Thinking is exhausting. Our brain is constantly subject to stimuli of different sorts and has to respond quickly and specifically. It would be a massive waste of energy for it to access all of its resources in every moment of the day in order to react.  

And, so, it doesn’t. It takes shortcuts.

It relies on assumptions based not on information and logical analysis, but on pre-existing ideas and preconceptions. The Greeks called it heuristics, a word whose origin means “to find”: to find the simplest solution, not necessarily the most effective. 

We didn’t hear this word between the walls of a university classroom, but in the Methodos offices, during a preparation meeting with the Milan CAI. The title of meeting was “Safety in the Mountains” – promising - but the subtitle read, “No such thing as zero risk”. And it’s exactly these heuristic shortcuts that we had to consider. 

We know that our journey has to include this awareness – we’ve already discovered it.  We know that we can’t eliminate risk in the mountains, just as we can’t in life. 

In the end it also wouldn’t make sense to eliminate it completely. What would happen to the challenge then? We’re able to bring out our strength exactly in those moments of panic, when our heart rate increases and adrenaline comes into play. It’s that feeling that ends up being addictive for extreme sport lovers. 

But it’s also part of the most critical moment. Because the real risk isn’t always objective, like the cold, wind, or an unexpected crevice. The dangers that sneak up on you are the subjective ones: the so called “human factor”.

And this is true as much in everyday life as it is in the mountains. 

We’ve evolved to use “mental shortcuts” (or heuristics) that are useful for making complex decisions in our day-to-day lives. A fundamental heritage from times where danger was constant, where the risk of a sabre-toothed tiger jumping out of a bush was real. Our instinctual response time, in those cases, was the difference between life and death. 

“Heuristic shortcuts”, then, are those cognitive strategies that allow us to quickly elaborate decisions, make social judgements, and understand concepts. Fundamentals if you find yourself in front of that tiger. 

But now that it’s extinct? In both the city and the mountains, we risk falling into “heuristic traps”; a subjective danger to be feared. 

This is why physical training isn’t enough: we need to develop critical thinking and the capacity to analyse situations. But, also, awareness of these traps, the so-called “human factor” or subjective risk. 

For example, to get to the top of the Mont Blanc, just as to be successful in Change Management, we can’t limit ourselves by blindly trusting an external person, as trustworthy as they may be. 

If this person were to make the wrong decision, for example falling into the heuristic trap of the search for leadership, we would follow them into the same crevice that they promise to help us avoid. We’d be victims of herd mentality: we’d be sheep. 

In the most complex moments, if the person deciding isn’t an expert, or isn’t fully aware of the situation, their choice would be as efficient as the toss of a coin.

Fifty - fifty. The same percentage as change. 

In the same way, if we never question others’ decisions and stop thinking about alternative solutions in work, leaving the responsibility for our company to those higher up, we’d be nothing but numbers. We’d become gears in a mechanism in the hands of others, not resources. 

And in this way, the companies that operate in a competitive market - this applies also for alpine expeditions – aren’t successful without the contribution of the whole group. 

“We’ve always done it this way, what do you expect?”

“We’ve gotten this far, we need to go through with it.”

“These are the ideal conditions, what can go wrong?”

These are phrases that we could be heard saying as much in the mountains as in the comfort – and safety – of our offices. 

They could be uttered as easily by a colleague, expert in the mountains, as by a company manager. 

And they’re clues: typical prints left in the snow by heuristic traps. 

Anyone can fall for them: novice or expert, wise or foolish. 

The only defence is to recognise them – to recognise prejudice when it’s masked as a logical decision.

So how do we defend ourselves, then? How to avoid not only objective risks, but also subjective ones?

Heuristic traps have only one weak point, a sort of mathematic formula to defuse them: they are inversely proportionate to experience. 

This is why our meeting with the CAI was very important. 

This is why we are dedicating two years to this journey of preparation and learning about alpinism and about ourselves: because climbing the Mont Blanc doesn’t mean diligently following the person in front of us, but managing to understand if that person is heading the wrong way. 

Because it’s not a mountain hike, but a Change Management journey.

We manage the change. 

We fight the heuristic traps daily: we fight that “We’ve always done it this way, this is the best way.”

The Mont Blanc is an important choice, a great change, to be faced with awareness.