Wharton@Work

March 2026 | 

Learning at Altitude: Mont Blanc Trek Reignites Leaders

Learning at Altitude: Mont Blanc Trek Reignites Leaders

The impact of a powerful learning experience often shows up long after the program ends in how leaders frame problems, listen to others, and make decisions under pressure. But growth is not a one-time event. As responsibilities expand and environments shift, leaders benefit from experiences that challenge them again, pulling them out of routine and back into deliberate reflection.

That search for renewed perspective is what brought a group of Wharton Executive Education alumni to Chamonix, France, for an immersive leadership trek. Led by the learning directors of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) in partnership with the Mountain Path Company, the experience is designed to extend the journey they began in one of the school’s executive programs.

A Return to the Circle

Framed as both a reunion and a reinvigoration, the trek brings together a group of leaders who share a common foundation but are now navigating new professional and personal terrain — placing them once again in close quarters to share challenges, conversations, and reflection over several concentrated days.

What emerges is less a revisiting of old lessons and more a re-visioning of them through new lenses. Time away from daily demands allows participants to share the questions that have surfaced since their original program and explore them with peers who understand both the pressures of senior leadership and the Wharton framework they share.

Jamie Lissette, an AMP alum who joined the Chamonix experience several years after completing the program, describes it as a continuation of the environment that made his original Wharton experience so powerful. “You're learning individually,” he says, “but at the same time, you're compounding that learning through the experiences of all these other people from different parts of the world, different upbringings, different perspectives. That's the beauty of these programs.”

For Lissette, the group setting helps reveal blind spots. “It makes you aware of the assumptions shaping your decisions — some you didn't even realize were there,” he says. “It brings things to light.” Those realizations shape how leaders return to their organizations, more aware of their own biases and more open to perspectives that might once have gone unnoticed.

Leadership in the Mountains — and in the Mirror

Set in the shadow of Mont Blanc, the trek blends outdoor challenges with facilitated leadership exploration. For Antoinette Van der Merwe, CIO of Stellenbosch University and an AMP alumna, the physical challenge became unexpectedly transformative. During the trek, she chose the most demanding climbing option, a decision that mirrored her leadership philosophy but tested it in ways she hadn't anticipated. Midway up a rock face, she found herself stuck, unable to see a path forward and growing increasingly frustrated. “I couldn't find a handhold. I couldn't find a foothold. I can't see the top. I didn’t know which way to go,” she recalls.

It was a moment of revelation. “I'm a big picture person,” van der Merwe explains. “I want to see the top, get the plan, and follow the plan.” But her guide redirected her attention downward to a small foothold she'd overlooked while focused on the summit. “Once I found the foothold, he said, ‘Just push up.’ I pushed up. He said, ‘Do you see any others?’ And then suddenly I started noticing, ‘Oh, there's another little foothold.’ I kept pushing up, one foothold and handhold at a time, and got to the top.”

The lesson stayed with her. “Coming back to my own environment, my own leadership, it's good to focus on the big picture, but sometimes it's just so important to focus on that one little foothold and not become impatient if you can't get to the top immediately.”

The climb also tested her self-trust. After reaching one plateau, she faced another challenging section where she hung for 10 to 15 minutes, repeatedly trying different footholds and failing. “I was thinking, what did my guide say? Breathe, relax, look for the small footholds,” she remembers. “And I think in that moment, I also realized sometimes the only person you can trust is yourself.”

Back at Stellenbosch, where cybersecurity challenges and high-pressure situations are routine, van der Merwe now brings that mountain mindset to her team. “People can understandably get very impatient and panicky. I bring the calmness to the team and say, ‘My experience on the mountain hanging there for 15 minutes was, let's just try that foothold there. Have we tried this? Have we tried that?’”

The Ripple Effects of Recognition

The trek also reinforced lessons about leadership through an unexpected source: watching a fellow participant bravely navigating a challenging part of the climb with constant encouragement from her guide. “She was in the most awkward positions from time to time. I wondered how she was going to make it," van der Merwe recalls. “Every time she got one foothold, she put one hand up, she pulled herself up, her guide shouted, ‘Superb, superb.’ It was just amazing because that was the voice the whole time I was climbing.”

The observation became a metaphor that van der Merwe carried back to her organization. “It's such a powerful lesson; as a leader, you need to keep on encouraging. When somebody does something well, even if it's something small, encourage,” she says. “That metaphor now is within the IT division. I always say, ‘Remember the superb,’ because often we're just critical. We need to look more for those small things that can easily be overlooked; we need to recognize and reward people for them.”

The combination of structured learning and intense experience creates lasting impact. “One of the exercises is presenting a real problem you're facing,” Lissette explains. “People don't tell you what to do. They ask, ‘Have you thought about this?’ or ‘Is there a way to look at it differently?’ A lot of times, it's not the answer itself; it's the new way of approaching the problem that helps you get there.”

A Community That Outlasts the Trip

The trek's longer-term impact shows up in the relationships that continue after participants return home. “You come out of these experiences with friendships that last,” Lissette said. “As adults, we don't often spend morning, day, and night with a small group of people working on the same things without outside distractions. That creates a strong bond.”

“Creating that community is incredibly powerful,” van der Merwe adds, “and I feel incredibly privileged that I had this experience with those individuals.”

The experience has influenced how both leaders approach their work. Earlier in his career, Lissette leaned toward a more unilateral style. Since AMP, and reinforced by experiences like the Chamonix trek, he has become more deliberate about seeking out and weighing others’ views. “Everybody's got an opinion,” he said. “It may not give you the answer, but it helps you make a better decision.”

That mindset — openness, reflection, and a willingness to learn from peers — is what the trek is designed to sustain. For AMP alumni, it offers not a return to the past, but a reminder that leadership growth continues, shaped by community as much as by individual insights and experience. And sometimes, as van der Merwe learned on that rock face in Chamonix, the most important lesson is simply to look for the next foothold.