Episode 26: Risk Taking in Mountaineering and Business with Guest Steve House

Steve House is a former professional alpinist and mountaineer guide. Steve is currently the founder and CEO of Uphill Athlete. 
 
 As a professional climber, Steve climbed some of the most difficult mountains around the world and in 2006, Steve was awarded the Piolet d’Or (the Golden Ice Axe) award, which is the highest honor in the world of professional mountaineering. 
 
 With mountaineering being an inherently risky sport, host Rick Prince discusses the element of risk with Steve as it pertains to mountaineering and business. Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few takeaways with respect to mountaineering to business. 
 
 Questions covered in this podcast include:

1.       Please tell us about your background as an alpinist and how you decided to start Uphill Athlete.

2.       In most all sports, there is an element of risk. However, I can’t think of any sport with more at stake than high alpine mountaineering. How has being an alpinist shaped your perception of risk?

3.       According to various sources, approximately 90% of start-up’s fail within the first 5 years, with 10% failing within the first year. Of the climbs that have been attempted, are there any that have this high (90%) of a failure rate?

4.       What are some key lessons that you learned about risk that you’ve taken from climbing that you have applied to your business?

5.       Regarding risk, what are some common mistakes that you see athletes and business owners make?

6.       How do you assess risk? Specifically, deciding if a risk is worth the effort?

7.       Appreciating the risk of a situation and going for it any way involves getting over one’s fear. As it relates to climbing, how did you get over the fear of certain situations that had a high risk factor?

If you could leave our listeners with one or two nuggets of advice with respect to assessing and managing risk in their athletic and business endeavors, what would they be?