In

John Krakauers Into Thin Air, there were many noticeably poor examples of
leadership, as well as others that were more positive in nature. The following
will outline some of each type of leadership decision.
In contrasting Rob Halls leadership style to that of Scott Fischer in behavioural
terms , Halls had more a tendency towards authority and compliance while
Fischers was more Middle of the Road management style. Rob Hall put in place a
number of procedures that helped his team have an opportunity to reach the
summit. He worked with other teams to ensure a safe route through the middle
portion of the mountain. Also, his acclimatization climbs were well planned and
executed. However, the relative freedom that Fischer allowed his group seemed
to work for his crew in readying themselves for the summit attempt, as well.
At least two culturally related decisions that proved fatal were related to the
summit attempt. One, allowing Anatoli Buokreev to guide while climbing without
oxygen, a notable result of a climber culture, was a mistake that later meant he
was not able to fully participate in a rescue operation because of his weakened
condition. Also, the guide, Ngawang Topche, was not properly cared for and died
partially because of the Sherpa climbing culture that attempted to protect his
strength from being called into question he refused treatment and a possible
airlift that would have saved his life.
Many of the bad decisions that plagued the final days of the summit attempt of
were rooted in the bottlenecks that occurred as people traversed the top of the
mountain. Failure to ensure that Lopseng knew the importance of installing
ropes in advance of the first climbers was disastrous, because it led to the
aforementioned bottlenecks. Also, the leaders each of the four groups that
decided to summit on the same day are all at fault for that decision.
The number of bad leadership decisions multiplied as the prize of reaching the
summit came clearer into view. Fischers support of Lopsengs harnessing Sandy
Pittmann to help her reach the summit is a grave example of how one persons
understanding of the objectives obscured the overall mission. Lopseng tired
himself needlessly in doing so, while also carrying her computer equipment, but
also ensured he did not go ahead and set the ropes for the whole group. Rob
Halls most detrimental decision was to not specify a turnaround time on the day
of the summit attempt, as many problems resulted from his indecision. Hall and
Fischers combined wealth of technical skill, duly paid for by the people who
hired them for those skills, was not in evidence in this situation.
Finally, many of the climbers suffered from a lack of communication by their
colleagues. Whether it was Neal Beidleman not speaking up about his concerns
or Scott Fischer not advising anyone of his illness, these individuals failed to
show any sort of human skill by communicating information that was vital to
their charges safety.