Mark Brown, Outward Bound lessons for a life of leadership

Mark Michaux Brown is a coach, and author of the book ‘Outward Bound Lessons to Live a Life of Leadership’, former director of corporate potential at Grappone Automotive Group and before that course director at Voyageur Outward Bound School.

His is a fascinating story, because he has used the transformative potential of Outward Bound to change his own life as well as that of others.

Mark spent 22 years at Outward Bound, which is an international organisation with a presence in 30 countries around the world. It was founded by in Great Britain by a German born educator Kurt Hahn. It came to the USA in the early 1960s and involves taking people into the wilderness, not for the purpose of teaching them deep wilderness skills but to help them become more confident, to connect better with others, and to be more compassionate so as to be of service to others.

On leaving college Mark worked in two start ups and found himself “burnt out at the ripe old age of 25.” He set out to find something with more meaning in the world. Outward Bound was his “running away to the circus experience.” He was so enamoured with it after initially taking a temporary job with the Voyageur School, he became an expeditionary leader for ten years and was course director for a further 12.

After a business course at university he joined Grappone Automotive. He spent eight years there, during which he played a leading role in restructuring the company. They started by co-creating, with the existing management team, a clear purpose-driven mission for the business. They then redesigned the organisational structure around the new purpose, and aligned the reward structure correspondingly. The sales process was redesigned following feedback from an advisory board made up of current and former customers.

Not everyone, particularly in the sales and finance departments, could subscribe to the new purpose and processes, and some left to be replaced over time by a new cohort of staff who had a closer affinity with the customer and with their colleagues, including former teachers, nurses and hairdressers!

Part of the job of an expeditionary leader is to empower a group such that they no longer need you. After eight years, by which time Mark was also heading up sales, marketing, and communications as well as corporate potential, Mark felt that he had reached that point. “If you can create a group that does not need you any more then you’ve succeeded.”

The book had been in gestation since Mark’s Outward Bound days. It was given impetus when by chance he met the creative director of Berrett-Koehler Publishers at a Conscious Capitalism conference. The book became a co-publication with Outward Bound USA.

Mark interviewed 15 people to find out how they had taken the Outward Bound lessons into their lives. They included Arthur Blank of Home Depot, a former US senator, and members of the Kohler family (of bathtub fame). He wrote the book while he was still working at Grappone, so at four until six in the morning.

On Outward Bound a group who normally haven’t met before assemble in an area of wilderness. The expeditionary leader facilitates a discussion around how the group wants to be with one another. The leader also teaches basic wilderness skills in the first few days.

The expedition itself is a means, not an end. The focus of the leader is the process whereby the group achieves its goal. The leader is constantly watching for teachable moments, particularly with regard to interpersonal relationships and self-defined physical and mental limitations. The same model can be applied to stretch projects in the corporate world.

Debriefing, both formal and informal, plays a large role in Outward Bound. Every day starts with a community meeting, and closes with a debriefing which reviews incidents, possibly conflicts, and lessons learnt. There are also event specific briefings. It’s the stretch places, on occasion failures, which are critical for people to grow.

One of the people that Mark interviewed for the book is Rue Mapp, the founder of Outdoor Afro. When she faces a challenge she always remembers the advice of her expeditionary leader on a mountaineering expedition, which was to “trust your feet.”

Outward Bound has been transformative for Mark himself. His first 22-day expedition was in pristine wilderness in Utah. He was drawn to the leaders of his trip and has spent a lifetime endeavouring to emulate their compassionate leadership, which he characterises as having no agenda, but was entirely in service of the development, growth, and safety of the participants.

One of the great pleasures of promoting his book, was reconnecting with the many people that he had met and mentored on Outward Bound and discovering the impact it had had on their lives. He believes that Kurt Hahn has had a more profound impact on the world than any other educator.

In the book Mark says “among the Outward Bound pillars, compassion stands above all.” The model originally arose from a concern that, as Germany evolved from an agrarian to an industrial society, young men were losing touch with the land and with community. Outward Bound was designed to restore a sense of responsibility toward one’s community. Writing the book reminded Mark that there is a wealth of people in the world showing up for their community.

One of Mark’s favourite examples of an expeditionary leader is Delaney Reynolds, currently a sophomore in college, who grew up in Miami and attended a school with an innovative curriculum that included outward bound electives. She created a not-for-profit company at the age of 16 to focus on the impact of sea level rise, and successfully campaigned for the inclusion of funding in the county budget to address the matter. She is currently a student in marine science at the University of Miami and has spoken at the UN.

Mark’s hope is that people will be inspired by his book to take the Outward Bound lessons to heart, and that, in particular, alumni of Outward Bound would apply their learning to serve their communities with particular regard to the challenges we face as a species right now. These include climate change, artificial intelligence, and the pace of change in all arenas of human endeavour. We could destroy ourselves or we could rediscover our responsibility towards our communities.

Mark’s advice to his 20-year old self would be “you’re going to have an amazing journey. Be present and don’t miss it.”