Believe beyond reason

- Great team builders and leaders also believe in their teammates beyond reason. What happens when you truly believe in someone? They rise to the occasion, right? What happens when you don't believe in someone? They also want to prove you right. So why wouldn't you believe in someone truly beyond reason and watch them rise? And that's exactly what my teammates did for me in the World Championships in Ecuador. Now this race was still, to date, the gnarliest, longest adventure race in the history of the sport. Took nine days for the win. And in the middle of it, we had to summit a 19,700-foot active volcano. So for three days leading up to the summit attempt, we were running at 14,000 feet elevation. We thought we had the lead as we were approaching the hut at 15,000 feet, which was the launch point for the summit attempt. So we're climbing up in the middle of the night, our headlamps are on, we think we're doing a great job, we're in the lead, and we're approaching the cabin at 15,000 feet, and we see lights coming up from the other side of the hill, the Terminators, our biggest competitors. They were literally right there with us at the same time at the front of the pack. Now all of us on both teams were a complete train wreck. And we go stumbling into this hut where the race director and the race doctor were, and we're laying all over the ground, (laughs) and they take a look at both of our teams, and they start talking to one another. And they come to us a few minutes later, both teams, and say, "You know what, guys, you're at the front of this race, and you guys are all a mess. We can't imagine what the rest of the race looks like. So we're going to change the rules of the race right now and say that you have to get only three people to the top of this mountain and continue the race. And we're going to give you a couple of options. You can leave someone here at the hut at 15,000 feet because you're going to pick them up on the way back and that'll be a five-hour penalty, or you can get someone to 18,000 feet and they can come back down, and that will only be a two hour penalty. But you have to get three people to the top to be able to continue in the race." And the race doctor chimes in, and says, "You know what? I want to make sure that people have enough O2 saturation to continue to climb up from 15,000 to 20,000 feet." So he says, "If anyone has an O2 sat that's under 70, we're not going to let you continue climbing." Now I'm a firefighter EMT, and I know that when you have an O2 sat that's lower than about 90, we're rushing you to the hospital, lights and sirens, so 70% seemed like a good number. So we're all about to leave the hut for this big out-and-back summit attempt. And the race doctor has the 02 sat out. Everyone's putting their finger in the OT sat as they're walking out the door. And everyone else's says like 90, 92, 89, 88. I'm in the back of both teams. And I put my finger in the O2 sat. And my 02 sat was 71%. I mean, I already knew I was dying, and now everybody else knew that I was dying. And I looked at my team, and I didn't want to be left at the hut. I looked at my team and said, "Hey, guys, well, we're roped up for glacier travel anyway. Do you guys think you can just drag me to 18,000 feet? And then I'll roll back down or something, but then we'll only get the two-hour penalty." And they said, "Okay." (laughs) So we got all roped up, and they drag me to 18,000 feet. And we get to 18,000 feet at about sunrise, and I fall to my knees, I'm in the snow, I'm crying, and I'm eating a cookie, and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get back down. And I'm looking around at my teammates, thinking, is one of them going to go with me? Is the race doctor going to come with me? Am I going to roll? Am I going to slide? How am I going to get back down to the hut? And as I'm thinking this through, I feel a hand on my shoulder, and it's my team captain, Robert Nagle. And I turn around, and I said, "Robert, what's going on?" He said, "You ready to go? And I said, "Yeah, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get back down." And he said, "Oh, you haven't heard yet. Yeah, the race doctor is saying that John and I had the beginning of high altitude pulmonary edema. He's strongly suggesting that we go back down. So you're going to continue to go up." And he looked right into my eyes with his green eyes. And he said, "You can do this, Rob." And at the moment, I believed because he believed in me so much. He and John were going to go back down and they were trusting me to make it to 19,700 feet. I had to rise to the occasion because of their belief in me. And my two other teammates and I, and I don't remember any of this, (laughs) we got to 19,700 feet on top of this active volcano. And we then went on to win the race. And I went from being someone who didn't believe in myself at all, to thinking I didn't belong on this team, this might be my last adventure race, I'm not good enough to race with these guys, to suddenly deeply and truly believing that I was a world champion. And it happened in that moment where my team captain looked into my eyes and believed in me so far beyond reason, it was absolutely insane. And I rose because of him. So here's a little homework assignment. Call the people in your life who have helped you rise and thank them for believing in you beyond reason. And then pick up the phone and call or email the members of your team and tell them all something that you love about them or how much you believe in them. And watch them not only become more bonded to you but to take things up a notch in their own life. Be the kind of leader that believes in your team members beyond reason, because when it comes to resilience and real grit, sometimes we're not born with it, sometimes we don't have it in the moment, but we can borrow that grit from people who deeply believe in us. So be that kind of leader.