Cairn Leadership Strategies

Cairn Leadership Strategies Professional and leadership development through outdoor adventures merged with MBA level curriculum.

Cairns are piles of stones placed by travelers to mark the way. When trails disappear in the wilderness, experienced mountaineers leave cairns to mark the route for others to safely navigate. Lost climbers look for cairns in the most uncertain parts of an adventure and eventually find the summit- sometimes by moving from one cairn to the next. At an adventurer’s darkest times, seeing a cairn and k

nowing someone else has been in the same place in our journey makes us feel safe and guided. At Cairn Leadership Coaching, we believe that the journey of leadership touches all aspects of a person. We will create a coaching relationship to meet you where you are and determine where you want to go as a leader. We will collaborate with you to create a personalized experience focused on both driving home the developmental goals identified in coaching and having an adventure. If you view leadership as an important part of your life and want to grow as a leader, but can't see yourself in another self-help seminar, come face your mountains with Cairn Leadership Coaching! We will help you find the ‘Cairns’ you need and begin building your own ‘Cairns’ for others to follow.

The best leaders lead well because they live well. Cairn leadership believes in helping leaders build better leadership through centering and holistic activities that enrich one’s life such as mountaineering, rock climbing, trail running, yoga, etc. Our leadership coaching, organizational consulting and team building is extremely effective, and also a fun life enriching experience.

02/20/2026

If we call it emotional intelligence, we mean it's hard or impossible to get better at it. If it's social emotional skills, we can practice and develop our capacity to recognize and use emotions.

In reality, much like mathematical intelligence, it is both. Some people are born talented in making sense of numbers. The rest of us take classes and practice calculus to get proficient with it.

That's good news for all of us. We might not be "emotionally intelligent" but we can be really skilled at emotions.

In On Character Gen McChrystal breaks character down into basically knowing the right thing to do and having the discipl...
02/18/2026

In On Character Gen McChrystal breaks character down into basically knowing the right thing to do and having the discipline to actually do it.

That sounds simple, but it actually take a healthy dose of critical thinking to figure out the right thing to do in this massive gray area called real life. It takes a lot of courage to actually do it.

Where could you focus a little more time and energy on your character?

Atlas of the heart is a journey. Put it on your coffee table of kitchen counter and read a couple pages every day. The b...
02/16/2026

Atlas of the heart is a journey.

Put it on your coffee table of kitchen counter and read a couple pages every day. The books covers 87 human emotions in detail and will help you learn to articulate what you actually feel and what you want to do about it.

Stop treating trust as a feeling... it's a hard skill. Trust can feel like a squishy conversation, and yes, there is som...
02/11/2026

Stop treating trust as a feeling... it's a hard skill. Trust can feel like a squishy conversation, and yes, there is some softness to it. On the flip side, we can look at trust with the hard gaze of an actuary. At baseline, trust is a risk calculation. Can I risk what I value with this person in order to gain an expected benefit (faster work, better outcomes, deep friendship, better ideas) or not?

When we fail to look at it this way, we end up trusting people we shouldn't and not trusting people we should.

Here's a tool to think it through.

Don't miss this podcast episode on the subject either!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Js562otC7SjfjIS1ayEQP?si=ac6fc55cf6ef4683

If you want a highly actionable book on emotional intelligence, you'll love this one. It is packed with tools to help yo...
02/09/2026

If you want a highly actionable book on emotional intelligence, you'll love this one. It is packed with tools to help you understand, regulate, and use emotions more effectively!

02/06/2026

High standards without a vision crush moral, but when leaders have a clear vision and help people see why it's important and how to get there, high standards motivate the heck out of good teams.

Success in today’s complex world demands adaptability and clear leadership.  Simply Complexity by Neil Johnson breaks do...
02/02/2026

Success in today’s complex world demands adaptability and clear leadership. Simply Complexity by Neil Johnson breaks down complicated concepts into practical insights, empowering you to lead with confidence amidst chaos. Build your knowledge base and learn some fun facts while you're at it.

Visions only help determine strategy if they start eliminating good options. When we try to be everything to everyone, w...
01/28/2026

Visions only help determine strategy if they start eliminating good options. When we try to be everything to everyone, we end up ineffective and burned out. When we select only the things that matter most to us, we can focus all of our energy on making the vision happen.

Knowing our values helps define our vision or the future we want to create. That can sound a little vague, but Michael H...
01/26/2026

Knowing our values helps define our vision or the future we want to create. That can sound a little vague, but Michael Hyatt does a great job of making it concrete in this book.

Last week in Field Notes, we referenced James Clear a lot. That's probably because he wrote one of the most useful and p...
01/19/2026

Last week in Field Notes, we referenced James Clear a lot. That's probably because he wrote one of the most useful and practical guides on habits we have ever read. If you have not read this one, put Atomic Habits on your list now!

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