Lessons from the Field #22 — Don’t Forget to Celebrate the Climb

shantel kent

Sep 20

2 min read

This week, I’m writing Lessons from the Field from a little different kind of “field.”

I’m in Aruba for our Ambassador Club trip, surrounded by some incredible people who earned their way here.

And it got me thinking.

We spend a lot of time talking about the climb.

The goals.

The expectations.

The difficult conversations.

The long days.

The setbacks.

The decisions nobody sees.

The pressure that comes with leadership.

And the responsibility of getting up the next morning and doing it all over again.

But we don’t talk nearly enough about stopping long enough to celebrate what the climb produced.

Walking around this week, I don’t just see people on a beautiful trip.

I see stories.

I see leaders who developed people.

I see teams that pushed through difficult seasons.

I see people who delivered results, made an impact and kept going when it would have been easier not to.

And maybe most importantly, I see something we don’t always get enough of in business:

Connection.

Time to sit together without the next meeting waiting.

Time to laugh.

Time to meet the people behind the titles.

Time to share stories, build relationships and genuinely enjoy the company of people who understand what it took to get here.

There will always be another goal waiting for us when we get home.

Another number.

Another challenge.

Another mountain to climb.

But leadership can’t only be about what’s next.

Sometimes we need to look around at the people beside us, look back at the mountain we just climbed and say:

We did something worth celebrating.

That isn’t complacency.

That’s gratitude.

That’s recognition.

And sometimes, that’s exactly what gives people the energy to start climbing again.

Lesson from the field:

Never become so focused on the next mountain that you forget to celebrate the one you just climbed — or the people who climbed it with you.

And this week?

We’re celebrating. We earned it.

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