Celebrated mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta shares inspiring life lessons at India Talks OOH

From being an asthmatic child he went on to scale new heights (quite literally)  as a mountaineer and fought some tough battles along the way as he chased his big dreams.  Indeed, the talk by Satyarup Siddhantha, mountaineer and motivational speaker, on ‘Scaling new peaks of excellence – meeting challenges head on’ proved to be a fitting finale for the India Talks OOH Conference.

For the OOH industry, just about recovering from a challenging period of pandemic induced lockdowns, diminished marketing spends and business uncertainties, Satyarup’s emphasis on being committed to a vision and in believing in dreams against all odds, resonated deeply. 

“I believe in the power of dreaming big and I believe in chasing my dreams against all odds. It is this belief which has defined my journey,” he says and his experiences are a testimony to that.

Satyarup, who holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest in the world to climb the highest mountains and volcanoes of all the seven continents, took the audience through his own inspiring journey, right from the time he was diagnosed with asthma as an eight year old, to the time to his moment of  epiphany when the seeds of his dream were sown. “Growth mindset was the only option I had and then innovation followed,” he said recalling how he decided to work around his challenges, and talked about the need to “rewire thoughts to bend the reality”.

Satyarup’s tryst with mountaineering began with the Parvathmalai in Tamilnadu in 2008. “I never thought I could ever climb a mountain. But when I did, without the aid of an inhaler, I climbed my Everest. Small wins are foundation of big dreams.” From then on there was no turning back for Satyarup. He went on to cross newer milestones. Satyarup has hoisted the national flag at all the highest and most remote points of all seven continents and has also skied the last degree to South Pole.

But the process was full of learnings and he used every hurdle and challenge, whether it was financial  or physical , as an opportunity to learn and grow. He talked about what he calls the VUCA world, where VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. And this indeed holds a lot of relevance for business leaders, particularly when he emphasised the underlying need of the hour against each of the state in the VUCA World. For example, a state of volatility would require clearer vision and action to probe into changes , while a state of ambiguity would need agility and innovation. A time of uncertainties would need understanding and perspectives, while complexity would need clarity and creativity.

Further sharing his experiences and his resolve to grow, he said, “My biggest exponential growth and life decisions came from embracing uncertainties, from being uncomfortable.” Taking the audience through some of his most scary and challenging moments in the mountains and drawing the life lessons from them, he said, “For success what matters is not your intelligence, IQ, business, or where you live. But your grit and your ability to stick to your commitments and goals.”

Having braved some tough challenges to emerge a winner, he decided to make it his mission to motivate others with his life experiences, “I have seen the world from both sides - from a place where I found it difficult to breathe and also from a place where normal people find it difficult to breathe - at the top of Everest. So I decided to share my learnings to inspire people from all spheres and empower them in such a way that they can live in the VUCA world effectively.”

Satyarup concluded his talk by recalling his unforgettable experiences in the South Pole with these powerful and thought provoking words, “When you are alone and even the Sun cannot show you the direction, all you need is a compass to align yourself,  no matter which industry you are in, which background you come from, which startup ecosystem you are in,  or which race or gender you belong to. The question is, are you aligned to your dreams? And then every direction is a right direction. So, what’s your true North?”