Leadership Lessons at -20° Windchill

I’m writing this on the drive home from Houghton, Michigan, after visiting my son during one of the most anticipated weekends of the year at Michigan Technological University, Winter Carnival. It’s one of those traditions that lives far beyond the students themselves.

The entire community shows up for it. You can feel it in the air. Pride. Energy. Belonging. It’s more than an event. It’s a shared experience that becomes part of who they are. And please understand... these people are built different! Snow, cold, resilience!

One of the cornerstones of the weekend is the ice sculpture competition between fraternities and sororities. Massive, intricate sculptures created entirely by students. Not during comfortable daytime hours, but overnight. In temperatures that dipped below −7° (more than -20° with windchill)! Thirty, sometimes fifty students working together at once. Some carving. Some hauling snow. Some stepping away briefly to warm up their hands and faces before returning again. Rotating shifts. Encouraging each other. Laughing. Enduring the pain for the purpose.

And the tools they used were as creative as the sculptures themselves. Hair dryers plugged into long extension cords to melt snow into smooth, glass-like ice. Hot kettles of water poured carefully to shape edges and surfaces. They improvised. They adapted. They figured it out together. No one handed them a perfect roadmap. No one told them exactly how to do it. They simply committed to the shared goal and kept moving forward.

Listening to their stories. It was the middle of the night, bundled in layers, faces red from the cold, eyes tired but alive, I realized, it wasn’t just about watching students building sculptures to win. It was about building leadership. Learning how to function as part of something bigger than themselves. Taking turns stepping forward and stepping back. Pushing through discomfort, exhaustion, and the constant temptation to choose comfort over commitment. Staying aligned to a shared vision even when their warm beds were only steps away, calling their names. Sometimes SCREAMING their names! 

The truth is, leadership doesn’t develop in perfect conditions. It develops in moments exactly like this. When it’s uncomfortable. When it requires sacrifice. When it requires you to rely on others and allow others to rely on you.

These young adults weren’t just learning how to build ice sculptures. They were learning how to build trust, resilience, accountability. They were learning how to build confidence in themselves and in each other. They were learning how to show up even when they didn’t feel like it. How to contribute even when they were tired. How to stay committed even when the outcome wasn’t guaranteed and when the conditions were freaking cold!

These are the lessons no classroom can fully teach.

As a parent, there is something incredibly emotional about witnessing this stage of your child’s life. You spend years hoping they will develop the tools they need to navigate the world. You teach them responsibility. You teach them perseverance. You teach them how to work with others. But there comes a point where they must step into those lessons on their own. Where they must choose to show up without you guiding every step. And when you see it happening, not because you told them to, but because they’ve become that person, it fills you with a kind of pride that is hard to put into words. You realize that part of what you had been building alongside of them throughout the years are tools of capability and becoming. Capable of handling hard things. Capable of working within complex teams and personalities. Capable of pushing through adversity. Capable of building something meaningful even when the conditions are less than ideal.

These college kids think they’re building sculptures for a competition. They think they’re working toward bragging rights, but they’re building something far more important. They’re building the habits and mindset that will shape how they show up in their careers, relationships, communities and so much more. These students are going to do incredible things in our workforce and in our world. Not because they know everything, but because they are learning how to show up, contribute, persevere and keep going...together.

As I drove away, leaving my son there to continue building his own path, I felt grateful (Ok, selfishly sad for me because he is so awesome to be around). But still, so, so grateful. Grateful to be witness to such beautiful growth.

We are better together. Always.

xxoo,

Krista

I’m Krista Ryan

My job is to help you learn a little, laugh a lot, and get clear on action steps for your success.

It may have taken a life changing event to shake me awake and decide I no longer wanted to live a comfortable life… I wanted to embrace the discomfort and live a life of courage and intention.

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