Superhuman: Teamwork and ambition

EPISODE OVERVIEW:

Record-breaking mountaineer Cathy O'Dowd joins us for this week’s podcast episode with her history and some life lessons for us.
Cathy speaks of the importance of a rule set at the formation of every team and she discusses failures as successes- not just points for learning.

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Key Highlights

Goals and ambition

Cathy: “I just very slowly worked my way from one experience to the next just being, I wasn't driven by conquering a goal, I never wanted to climb Everest but happened by accident. I was curious. What would it be like to climb something that was a little harder, a little higher, a little more difficult, more remote, colder. I went from South Africa to Central Africa to the Andes, to the Alps. Then I wanted to go to the Himalaya. There was no way back then"Leo: My main tip would be, be very creative in looking within your own organization, what type of resources you can use as part of your customer services organization."

Planning

Cathy: “ I mean you certainly hear lots of stories in business about companies that put all the effort into the great launch and then it's like: ‘Okay, it's launched, now. Do we have the marketing place or the back-up or the service, can we actually get the product out to market? Can we keep on innovating? Can we keep the product current?’
“There are a lot of ways in which if you're too goal-focused and haven't thought about what the process is beyond that goal, you get into trouble.”