To the Summit and Beyond

Sharon Wood is the first North American woman to climb Mount Everest and the only woman to do so by a new route and without Sherpa assistance.

Sharon teaches, entertains and inspires with her story of climbing Mount Everest by a new and more difficult route, with fewer resources and, in good style. Good style in the world of elite high altitude climbing is all about accomplishing more with less.

Her story is a testimonial to rendering the impossible possible through exemplary teamwork, leadership and personal spirit. It is a story about ordinary people achieving extraordinary results. Sharon effectively conveys both the individual and the team perspective by stressing the importance of her own passion and dreams while fulfilling a role as a member of a team. A team committed to levering every component of their strategy to realize a shared vision.

Sharon's style is personal and moving. She uses powerful anecdotes and vivid analogies to convey the elements that parallel the challenges of striving individuals and organizations. Sharon's authentic, humorous and honest approach evokes listeners to consider the value of their own stories and reflect upon the resources and opportunities that foster personal and team success.

"Everest – To the Summit and Beyond" is more than just an adventure story, it is a timeless, universal story about human struggle and triumph over adversity. For anyone wanting to be more effective in his or her work or life, Sharon's story is a powerful inspiration.

Sharon's story illustrates these concepts and more:

• Committing to a shared vision

• Accomplishing more with less

• Thriving through change and adversity

• Looking beyond the boundaries of expertise for creative solutions

• Maintaining the momentum

• Believing "Better is possible"

• Firing on all cylinders

• Identifying the real obstacles

• Expanding horizons of perceived opportunities and resources

• Embracing the value of diversity and conflict

• Being and living our potential

• Performing over conforming

• Recognizing, giving and taking support

• Valuing power of passion and curiosity

• Embracing leadership

Stunning PowerPoint images and video taken live from the highest mountain on Earth support her presentation.

Take a Risk, Live Life!

Risk is a factor tied to much of what we do. Risk is often the deterrent to acting on what we need to do to live a more fulfilling life. Sharon espouses the value of selective risk taking as a means to experiencing our greater potential. Anticipation of loss, fear and anxiety are feelings most often associated with risk. Sharon
conveys the strategies and essential components she has used to push through her fears and barriers. She speaks to preparation, a clear vision, intention and desire as being essential components to minimizing and calculating a risk. Most importantly she speaks to rewards of being a risk taker and winning in life.

Founder and Chairperson of a private school in her community, President of her own company Adventure Dynamics Inc, first North American woman to summit Mount Everest, a professional mountaineer and a mother of two sons; Sharon is leading a life rich with risk, challenge and change.

Through humor, passion and self-disclosure Sharon describes the elements of risk in a variety of endeavors. She draws from her personal experience in public speaking, implementing community and team projects, and climbing the highest mountain in the world to explore the balance of losses and gains in risk taking.

TESTIMONIALS

I feared these people were too "sophisticated" to respond to a motivational speaker. I couldn¹t have been more wrong. Your story, and the slides and the video that went with it were fascinating. You clearly understood the problems we faced, and tailored your presentation to our needs. Your low-key style set off the message like black velvet behind diamonds.

Sharon your message regarding team concepts, interdependencies, and maximizing one¹s potential was directly on point. You were extremely effective in applying your own experiences in high altitude climbing to our business setting. The extra time you spent with us to get a deeper understanding of our business was clear to the audience and strengthened your impact. Moreover, your engaging and relaxed communication style enabled our staff to relate sell to you and with you. Simply put, you clearly exceeded our expectations and our expectations were quite high.

Everyone in the audience unanimously agreed that your presentation was fantastic. Your message which was delivered with such honesty, really struck home for the audience ­ while leaving the event they felt energized, entertained and ready to recognize the many opportunities in front of them. I am convinced that the success of this session was not only in your actual message and delivery, but in the hard preparation work and the time you dedicated in prep discussions with myself and other P&G leaders beforehand.

Most important they said that they could relate to your accomplishment and story in a way that they had not experienced with other speakers. Not that they thought they could climb Everest, but that through personal commitment and teamwork they could take their ordinary skills and develop them in a way that would allow them to deliver more both personally and professionally than had thought possible.

Sharon Wood Spoke to over five hundred RE/MAX sales people at a sales rally. I have helped organize these events for seven years, and she had the greatest positive response we've have ever had. She left the audience feeling ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and they were as charged up as if they had gone up Everest themselves.

The standing ovation we gave you was of course partly for your Everest achievement. But I think it was more because you created for the Project Management audience a context by which you reflected the conference leadership theme, and you drew in everyone. I have received so many accolades on your behalf as a result.

Somehow Sharon magically moves and inspires her audience at an emotional level, while at the same time delivering practical experience in teambuilding, project management and role modeling. She also has a knack, rarely shown in speakers, of showing her humanity.

After hearing you recount, with great humility I might add, the significant physical and mental challenges embedded in your climb to the summit, it really put into perspective the business issues we face. Your concepts of "Good Style", "Better is Possible" and "Thriving versus Surviving" have already found their way into the vernacular of our company. Your story is so rich that I expect we will be referencing it in internal conversations for some time to come.