What's Stopping You?: Why Smart People Don't Always Reach Their Potential, and How You Can

Setting the Wrong Goals Can Be Fatal

So what can be learned from Christopher Kayes’s excellent recounting of this fated Everest expedition? A key lesson has to be that the team set the wrong goal, despite the fact the goal appeared obvious. That US$65,000 fee was not for an ascent to the summit of Everest. It was for reaching the summit and making it down again – alive! It may have been that crucial narrowing of the goal that led to the disaster because it clouded the judgement of the team leaders, who may have become overly concerned about the implicit promises within the fee. And if this sounds unrealistic – that the revised goal is too wide – compare it to the Apollo moon landings, which had getting the astronauts home as an equal and integral ...