What differentiates "One Step Beyond" from the overwhelming battery of success books is the fact that the voices profiled in its pages arise out of hard-won, authentic success in some of the world's most remote places. From the summit of Everest to the polar ice of the Arctic, "One Step Beyond" redefines peak performance from a place where success has been tested through adversity.Based on the philosophies of John Amatt, an internationally-renowned motivational speaker and a leader of Canada's first successful climb of Mount Everest, "One Step Beyond" is about attitude. "The Adventure Attitude". "Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain", says Amatt. "Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life -facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and, in the process, discovering more of our own unique potential".
Writer Alan Hobson gives voice to Amatt's approach by profiling five individuals who embody the Adventure Attitude: Laurie Skreslet, the first Canadian to reach the summit of Everest, exemplifies "the calibre of courage". John Hughes, the first to intentionally sail the waters around Cape Horn with a makeshift mast, typifies "the power of persistence". Mike Beedell demonstrates "the capacity of curiosity" in his voyage by open sail boat through the Northwest Passage in Canada's north. Sharon Wood symbolizes "the triumph of teamwork" as the first woman from the Americas to ascent Everest. And Laurie Dexter, who skied across the North Pole from Russia to Canada, portrays "the excellence in endurance".
Hobson surprises, however, by highlighting the fallible nature of each adventurer. He certainly does not paint picture-perfect success or plastic portraits of Type-A personalities. It is the energy generated by attitude that fuels their sometimes staggering achievements. The five adventurers are in agreement. "The way I perceive my environment", says Sharon Wood, "is the only thing that makes me different".
The Adventure Attitude is meticulous, intelligent, and aware; it does not compromise itself with an undisciplined drive to possess either social status or wealth. This alone is enough to set "One Step Beyond" apart from most guides to success. The Adventure Attitude is an 'itch' that compels individuals to depart again and again from the comfort and security associated with traditional standards of achievement.
Sailor John Hughes articulates the need to steer beyond out-dates definitions of success: "As a whole, people in our society have moved away from testing their mettle to measuring everything by accepted standards: the size of your house, the number of cars you have, your income etc... Unfortunately, we tend to be a little more concerned with how we think other people view us than with how we view ourselves".
"One Step Beyond" is a celebration of the individual, both as the solo navigator of personal challenges and as an essential resource in team effort. The spark that makes an ordinary venture into an 'adventure' is the element of risk. Hobson and Amatt demonstrate that risk, if weighed, scrutinized, and acted on with unflinching resolve, can reward with immeasurable self-confidence. Confidence feeds an ever-expanding circle of accomplishment, and is as vital an investment as good old-fashioned capital.
Risk, in the world of "One Step Beyond', holds life and death in the balance. Before Laurie Skreslet stood on the summit of Everest, four climbers were killed in avalanches on the mountain. The book describes how the tragic accidents affected expedition morale, and how men like Skreslet and John Amatt had pause to re-evauate both team strategy and summit-lust. Mike Beedell's own brush with death reiterates the level of commitment that can characterize adventure: having penetrated the heart of the High Arctic, the route out had to be exactingly pioneered as was the route in.
The epic sweep of of all five stories makes "One Step Beyond" as dramatic as the ancient tale of Jason and the Argobauts sailing through the clashing rocks. On both a corporate and personal level, readers will be impressed with how the book liberates the sense of achievement from a traditional emphasis on the final product. It is not the golden fleece that matters, but the quest itself. As we hurtle into the new millennium, we may be grateful for "One Step Beyond's" deeper contribution to the psychology of leadership.
This is an exciting and extremely well written book, which profiles five adventurers and investigates what they have learned from overcoming physical adversity and how they now apply it to achieving success in their everyday lives. The book profiles climber Laurie Skreslet, the 1st Canadian to scale Mount Everest; sailor John Hughes, who deliberately sailed solo around Cape Horn with a makeshift mast; photographer Mike Beedell, who was a member of the 1st team to cross the Northwest Passage using only wind power; mountaineer Sharon Wood, the 1st North American woman to climb to the top of the world (the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest); and Laurie Dexter, a member of the 1st expedition to ski from Russia to Canada via the North Pole.
From these five profiles, author Alan Hobson and renowned adventurer/speaker John Amatt, then develop their innovative "Adventure Attitude" philosophy for striving for success in the turbulent and unpredictable world of the new millennium.
A must read for anyone with personal "mountains" to climb.
