The North Face Principles - How to Manage Uncertainty
Rainer Petek, extreme mountain climber
Abstract
Rainer Petek is an absolute expert in managing uncertainty, the unknown and the unexpected.
At the early age of nineteen he climbed the famous Walker-Spur at the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, which is one of the most spectacular and difficult climbing routes in the Alps. As a mountain guide Rainer Petek was one of the few professionals doing extreme climbing routes with clients.
Rainer Petek
Rainer Petek is founding partner of 3ULeaders, a consultancy, that supports clients in the mangement of uncertainty, the unknown and the unexpected. He holds a Master degree (MSc.) in Organizational Development. He is author and co-author of several books and publications. Rainer´s best selling book „Mit dem Nordwand-Prinzip das Ungewisse managen“ is about how to deal with complexity, uncertainty and unexpected events and brought the similarities between leadership challenges in business and in extreme mountaineering to a broader awareness. Rainer Petek is lecturer for leadership in the Executive MBA-Program of the Danube University Krems.
With the experiences from two different worlds, as an extreme climber and professional mountain-guide on the one hand and as a proven management consultant for difficult change situations in corporate life on the other hand, Rainer Petek created a distinct approach to consulting and management training: He employs the similarities between the leadership challenges in the mountains and in business life to offer powerful speeches and inspiring leadership coachings. As a young extreme climber Rainer mastered the most difficult north-faces of the alps. Later he did the same with clients as a professional mountain guide for twelve years, he was one of the few professionals doing extreme climbing routes with clients. In 1997 he got in touch with management coaching as an outdoor-trainer. The experience of being able to help business leaders to succeed in business and mastering their leadership challenges was a defining moment in Rainer´s life, and he shifted his professional focus towards management training and consulting. Since 1998 he has been working as a consultant and trainer in the field of change management and leadership development. His clients are large global corporations as well as mid-size companies.
Rainer Petek shows similarities between mountain climbing and business, that are much more than just metaphors. His thoughts and insights are based on the experience of more than 2.000 succesfully completed climbs and the profound understanding of organizational dynamics after more than 1.500 days of consulting. That makes him unique as an author and professional speaker in the European area.