By
Cameron Poolman, the chief executive officer of non-bank lender OnDeck, recently spent three weeks trekking through the mountains in Nepal, without cell service or access to email, and he said his business ran better than ever.
"That's actually a really good learning moment, to require me to do less in certain things," Poolman (pictured above) told Australian Broker. "The guys who are actually in the business running it, are actually doing a really good job. That was really good."
The trek was an 18-day journey to Mount Everest's Base Camp in Nepal with 10 of the CEO's university friends. The trip required hiking at an average elevation of more than 4,000 meters, limited oxygen supply, freezing cold nights, fellow hikers getting sick and six months of physical training in the lead up.
In the end, Poolman conquered the three main Everest High Passes circuit, each towering more than 5,000 meters high, something he called "really special."
"Certainly, there are challenges along the way," Poolman said, most notably the physical challenge. "But it was a testament to perseverance, teamwork and the power of pushing boundaries and overcoming obstacles.
"The biggest learning I took from this experience was that it’s a powerful reminder of the strength of lifelong friendships and the rewards of embracing challenges together," he said. "When we work [as adults], we don't really ring up friends during the week. By the time you finish work you go home and you do whatever. So to actually spend time walking with each other. It's pretty special to be able to do it and it's a sense of achievement."
The only contact Poolman had with the outside world during the trek was by way of a satellite phone that let him text his team at OnDeck. It also allowed the team in Sydney to track their CEO's every move, quite literally.
"So in the office, on the map, they could see where I was and where I was walking," he said. "I really enjoyed that."
But an even bigger highlight, Poolman said, was the chance to be unreachable — even for a moment.
"I'm always on my phone; I'm always looking at reports. I'm always looking at whatever, what's happening," he said. "And to be able to not do that it's actually pretty amazing to just sort of have time to think and time to strategize, to get off the grid for 18 days. My email didn't work. Officially, nothing worked. So all of the sudden, you just completely decompress, you come back, like a different person. You've had a lot of time to think; a lot of time to sort of work out personally what I'm going to do. It's a pretty amazing feeling to just decompress like that."
Make no mistake about it, the trek was still hard. But Poolman is used to doing hard things. He's spent nearly 10 years leading OnDeck, a non-bank lender that provides loans to small businesses in Australia. That's on top of a near two-decade stint as CEO of Grays, an online retailer and auctioneer. An experienced hiker, Poolman has also hiked the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea three times.
The trip to Mount Everest's Base Camp, Poolman said, helped strengthen some of his existing skills as a leader.
"You're always problem solving, because you're under pressure," said Poolman, referring to the trek in Nepal. "You can't make quick decisions. You might have altitude sickness, or a terribly sore throat, or you could be feeling absolutely dreadful. So you say, what medicines am I going to take? Should I eat? Because I need energy for tomorrow. I've got to get to sleep. Am I going to get enough water?
"It's interesting, because in business it's the same," he continued. "Everyone gives you advice. There's like 10 other people who say, 'Do this. Do this. Do this.' And then you've got to say, 'No, I'm going to do this.' So there is that decision-making [element] and there's resilience."
