We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tim Satterthwaite a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tim, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Most leadership development initiatives take place on Zoom or in a conference room. Cairn Leadership Strategies fuses rigorous leadership curriculum with outdoor adventures to develop leaders. With the outdoors as the classroom with which to facilitate personal and professional growth, we are able to create memorable experiences, build reflective practices and build a network of adventurous business leaders.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I spent ten seasons leading individuals through wilderness areas before returning the graduate school to study leadership. What I found during that time is that the outdoors is a powerful classroom for personal growth. I connected with Cairn Leadership Strategies as a guide and joined as a business partner a year later. Cairn Leadership develops business leaders through outdoor adventures. Using MBA-level leadership curriculum we facilitate wilderness leadership adventures around the country, building self-awareness in leaders and a network of unique thinkers. From canoeing expeditions to backcountry skiing to rock climbing trips, we infuse our adventures with dialogue-based discussions facilitated around the intersections of key leadership competencies. We believe that leadership development happens best outside.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

It’s all about lifestyle. I was searching on LinkedIn for people and roles that would combine my passion for leadership development with my background in wilderness guide. I searched for Outdoor Adventure and found my business partner, Knight Campbell, page. His title was “Outdoor Adventure Guide | Cairn Leadership”. I looked at his page and that of the company and I knew that I had found the right place.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’ve always been passionate about the outdoors. Throughout my years in high school and undergraduate, I got outside as much as possible, often bringing friends out with me. As I started my career in the outdoor industry, I initially was working with adolescents only. The work was rewarding and challenging but financially unsustainable. I realized during this time that my passion was truly in the facilitation of growth that was happening during these expeditions. I returned to graduate school to further study leadership and it was there that I began to surround myself with experts in the field and other passionate classmates. When the opportunity opened up to join Cairn Leadership as a business partner, I was surrounded by those that knew my passion and had helped to develop me as a facilitator. What started as weekend trips with buddies in college, turned into a Masters Degree and a business partnership in a premier outdoor leadership development firm.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cairnleadership.com
• Instagram: @cairnleadership
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-satterthwaite/
• Youtube: Cairn Leadership Strategies