Thoughts From Outside Magazine Contributor, Alan Arnette

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Alan Arnette, someone I’ve admired for quite some time. He is widely known for his written contributions to Outside Magazine and his yearly coverage of expeditions to Mount Everest. His website, www.alanarnette.com is one of the most read sites about mountaineering in the world.

Experiencing an enormously successful career with Hewlett-Packard, and given his experiences in the high alpine world of snow, ice, rock and glaciers…he has shared some down-to-earth thoughts about life and success.

I invite you to sit back and read excerpts from our emailed conversation:

EC: How did you choose your current job?

AA: With an EE degree, I interviewed on campus and took a job offer from HP amongst several others. My primary focus was to get into business management, so unlike many of my University peers, I chose sales, not engineering as my first step.

EE: Would you describe yourself as following a “career path”?

AA: Absolutely not. While I knew as a teenager that I wanted a career involving business; my path took me through areas of personal interest and growth. For example, I never had any interest in customer support yet moved to Europe to run a pan-European customer support center primarily for the life experiences. That opportunity lead me to running all customer support for Europe, Middle East and Africa-a business job. That experience was the highlight of my career and was not by design but by being opportunistic.

EC: Are you doing what you think you were “created” to do?

AA: I have no idea. I do know that I made a difference in many people’s lives…and that is a satisfying feeling. I think if you try to do the right thing, no mater what your job or role is, then you make a difference in a positive way.

EC: Do you have a “dream” job?

AA: My dream job has always been to be a positive influence. I believe what defines success is not the daily activities but the daily result and your impact. We often get hung up on what I call the activity trap where we focus on the how’s and what’s and not the why’s. If you know why you are doing something then the rest falls into place.

At this point in my life, I want to make a contribution to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. I use my mountaineering as the conduit to raise awareness and research funds. It is tough because Alzheimer’s has a stigma of being an incurable, old person’s disease that is not as important as cancer or childhood obesity for example. But as I work on my plans, I am encouraged by the reaction from friends and strangers alike, and that positive influence fuels my journey.

EC: What advice would you give someone just starting out his or her career?

AA: Two things: Focus on experiences, not ownership…and Listen to your instincts.

We often get hung up on checking off the bucket list through having things… it is the experiences of life that you remember and shape you, not what you had.

Also, we all have an inner voice that is real. It is sometimes clouded by the noise around us with information overload, and headlines that are sensationally designed to grab our attention. But deep down we all know what is right and wrong, as well as where we should be and what we should do. Getting in touch with our inner voice allows for a sense of confidence and satisfaction throughout life-even when you find yourself on a detour.

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Please visit  http://www.alanarnette.com  to learn more about Alan, and support the amazing work he is doing with Alzheimer’s research.  You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter.