Business Leadership Lessons from a World-Renowned American Mountain Climber - Kevin Cherilla

Kevin Cherilla, co-founder and owner of K2 Adventure Travel, leads groups to summit mountains like Mt. Kilimanjaro. His team guides groups of 30-40 individuals to surmount their fears and limitations and climb higher. He and his colleagues teach their clients to put forth the efforts needed for success, be present in the moment and work together in teams, and instill patience in people who otherwise run in various rat races of life. But Kevin’s and K2’s successes go well beyond. He led various disabled individuals, including those with blindness and no hands or feet, to reach higher than they could imagine. His proudest achievement led 8 individuals with blindness (and 25 in total) to summit Kilimanjaro together. And these achievements helped various non-profits raise funds to support their work. Kevin, an accomplished climber himself, first summited Mt. Everest in 2007. He discusses how he achieved that, including his 11 months of training and living and climbing for many days at high altitude. Those accomplishments helped K2 survive and have its own successes, even after Covid 19 almost cratered its business in 2020. He expects 2022 to be a record year. In addition, K2 founded a non-profit (“K2 Adventures”) to give back to those communities that share their resources to support K2’s adventurers.