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Sir Chris Bonington is a bit of a miracle mountaineer. Part of mountaineering’s greatest generation, he has survived many of his contemporaries and closest friends who were lost pursuing their dreams. Speaking to the London Business Forum (LBF) he came across as, quite simply, a thoroughly nice chap. If Bonington were your expedition leader, you would feel in very safe hands.

His speech to the delegates gathered at the Museum of London would be he began, “the tale of the realisation of a dream.” The dream was to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. This challenge was, he explained, “a challenge that I really wanted to meet.”

Bonington’s first encounter with Everest was in 1972 when he led the British expedition that was overcome by fierce winds and the bitingly cold conditions of that autumn and winter. Bonington was not defeated though, taking away valuable lessons from that attempt: “Never be afraid of failure […] you learn from the mistakes you made.” His chance to benefit from what was learnt in 1972 came in 1975 when he led the British Everest Expedition to success and Doug Scott and Dougal Haston reached the summit on 24th September.

In 1982, Bonington was part of a small team who attempted the long unclimbed North East Ridge of Everest. This expedition was tragically abandoned when two of Bonington’s closest friends, Joe Tasker and Peter Boardman, disappeared. He still hadn’t personally made it to the top and, said Bonington, “At that point I didn’t think I’d ever go back to Everest again. Losing friends, you never take it easily.”

Another chance came in 1985 when shipping magnate Arne Naess determined to lead the first ever Norwegian Everest Expedition. Naess enlisted Bonington as his “Chief of Staff” to plan the logistics. He began planning the expedition on his new Apple IIe and this preparation was crucial to their success: “If you’ve got a good plan, you’ve got a sporting chance of success. If you’ve got a non-existent plan, or a very bad plan, your chances of success are probably remote.”

When the members of the expedition landed in Kathmandu, the rest of the team were strangers to Bonington and to some extent to each other. They weren’t a team at that point but a group of individuals with a “shared objective.” Bonington planned that the team would take their time reaching Everest base camp, so they could both acclimatise their bodies and “acclimatise to each other.” This first part of the journey allowed them time to learn to trust one another. “Trust,” Bonington told the LBF, “is the glue that keeps any team together.”

Bonington explained how Naess was proving himself to be a “very, very good leader.” It was, Bonington revealed, one of the “happiest expeditions” he has ever been on. This was largely down to Naess who was very perceptive. Good leadership, said Bonington, “is about being sensitive” to the needs of every individual in your team. At meal times, for example, Naess suggested that they speak in English so that Bonington was involved in the conversation.

The LBF listened to an audio clip of Naess’s speech to the team at Everest base camp. The “team” included not just the Europeans and the sherpas, but also the twelve high altitude porters, cook staff and mail runners, without whom the expedition would not have been successful. Bonington emphasised that in business too it is vital to acknowledge every member of the team. He said that he was “always amazed at how few expedition leaders make that acknowledgement to their workforce,” as if they’d almost like to believe they had done it all by themselves.

Throughout his talk, Bonington repeatedly emphasised how the success of this expedition was down to the people carefully chosen by Naess. Naess, he said, chose good team people: “Every single one of us were prepared to make sacrifices to our own personal ambition to make sure someone made it to the top.”

The team was big enough so that everyone could alternate between climbing and resting. Bonington went with Bjorn Myrerlund and two sherpas to set the route from camp 3 to 4. He stressed that there was no official leader to these smaller groups and that the process was much more organic. Decisions were reached together and in this instance the sherpas led the way while Bonington and Myrerlund carried their loads because it was the sherpas who knew the route better.

If they had encountered difficult climbing then Myrerlund would have led, and if strategic decisions were required, Bonington would have stepped in. “Good leaders,” said Bonington, “are actually people who encourage leadership within their teams and at the appropriate times are prepared to stand back, let that person take the lead, and then pick up the reins at the right moment.”

There were to be three summit bids to ensure that as many people made it to the top as possible. The sherpas too had just as much right to the summit as the Europeans they were assisting. The first summit bid failed due to poor weather conditions. It tested the judgement of the first group who had to make the difficult decision to turn back. So many climbers, suggested Bonington, have died on Everest because their ambition has clouded their judgement. The same is true in business: “So many corporations, companies, have gone on, pushing on, when all the danger signals are there but nobody has been prepared to admit it. They’ve gone for the kill and the company’s died, as opposed to being on a mountain where you would die.”

Bonington, Myrerlund, Od Elliassen and three sherpas, including Bonington’s close friend, Pertemba, were to make the second summit bid. Naess was to make the third attempt, a selfless decision from a leader whose style was crucial to their success: “I can think of an awful lot of leaders who would put themselves in the first summit bid, come what may, to be the first of their nation to get to the top of that mountain […] Good leaders are people who enable other people to have success.”

At 50, Bonington was at least ten years older that the rest of his summit team and subsequently found himself lagging behind the group. The others would wait for him but, eager to keep going, set off again as soon as he caught up. Seeing that his team mate’s morale was low, Elliassen stayed with Bonington and let him set the pace when they started off again. This small act of kindness, he explained, made all the difference, “When I stood up I was actually a completely different person.” They caught the others up.

They made good progress and reached the south summit by 9 o’clock in the morning. The conditions were perfect and Myrerlund led the way up the Hillary step, a nearly vertical rock face covered in up to 50 feet of vertical snow. Half way up this notoriously tricky part of the ascent, Bonington told the LBF that “the strength just oozed out of me” and he didn’t think he could make it. In extremis his subconscious conjoured up the image of his close friend, Doug Scott, who “was floating in the air” just by his right shoulder. Scott, said Bonington, talked him up the mountain.

In total 18 people, nine Europeans and nine sherpas, made it to the summit of Everest on this expedition. To Bonington, this alone wasn’t important, “What was important was that that number of people realised their dream.” This dream was achieved because of good planning but also because they worked so well as a team.

“The lesson that I learnt” concluded Bonington, “[…] was just how important the journey is […], the journey is every bit as important as the objective itself.” In business the outcome is important but it is also vital that the organisation maintains its integrity along the way.

“Whatever your particular dream is,” said this remarkable man to the LBF, “[…] let me finally wish you the very, very best of good fortune in actually achieving those personal Everests.”