The Week I Spent Learning How to Be a Leader

I recently got to spend a week in Belgium, paid for by my company, so that I could learn the tricks of the trade when it comes to being a leader. I am on this team with colleagues from all over the world. The word “global” gets used to describe this a lot. What could possibly go wrong.

The theme of this trip was to connect with nature and team building. This little excursion took place in what I can only describe as Mount Everest. “What? Mount Everest isn’t in Belgium!” you might say. And I can say that you are officially wrong because I traipsed up and down the mountains so many times I can confirm it was in fact the tallest mountain in the world.

First of all, the company putting this on was called Unicorn. And the “coaches” that taught us things were called Unicorn Coaches. UNICORN COACHES! That is officially the best job title on the planet.

It's like this, plus a clipboard and whistle.

We did a lot of hiking with maps. The first challenge grouped us in teams and dropped us at a random place for 10 minutes to “check out the scenery”, and then the plan was to drive us somewhere else, drop us off with a map, and see if we can find our way back on foot to the original site. The path to drive us there was this:

I felt like One. Million. Dollars. Cue the car sickness. Then my team assembles to figure things out. We have two options: we can go left along the gravel road, or right down into the pit of hell on what looks like it used to be a trail during the battle of the Bulge. We naturally go right into Hades, and if you can believe it, that was NOT the correct direction. So, we get to drag our sorry selves BACK up the cliff face. At this point people are literally passing out. We lose.

Day 2 is a solo adventure. Same kind of concept, but by yourself. At a certain point I’m actually running through a cow pasture and bolting into a forest by myself in Belgium. Wearing lion king themed pants.

Then I hit a clearing and see a path. That’s a good looking path. As I run down I think to myself “man, all the paths here are super steep!”. Are they, Ainsley? Are they? Or is that the SAME EXACT DEMON DEAD-END PATH you went down yesterday. So I, AGAIN, have to drag myself, AGAIN, back up that stupid mountain. Then I meet up with the Russian guy who has also been scorned by that she-devil of a cliff and we team up and finish the challenge together. Russia guy and I are now friends for life. He’s the closest I will ever come to having a brother in arms.

The worst part about day 2 was that I had to admit to everyone what I had done. Including the guy that looks EXACTLY like the guy from the TV show Carrie Diaries who was on my Day 1 team.  It was a real tuck-your-tail-between-your-legs moment.

Day 3 and 4 are both just as hike-y and just as tough, but to be fair I was learning a lot about leadership and how long I could go wearing the same sports bra. I was clearly unprepared for all the “moderate” physical activity that equaled 5 miles of hike-running a day.

When I left, I looked like a drowned rat. Partially because I forgot to bring shampoo, partially because I was completely out of clothes, and partially because all it does over there is rain. I feel like a better person for the trip. I’m one with nature. I’m on board with being an effective leader.   I’ve made really good friends and dealt with the pain of embarrassing myself on a global scale. It was all in all a win. And a jump start to a work out regimen that is not maintainable.