Adaptive Biotechnologies CEO Credits NOLS with Leadership Success
Photo by Jamie Taylor.
Adaptive Biotechnologies CEO and Spring Semester in the Rockies grad Chad Robins says that his “whole leadership style to this day is based on those 100 days in the wilderness.” In fact, expedition behavior is the foundation of his #1 rule of leadership: do the right thing.
“As the CEO of Adaptive Biotechnologies, Chad Robins has shown a knack for turning really good ideas into a viable business…Here’s what Robins had to say about leadership.
Lesson #1: Do the right thing.
While in college at Cornell, Robins spent more than three months on a backpacking trek with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
‘My whole leadership style to this day is based on those 100 days in the wilderness,’ Robins said.
‘There was a thing called expedition behavior and … at the end of the day it’s just do your sh*t and be a good person. Do the right thing, right?’
While hiking in the desert, Robins was part of a group, and each member had a job to do when they got to the campsite. ‘If one of those people didn’t do their job, you either wouldn’t drink, you wouldn’t eat, or you wouldn’t sleep well,’ he said. ‘If I was mailing it in, someone else was picking it up. And that’s not fair.’
His love of the outdoors led Robins to his first attempt at launching a business. Soon after graduating, Robins started an outdoor luxury travel company called American Beauty, named after the Grateful Dead album.”
