Rebecca Stephens began her career in journalism, working for one of the Financial Times magazines. In 1993, she resigned from this post to climb Everest, the first British woman to do so. This she followed with the climbing of the Seven Summits, again the first British woman. She has skied across South Georgia in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton and sailed to Commonwealth Bay on the coast of Antarctica in a 60ft yacht, and leads treks in the Himalayas – in Bhutan, Ladakh, Tibet, Nepal and Sikkim – and in East Africa. For four consecutive years, she coached and led groups of international women MBA students studying at the Rotterdam School of Management to climb Kilimanjaro, the aim to facilitate a behavioural transformation in leadership and collaboration.
Her book titles include On Top of the World, an account of climbing Everest, published by Macmillan, as well as many business strategy titles drawing on her extensive expedition experiences. She is Director of Seven Summits Performance Limited, a professional and leadership development company, an adjunct at Hult Ashridge Executive Education, and principal consultant of Skarbek Associates, consultants in executing strategy. She is Chair of the Mount Everest Foundation, a committed trustee of The Himalayan Trust UK, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and member of the Alpine Club.
