It was almost eerie, setting off along the stream in the faint daylight at such an early hour.

The water rushed noisily down through a series of man-made steps. I climbed into the forest, following the stream. Further up, the trail moved away from the roaring water, and I found myself in a more open woodland. A light mist settled in, leaving me with only a vague sense of my surroundings.

The trail narrowed into a path and wound its way uphill to the mountain saddle. After a short traverse, I found myself standing in front of a rock face. Fog in every direction. What now? Step by step, the path revealed itself, showing me the way up. After a short scramble over the rocks, I reached the summit cross.

What a view! If only I could see something! Everything was shrouded in fog. Every now and then, the mist cleared a little, allowing me to make out the surrounding valleys and distant peaks. Then it closed in again, continuing its game with me until I decided to head back down.

I descended slowly, searching for the right handhold as I went. Some rocks were loose, ready to break away from the cliff at any moment. They lay in wait for their victims: unsuspecting hikers who would have lost their footing had they relied on these rocks to hold them.

I enjoyed the autumn atmosphere. The first plants and trees had already begun to change color, with red, yellow, orange, and green competing for attention.

It was only further down that I came across other hikers. The fog began to lift, and the landscape slowly unfolded before me. Yet this new world was exactly the same as the old one. It simply appeared in a completely different light.

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Inevitably, my thoughts turned to everyday office life in a typical company. There, too, fog often hangs over the workplace, blocking access to data and information and making it almost impossible to see clearly. Communication repeatedly grinds to a halt, and often even the bare minimum fails to get through. People are frequently left feeling lost, disoriented, and helpless. Some simply give up. And when working remotely from home, many pieces of information remain forever hidden and out of reach.

The fog is impenetrable. It punishes anyone who tries to move a project forward. Goals remain out of reach, and communication becomes difficult or breaks down altogether. The only way forward is to draw on experience gained in previous jobs, where you learned how to find the right handholds, where to place your feet, and how to keep your bearings, one step at a time. Even in dense fog.

But beware: danger lurks everywhere! Those loose rocks can break away at any moment. Blind trust can have serious consequences. Checking whether the rocks can bear your weight, staying in control, and being prepared for surprises are essential for survival. What nature teaches us is just as important in our professional lives.

A large company brings together all kinds of people. Some believe they know better than everyone else. In their inexperience, they take paths that make experienced professionals smile wearily. Yet when those professionals offer advice on how to find the right path, reach the summit without stumbling, and tackle projects successfully, no one listens.

So I regularly watch the same mistakes being repeated, again and again. Projects fail or move forward at a snail’s pace. Often, external “consultants” are involved, sometimes even causing the very problems they are supposed to solve. Yet people trust them blindly.

Why is that?

Why can’t we check every rock in advance to see whether it will hold?