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The only way is up Jonathan Ruane, adjunct professor in the Trinity Business School and faculty member at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became the first Sligo man to summit Everest in May 2022. He talks to Trinity Today about breaking down big goals into small steps W hen teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or the Trinity Business School, Jonathan Ruane likes to emphasise that ‘any job can be broken down into individual tasks. With any complex activity, the key to progress is to break it down into its constituent parts. You can then focus on one specific task, repeat it, become proficient, and move on to the next task.’ He co-founded a graduate course in MIT on the Global Business of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and he uses the ‘constituent parts’ model to explain to students the potential impact of AI on the labour market. ‘It is useful to consider what do we mean by ‘a job’? Whether it’s teaching or researching or being a surgeon or a plumber, a job is a sum of tasks. Some, but not all, of those tasks are going to be replaced by automation technologies, often on a gradual basis. AI is a relatively new, but very powerful automation technology. For most occupations, rather than being suddenly eliminated in the short term, it’s more likely they will be reconfigured over a period of time. That is why flexibility and regular upskilling are so important.’ Since May of this year, he can provide, from personal experience, a near perfect example of overcoming a complex challenge by breaking it down into constituent parts, mastering each task whilst remaining flexible: summiting Everest. Everest is of course the highest peak in the world, though not, as Ruane points out, the most technically challenging to climb. But ‘at almost 9,000m, the challenges are relatively unique, especially around altitude. And of course, it can be dangerous. Sadly, things can go wrong.’ He was well-prepared for the challenges: ‘I was comfortable with the danger I was exposing myself to because I’ve put in many years of improving my skills and working with a world-class team of coaches and climbing partners. I’ve climbed peaks at 5,000m, 6,000m, 7,000m and 8,000m and I climb or train 300 days a year and that includes ice-climbing, rock-climbing and alpine climbing, which aren’t directly needed for Everest, but which add to your overall competence. I felt I was ready for Everest, it felt like a chapter in a continuous story for me.’
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He was formerly an ultra-distance marathon runner and rower, having competed in the US and internationally with MIT Rowing Club. In finding the time and discipline for this, on top of academic work, it obviously helps that his partner, Grace O’Flanagan, is a former professional hockey player - she was on the Irish team that won the Silver medal at the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup finals - as well as a surgeon. Clearly, when he planned for Everest, he knew he could count on his fitness. But that’s not the only reason why, as he puts it ‘my relationship to the risks is unlikely to be the same as a non-climber.’ It’s because he applies to mountaineering the same incremental and methodical approach that he inculcates in students: he breaks it down into its ‘constituent parts’. He specifically identifies and focuses on ‘the most important variables that you have some control over as a mountaineer. These include: your physical strength and stamina, how depleted your body gets on the mountain over the course of the expedition, how you cope with altitude, how proficient you are with your equipment, what your oxygen reserves are, how well you climb with your Sherpa. I want headroom on all these.’ His focus is on ‘making sure I don’t hit my limit on any of those factors. What I do, to mitigate the chances of a high- consequence negative outcome, is to add redundancy to every part of the expedition. Then, if something goes wrong, the level of redundancy across other elements will mean a negative spiral is prevented. That helps to avoid a chain reaction, which is the big danger.’ Explained in this way, it becomes easy to see how the approach would not only help prepare you, but also provide much-needed mental calm. But it cannot, of course, entirely eliminate all risk, as Jonathan is only too aware. In 2019, his Trinity colleague, Professor Séamus (Shay) Lawless died tragically on Everest. In a poignant twist of fate, Jonathan reached the summit three years later on the When I was on the top, it meant the first and last people to summit the amazing Eiger were Irish. That was a lovely thought
