The Power of Higher Purpose: Lessons from K2's Summit

As the saying goes, you're the average of the seven people closest to you. But what if those seven were the grittiest, most mentally tough individuals who simply get things done? The transformation would be profound.

Of all the amazing rewards that I’ve taken from the expeditions and adventures I’ve done, the best part has always been the great people you share the experience with. Partaking in things that are often highly challenging, in uncomfortable environments, in the darkest depths of the wilderness. You get a certain personality type who are crazy enough to join you for it. For me, these are my type of people.

I want to share a story about extraordinary grit—one that teaches us lessons applicable to business, team building, and achieving seemingly impossible goals.

Waiting on the World's Deadliest Mountain

After 14 days trekking up the Baltoro Glacier to K2, the world's second-highest peak and arguably its most dangerous, with a fatality rate of approximately 1 in 4 climbers compared to Everest's 1 in 60. Day by day it’s gotten colder, camping out on top of a glacier. 

I’m here on this mission with good friend Maria Conceição who was the first Portuguese woman to peak Everest and is on her mission to be the first Portuguese woman to reach the peak of K2, and Jimmy Naraine who like me, is going to base camp. 

At 5,000 meters, altitude sickness was starting to bite. The throbbing headaches, breathlessness, the altitude kept me awake all night. Having to run to the toilet in the pitch black, I stopped to look up at the mountain and could only see it’s dark silhouette blocking the stars like a beastly monster towering above me. I had to turn away and go back into my tent.

At 5000m, the last stretch to K2 (behind us on the right)

But María stayed, beginning her month-long wait for a weather window that might never come. When I said goodbye to María, I knew it would be sad for her as me and Jimmy had been good at keeping her spirits high and being entertaining company, but now she’s left with just the sherpas on a climb that will take another month long for her on the mountain.

While I returned to Dubai and then the UK, living my normal life for six weeks, María remained on that glacier. No proper sanitation, limited clothing, harsh conditions—just waiting. I read the headlines that the mountain climbers on K2 are returning having not been able to climb, as there hasn’t been a weather window allowing them safely up, but I hadn't heard from Maria. 

It was hard for me to conceptualise that in all the time I had been in Dubai, in the UK with my friends, doing so many different things throughout the summer, she had stayed in that one spot on the glacier and waited and waited and waited.

When thinking about challenges like this, most people focus on the technical climbing challenges of mountains like K2. The real test? The waiting. The discomfort. The mental fortitude to persist when everyone else has given up and abandoned the mountain. This is often what the real difficulty is and I was amazed my good friend was still hanging strong determined to wait even longer to get a weather window to climb up.

Weeks later, the photo appeared: María on K2's summit, one of only a handful to reach the top that season.

Maria at the summit of K2

The Why Behind the Grit

To understand María's extraordinary persistence, you need to know her story.

At two years old, María was given up by her biological mother to Cristina, an Angolan woman who raised her with love until Cristina's death when María was nine. By twelve, María was working to survive—childhood cut short by necessity.

Years later, working as cabin crew for Emirates Airlines, María visited the slums of Bangladesh on a layover. What she witnessed—children reduced to skeletons by starvation—changed her life forever. She canceled her upcoming vacation to help, beginning a mission that has now rescued over 600 children from poverty, providing education and jobs in Dubai. Each one calls her mom from the love she has shown them. 

I’ve met many of these lovely children and when I shook their hands, Maria showed me a picture of that very child 10 years before as nothing more than a skeleton, but now I’m looking at a beautiful smiley face with an opportunity for life.

For María, climbing Everest and K2 weren't just personal achievements—they were fundraising missions. Her strong purpose gave her unshakeable resilience. Success wasn't a question of easy or hard; it simply had to happen.

Maria in Bangladesh

The Science of Grit

Research by psychologist Angela Duckworth shows that grit—passion and perseverance for long-term goals—predicts success better than talent or IQ. Studies reveal that gritty individuals:

• Are 31% more likely to achieve their goals

• Show greater resilience in face of failure

• Maintain effort despite obstacles, adversity, and plateaus

María embodies this perfectly. Her childhood hardships didn't break her—they forged an unbreakable mindset.

Lessons for Business and Life

When your why is strong enough, the how works itself out. María's unwavering commitment to helping children made waiting alone on a glacier for weeks not just bearable, but necessary.

Finding a higher purpose as well as a personal goal. Truly powerful motivation comes not just from serving our own purpose, but a higher purpose to serve those that need it. When those are combined, it's a formidable force. 

Grit isn't innate—it's cultivated. We often think resilience is something you're born with, but research shows it's a mindset shaped by experience. María's difficult childhood sculpted her extraordinary mental toughness.

Choose your experiences strategically. Not everyone has a challenging childhood to thank for their grit, but we can all choose experiences that build resilience. What I call "life sculpting"—deliberately seeking challenges that develop the mindset needed for success.

The beautiful Karakoram Mountains

Building Your Grit

Consider these questions:

• What experiences do you need to develop the mindset for your biggest goals?

• Who are the seven grittiest people you could surround yourself with?

• Does your "why" serve your own needs as well as others?

For me, challenging expeditions have been one way to feed my mindset to build grit, incredible memories, and powerful stories. But the vehicle matters less than the commitment to growth.

María's story reminds us that extraordinary achievement isn't about avoiding discomfort—it's about finding a purpose so compelling that discomfort becomes irrelevant. When you're fighting for something bigger than yourself, waiting becomes preparation, obstacles become opportunities, and impossible becomes inevitable.