One of the great things about working at Microsoft is that you sometimes get to hear from the most interesting people. On a previous offsite,  we heard from Giles Long and Terry Waite was our dinner speaker, and yesterday Lewis Pugh talked to a group of us about his impossible feat of swimming 1km at the North Pole. He does this to highlight the unfolding environmental catastrophe.

As Pugh knows, swimming at the North Pole is not the smartest idea. He says “To put it into context, 27 degrees is the temperature of an indoor swimming pool, 18 degrees is the temperature of The Channel, the passengers on the Titanic fell into water that was 5 degrees, freshwater freezes at 0 degrees and the water at the North Pole is –1.7 degrees. It’s fucking freezing.”

His story is one of near-madness, burning passion and total commitment to the task at hand. In Pugh’s case, his life was on the line and he told a compelling story of building the best team you can, of zero blame cultures, and of total indemnity (a few years in the SAS delivered that experience).

Aside from the soundbites, it’s the throwaway comments that make me think. At one point he said “So my life sort of dovetailed into the need to do something about [the environment]”. Even he somehow can’t articulate what it is that triggers him to do this stuff, but more power to it.

An amazing inspiration.