My thoughts and this presentation are guided by the book ADVERSITY QUOTIENT - Turning Obstacles into Opportunities by Paul G. Stoltz and inspired by my Love of the Mountains and the Mountain Climbing I did many years ago

1. ADVERSITY QUOTIENT
What can we learn from
Mountain Climbing?

2. My thoughts are guided by the book
ADVERSITY QUOTIENT
Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
By Paul G. Stoltz
And inspired by my Love of the
Mountains and the
Mountain Climbing
I did all those years ago

3. Current reality or situation
Your Dreams or Aspirations
Creative tension

4. WHAT IS
EMPOWERMENT?
Its about being
Willing
Able
and
Allowed

5. WHY MAY I
NOT BE WILLING TO CLIMB?

6. IQ = Intelligence Quotient
EQ = Emotional Quotient
AQ =
ADVERSITY QUOTIENT

7. QUITTERS
CAMPERS
CLIMBERS

8. QUITTERS
Have abandoned
the climb or never
even started

9. • Blame circumstances
for their lot in life
• Ignore their full potential
• Are bitter and
disappointed
• Do just enough to get by
• Take few risks
• Are resentful of those
who ascend
QUITTERS

10. ‘Ah to come to
the
end of one’s
life and
realise one has
never
lived’
Henry David
Thoreau

11. CAMPERS
Say “So far and no more!”

12. “Never measure the
height of a
Mountain,
until you have
reached the top –
then you will see how
low it was”
Dag Hammarskjold

13. •Only achieve partial success
•They live compromised lives
•They fall short of their true ability
•They dedicate energy and resources to
maintain the status quo
CAMPERS

14. CAMPING
CAUSES
ATROPHY!
Over time campers
lose
their ability to
climb –
they lose the edge

15. CLIMBERS
Have a strong
faith in
something
bigger than
themselves

16. When they reach a dead
end or overhang they reroute

17. Regardless of
background,
advantages,
good fortune,
misfortune….
They continue
to climb

18. POSITIVE THINKERS
Never letting
AGE
GENDER
RACE
DISABILITY OR
OBSTACLES
to get in their way

19. SOMETIMES…..
They grow weary
They have doubts
They feel lonely and
bruised
They question their
struggle

20. They recognise
that even
small steps
pay dividends

21. ONLY CLIMBERS
LIVE LIFE
TO THE FULL!!

22. ‘Our greatest fear
is not that we will
discover that we are
inadequate, but that we
will discover that we are
powerful beyond
measure’
NELSON MANDELA

23. What are you going to do
differently, from today – to start
being a climber?

24. “Nothing splendid has
ever been achieved, except
by those who dared believe
that something inside
of them
was superior to
circumstance”
BRUCE BARTON

25. Thank you to Somerset Morkel who taught
me to climb and who let me use some of his
wonderful photographs.
Some of the other photographs I have used I
found through the years and I hope that the
owners will see how beautifully they illustrate
my points. They have not been used in any
way for commercial gain.