Delivering Adventure to Challenging People with Colby Brokvist

May 9, 2025

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How do you deal with challenging people on an adventure? This is a challenge that can test even the most experienced and prepared leader.

When it comes to delivering adventure, people can be grumpy. They can have unrealistic expectations. They can show up to an adventure with personal issues. They may not have the resiliency needed to manage or overcome challenges. Some people are socially awkward, while others are just rude. In some cases, people may have anger management issues. In other cases, they may not want to be there at all.

While most of these situations are not a leader's fault, they often do end up becoming the leader’s problem.

In this episode, we are joined again by master guide, guide trainer and author, Colby Brokvist. Colby joins us to explore some of the strategies that we can all use when we find ourselves dealing with challenging participants on the adventures we are leading.

Colby Brokvist is a professional guide who leads worldwide expeditions for some of the most acclaimed companies in adventure travel. He has guided trips around the world including in Greenland, Antarctica, Africa, and Patagonia, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. Colby currently serves as the Chair of the Polar Tourism Guides Association.

Using his expertise and extensive experience, Colby has written The Professional Guides Handbook – How to lead adventure travel trips and expeditions. This is a great resource for anyone leading others. Colby has also recently launched the Waypoint Guide Academy.

Key Takeaways

How we can better manage difficult people:

Unmet Needs: If you can figure out what needs are not being met and meet them, you can unusually create a situation where they are easier to deal with.

Aligning Expectations Early: This is essential. People tend to get what they expect, so ensuring expectations are known to everyone and are realistic can address a lot of problems before they arise.

Pulling Difficult People in: Gives an opportunity for leaders to build relationships with them. It’s important to remember that people can usually tell when people other people don’t like them. If someone is being difficult and they don’t feel the leader is getting along with them, resolving the conflict becomes that much harder.

Leading with Empathy, Patience and Curiosity: Can help leaders to build healthier relationships with the people they are leading. When people are being difficult it can be very valuable to try to discover why. This can take some empathy, and some detective work.

Guest Bio

Colby Brokvist is a professional guide who leads worldwide expeditions for some of the most acclaimed companies in adventure travel. He was inspired to pursue guiding as a career during a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail in the summer of 2000. Since then, he has led hundreds of adventure travel departures as an Expedition Leader, ranging from backpacking and trekking adventures to mountaineering and rock-climbing trips, sea kayaking and sailing voyages, and wildlife safaris. His work has taken him to destinations as far-flung as Greenland, Antarctica, Africa, and Patagonia, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. His current basecamp is Boulder, Colorado.

When not actively leading trips in the field, Colby assumes a variety of managerial, operational, and consulting roles within the adventure travel sphere. His work centers on developing and facilitating guide training courses and programs as well as trip program consulting and field-based guide team management. Colby also serves on the board of directors for the Polar Tourism Guides Association and is a certified Senior Polar Guide through the same organization.

Guest Links

The Professional Guides Handbook – How to lead adventure travel trips and expeditions - https://www.guideshandbook.com