On the Edge: Leadership Lessons from Mount Everest and Other Extreme Environments

One of the world's greatest mountain climbers and adventurers tells her first-hand leadership stories of coming to grips to life literally on the edge―8000 meters up.

"Irresistible ... offers amazing timely, practical lessons and authentic inspiration delivered with candor and spunk." ―Brigadier General (Ret.) Tom Kolditz Professor Emeritus, U.S. Military Academy, Dept. of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership

On the Edge is an engaging leadership manual that provides concrete insights garnered from various extreme environments ranging from Mt. Everest to the South Pole. Author Alison Levine reflects on lessons learned during her expeditions, making the case that the leadership principles required in extreme adventure sport also apply in today’s extreme business environments. Both settings demand crucial decision-making skills in conditions that are far from perfect―the survival of you and your team depend on it.

With a foreword from leadership expert Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University basketball’s legendary Coach K, On the Edge provides a framework to help readers scale whatever big peaks they aspire to reach―literal or figurative―by offering practical, humorous, and often unorthodox advice about how to grow as a leader.

Alison Levine is a history-making polar explorer and mountaineer. She has climbed the highest peak on each continent, served as team captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition and skied to both the North and South Poles. She holds an MBA from Duke University and served as an adjunct instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point in the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership.

Levine is a sought-after keynote speaker on the topic of leadership development and has addressed audiences ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Having spent prolonged periods of time in some of the world's most dangerous and inhospitable places, she addresses the topics of creating cohesive teams, taking responsible risks and developing no-nonsense leaders that can succeed in times of uncertainty.

Levine serves on the advisory board of the Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics at Duke University and is a strategic advisor for the Thayer Leader Development Group at West Point. She was a contributing author to the book Leadership in Dangerous Situations: A Handbook for the Armed Forces, Emergency Services and First Responders (Naval Institute Press).