六大极限项目留住人才

艾琳费雪

    你可能想象不出一个时尚设计师顶着亚利桑那州的炎炎烈日，在霍皮族印第安人的保留地里汗流浃背地盖草房子是什么场景。不过在2010年，纽约欧文顿市的艾琳费雪公司（Eileen Fisher）的技术设计师利奥诺拉•默克尔的确花了整整一星期的时间做这件事。她先是打磨木头，搭建房子的骨架，然后把一捆捆的干草堆成房子的墙等等。在这之前，默尔克做过的与这最接近的体力活就是上学的时候为校园剧搭舞台。

    默克尔回忆说：“每一天对我来说都是新鲜的，是不同的。从体力劳动和天气的角度讲，这是非常艰苦的一周，晚上冻得要死，白天热得要命。”

    一共有来自艾琳费雪等公司的10名成员参加了这次由食品公司Clif Bar组织的名叫“好公司”（Good Company）的活动。他们把帐篷支在沙地上，晚上听着土狼的嚎叫声入睡，轮流做饭，打扫清洁。

    默克尔学会了如何使用太阳能淋浴器，如何搭帐篷、使用电动工具等。在非盈利机构红羽毛发展集团（Red Feather Development Group）和Kii' Nat Wan Lalwa的协调下，他们还参观了印第安人的庆典仪式，了解了霍皮人的文化，还与当地部落成员进行交流。

    默克尔表示，通过这次活动，她找回了对自己能力的自信，而且更加欣赏她的公司。她说：“它教会了我很多，它让我了解了我自己，让我知道我在体力上和精神上有多大的承受力，让我能把恐惧抛到一边。”

Eileen Fisher

    You might not be able to imagine a fashion designer sweating under the Arizona sun to build a straw bale house on the Hopi reservation. But that's precisely what Leonora Merkel, a technical designer for Eileen Fisher Inc. in Irvington, N.Y., spent one week doing in 2010: sanding wood, constructing the framework for the house, and stacking straw bales to make walls and such. The closest Merkel had ever come to similar work was building sets in school plays.

    "Every day was something new and different and foreign to me," Merkel recalls. "It was a very difficult week in terms of the hard labor and the weather conditions. At night, it was freezing cold, and in the day it was excruciatingly hot."

    The 10-person team, from Eileen Fisher and other companies participating in Clif Bar's In Good Company initiative, slept in tents set up on the desert sand, and were soothed to sleep by the howling of coyotes. They took turns cooking and cleaning.

    Merkel learned to use a solar shower, pitch a tent, and use power tools. They also observed Native American ceremonies, learned about Hopi culture, and connected with members of the tribe, thanks to the nonprofit Red Feather Development Group and Kii' Nat Wan Lalwa, which oversaw the project.

    Merkel says she came away from the experience with newfound confidence about her abilities and increased appreciation for her employer. "It taught me a lot about myself and what I'm physically and mentally capable of taking on, being able to put my fears aside," she says.