How Knight Campbell Merges Adventure and Leadership Development

In This Episode:

What can climbing a mountain teach you about leadership, decision-making, and systems? Knight Campbell has built his business around that very question.

In this conversation, Adi Klevit talks with Knight about how outdoor adventure experiences serve as powerful laboratories for leadership development. Drawing from his time in the U.S. Navy and his work as a leadership professor, Knight explains why systems create safety — and how safety, in turn, builds trust. He and Adi explore how structure enables creativity, the parallels between guiding teams up a mountain and leading organizations, and the importance of immediate feedback in growth and decision-making.

The two also discuss Cairn Leadership's unique approach to team retreats and leadership offsites. Whether scaling a peak or scaling a company, Knight shares how clarity, communication, and consistency form the backbone of effective leadership systems.