I find that Rob Hall is a good leader. First, he is an ideal model in the team. Hall is a professional climber and he knows the weather and the situation well. Between 1990 and 1995, he succeeded in helping 39 clients reach the summit of Everest (Krakauer, 1999). His experiences and expertise help him attract followers. Second, he cares the safety and welfare of the followers. In the textbook, I learn that the leadership should be based on the consideration for followers through compassion and focus on safety and security of individuals (Nahavandi, 2014). When Tenzing fell into a gaping crack in the glacier, Hall hurried to Base Camp to help rescue him. He regarded Sherpas as partners instead of subordinates. In addition, Hall’s leadership is appropriate for the whole team and the situation. According to Fielder’s Contingency Model, if the leader’s style matches the situation, the leader is effective (Nahavandi, 2014). In the process of climbing, Hall adopted the authoritarian leadership. He said his
He adopted the laissez-faire leadership and gave clients free rein to go up and down independently during the acclimatization period (Krakauer, 1999). However, when Fisher’s client, Ngawang was seriously ill, no guides were present to provide help and rescue. In addition, the internal processes of Scott Fisher’s Everest team were not smooth. Fisher failed to implement strict regulations in the team. Fisher required a guide Anatoli Boukreev to stay with the group, but Boukreev ignored the order. Instead, he slept late and departed several hours later than climbers. When a client collapsed because of headache, Boukreev failed to provide prompt help. The example reveals that the the cohesion of Fisher’s team was terrible and the operations were not