Nick Taylor and Elizabeth Szentes are part of the Indianapolis Rotary Club, which is an inclusive organization that brings together engaged professionals from all sectors of business and the nonprofit world to create service projects that result in meaningful networking and professional development opportunities. On August 22, Nick Taylor presented at a club luncheon and shared his trekking and climbing adventure from his trip to Nepal. netlogx team members and friends were invited as guests and our group completely filled two tables! Not only were we served lunch and entertained by Nick’s stories, we were also reminded of how the netlogx principles extend far beyond the workplace.
Nick took the audience through the journey with video footage and photographs from his trip beginning from his arrival in Nepal, flying into the mountains, and traversing up to 6,500 meters.
In the spring of 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal which took 22 lives and had devastating effects on the base camp and city of Nepal. We were shown footage of destroyed buildings and ruble. Nick was amazed at how everything was ruined on the surface, yet the community continued to function, illustrating the courage and perseverance of the people.
We asked Mark Lambert what stood out the most to him and he said, “The trekking of Mount Everest aside, something that stood out to me during the presentation was what Nick said about the Nepali people: ‘they are people that have nothing, but are willing to give everything.’ This statement alone made me want to visit Everest to witness the love humankind is capable of.”
Going along with the theme of climbing, one of Nick’s comments during the Rotary event was that your passion should never peak. This comment brings a couple of netlogx operating principles to mind: initiative and empowerment. Even after a journey to the top of the world, Nick continues to ask the question with an ever-elusive answer: what’s next? In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and the Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, became the first people to summit Mt. Everest. Summiting the top of the physical world captured the imaginations of millions across the globe, with Hillary and Norgay becoming a hero to Nick in the process.
Like many great feats of human ability, summiting Everest also left us striving to reach higher, and go farther than any human had gone before. Just sixteen years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon, making it one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.
While not all of us will scale to the top of this world or orbit into worlds unknown, we all have the ability to look up and strive for greatness. It’s just a matter of continuing to ask the same simple question: what’s next?
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