The Adventure of Leadership

The best way to describe author Hap Klopp is as a maverick – a Stanford MBA who couldn’t function in corporate America but had a passion nevertheless. In fact, it took him less than two months to have a “I quit” fall-out with Procter & Gamble executives! An adventurer by heart and action, Hap started the outdoor clothing and gear company, The North Face, in 1968, and built into the most recognised international outdoor brand.

His success though is not the reason for my recommendation of this book. Rather it is his ability to communicate with the reader as though he’s talking to an old friend – relating everything he did differently at The North Face. Into this he weaves other tales of success from unrelated industries that serve to vindicate his “off the wall” style. Hap also relates his adventures – things that go right, but mostly things that go awry through naivety and occasionally recklessness. All these events are used to equip modern business people to solve the problem that “everyone knows how to manage, few now how to lead”.

He writes about attitude, joy, bullies with titles, decision-making, obstacles to fulfilling your passion and why good employees should know their jobs. If you need to know how you can convince your colleagues and workers to give up a Saturday to help you paint the corporate headquarters, this book is for you. Of course if you want to climb mountains, kayak rivers and ski glaciers, this is also a must-read.