The Salmon Leap

While visiting Scotland with my family in 2017, we stayed in a quaint little town called Inverness. While there, we went to the Falls of Shin to watch the salmon leap. Although it was still early in the season for this monumental event, we were hopeful.In a little while, and to our amazement, the salmon began to leap. It was our lucky day!
The sight of the salmon leaping up against the rushing waters to get upstream is still etched in my mind.

The Atlantic salmon spends most of its life in the sea, and makes an epic journey back to the river in which it was hatched, in order to spawn. It travels thousands of miles to reach its destination. On the upstream – between November and February – the Atlantic salmon quite often jumps over weirs and waterfalls to get to the headwaters where it can breed. By the end of November, when the spawning is complete, the surviving adult salmon calmly make their way back out to sea.

The most spectacular part of this journey – the salmon leap as it is popularly referred to—features the salmon swimming and jumping against the rushing river waters and up waterfalls.

Why do thousands of salmon brave all odds to take this arduous journey to breed every year? Salmon are born in freshwater – they live in the river for about two years before swimming out to sea. Atlantic salmon migrate to the seas around Greenland, where they normally spend one or two years, growing considerably in size. Then, they return to the same river in which they were born using chemical cues, and battle their way upstream to the spawning areas.

Salmon Leap

What is the salmon leap in your life? A position in your company’s leadership team? Setting up your dream company? Like the salmon that goes on its upstream journey with a singular focus,you need to reinvent yourself and take the leap upstream.

Do you have it in you? Of course you do. Go forth and take a salmon leap to jump-start your way t0 leadership!