After surviving a near-death storm on Mount Kilimanjaro, leadership expert and author Bart Wilbanks discovered something unexpected:

The mountain wasn’t the hardest climb.

Divorce. spiritual drift. ego. success without fulfillment.
Those were the real storms.

Summit After the Storm is a leadership and personal growth podcast about rebuilding after collapse. Each episode explores resilience, faith, entrepreneurship, marriage, fatherhood, and purpose through the lens of extreme adversity.

Bart shares lessons forged on Africa’s highest peak and tested in boardrooms, business leadership, and real life.

If you are:
• Leading under pressure
• Rebuilding after failure
• Searching for purpose beyond success
• Navigating marriage, business, or faith in hard seasons

This podcast is for you.

Because storms do not destroy great leaders.

They reveal them.

New episodes weekly. Leadership. Resilience. Faith. Transformation.

Recovery is not the end of the story.

It’s the space between climbs.

In Episode 30 of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores what calm seasons are really for — and why leaders must prepare for the next ascent before it arrives.

Drawing from Mount Kilimanjaro and anchored in Isaiah 40:31, this episode reframes renewal as intentional rebuilding — not passive rest.

Featuring a powerful quote from Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson:

“We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better.”

The mountain doesn’t shrink.
The wind doesn’t weaken.
The climb doesn’t flatten.

You grow.

This episode speaks directly to leaders navigating:

• Leadership renewal and resilience

• Preparing for the next crisis

• Executive discipline between storms

• Faith-based leadership

• Emotional endurance and strength building

• Mount Kilimanjaro life lessons

• Handling hard better

If you’re in a calm season right now, don’t waste it.

Rebuild margin.
Restore relationships.
Sharpen discipline.
Renew your strength.

Because leadership isn’t about surviving one storm.

It’s about being ready for the next one.

🎙 Learn more at:
https://summitafterstorm.com

What happens after the crisis is over?

In Episode 29 of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores the often-overlooked season that follows intense pressure — the quiet after the storm.

After months of high-stakes leadership, sleepless nights, and sustained decision-making, the crisis finally stabilizes. The phone slows. The urgency fades. The wind stops.

And instead of relief, there’s something unexpected: emptiness.

Drawing from leadership experience and lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro, Bart reflects on why the descent can be more dangerous than the climb — and how many leaders burn out not during the storm, but after it.

Anchored in Psalm 30:5, this episode reframes recovery as intentional, not automatic:

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Morning doesn’t erase the night. It follows it.

This episode speaks to leaders navigating:

• Recovery after crisis

• Burnout and emotional fatigue

• Post-adrenaline emptiness

• Executive leadership resilience

• Integrating pressure seasons

• Faith and leadership under stress

• Mount Kilimanjaro leadership lessons

If you’ve just come through something intense — professionally or personally — this conversation will help you process what comes next.

Because strength isn’t just enduring the storm.

It’s knowing how to come down safely.

🎙 Learn more about the podcast and the upcoming book at
https://summitafterstorm.com

Hard decisions don’t cost you in the moment.

They cost you in the months that follow.

In Episode 28 of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores what happens after you make a hard leadership decision — and resistance shows up.

Drawing from a real supply chain crisis during a major Gulf Coast production shutdown, Bart reflects on what it means to:

• Lead under pressure

• Hold the line when challenged

• Stay calm when voices are raised

• Make strategic decisions during uncertainty

• Carry responsibility when sleep is scarce

This isn’t about a dramatic moment in a conference room.

It’s about the six months after — when every shipment matters, scrutiny lingers, and resistance doesn’t disappear.

Anchored in Joshua 1:9, this episode reframes courage as something steady, not loud.

“Be strong and courageous… do not be afraid… for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God didn’t tell Joshua to be courageous before the decision.

He told him after leadership was already his.

This episode connects:

• Crisis leadership

• Executive decision-making

• Supply chain disruption

• Mount Kilimanjaro life lessons

• Faith-based leadership principles

• Resilience under opposition

If you’re navigating resistance, facing scrutiny, or carrying weight others don’t see — this episode is for you.

Because sometimes the wind is confirmation that you’ve stepped onto higher ground.

🎙 Learn more about the podcast and upcoming book at
https://summitafterstorm.com

In Episode 27 of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks reflects on legacy, fatherhood, blended family dynamics, and the kind of strength that outlives us.

Anchored in Proverbs 13:22, this episode challenges the common definition of inheritance. Legacy isn’t just financial. It isn’t reputation. It isn’t achievement.

It’s what remains in the hearts of our children.

Bart speaks candidly about raising Jackson (21) and Reagan (17), and building a blended family with Amanda, Molly (17), Noah (11), and Rhys (10). Through seasons of pressure, ambition, growth, and course correction, this episode explores what children truly inherit:

• Presence or distraction

• Steadiness or pressure

• Tone, not just instruction

• How strength feels inside a home

Drawing from lessons learned on Mount Kilimanjaro, Bart reflects on how the storm reshapes us more than the summit — and how the greatest legacy isn’t the mountain we climb, but the person we become when we come back down.

This episode is for parents, leaders, and anyone asking:

• What will outlive me?

• What are my children absorbing right now?

• What does faith-filled leadership look like at home?

• How do I build a legacy beyond success?

🎧 Legacy isn’t loud. It’s steady.

Learn more about the podcast and the upcoming book at
👉 https://summitafterstorm.com

Strength gets attention — but trust is earned over time.

In this episode of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores leadership character under pressure and why strength without formation can quietly undermine trust. Anchored in Proverbs 20:7 (“The righteous lead blameless lives”), this episode examines how consistency, restraint, and character determine whether leaders can be trusted as influence grows.

Drawing from the descent on Mount Kilimanjaro — where most accidents happen after the summit — Bart reflects on how leadership is often tested not in pursuit, but after momentum builds. As fatigue sets in and focus drifts, pressure exposes whether discipline and character have kept pace with strength.

This conversation speaks to leaders navigating increased responsibility, influence, and visibility. It explores leadership maturity, trust-building, consistency under pressure, and why unmanaged strength can wound teams even when intentions are good.

If you’re leading with growing influence and want to ensure your strength builds rather than harms, this episode offers clarity on carrying power responsibly and sustaining trust over time.

Follow Summit After the Storm for leadership lessons on pressure, character, and resilience.

Connect with me at summitafterstorm.com

Leadership gets complicated when strength meets someone else’s weakness.

In this episode of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores leadership boundaries under pressure — specifically the difference between helping people and rescuing them. Anchored in Galatians 6:2 (“Carry each other’s burdens”), this episode examines why carrying responsibility builds people, while rescuing them can quietly stop growth.

Drawing from the climb on Mount Kilimanjaro, Bart reflects on how everyone carried something — but no one climbed for someone else. Forward progress required participation, not removal of effort. The same is true in leadership, where good intentions can unintentionally create dependence and burnout.

This conversation speaks to leaders navigating people leadership, emotional load, and the pressure to step in and solve everything. It explores leadership boundaries, accountability, development, and why absorbing too much responsibility often exhausts leaders while stalling others.

If you’re leading people under pressure and struggling to know when to help — and when to step back — this episode offers clarity on carrying burdens without stealing formation.

Follow Summit After the Storm for leadership lessons on pressure, boundaries, and resilience.

Connect with me at summitafterstorm.com

Some leadership moments demand patience — others demand speed.

In this episode of Summit After the Storm, Bart Wilbanks explores leadership timing under pressure and how discernment determines when leaders must act quickly rather than wait. Anchored in Ecclesiastes 3:1 (“There is a time for everything”), this episode examines how knowing when to move is just as critical as knowing when to pause.

Drawing from leadership experience and lessons from the climb on Mount Kilimanjaro — where hesitation at the wrong moment can be dangerous — Bart reflects on how pressure clarifies timing, sharpens judgment, and exposes the cost of delayed action.

This conversation speaks to leaders navigating urgent decisions, time-sensitive pressure, and moments where overthinking can be as damaging as recklessness. It explores leadership discernment, decision-making under pressure, and how faith informs timing when stakes are high.

If you’re facing moments where speed matters and clarity feels narrow, this episode offers perspective on acting decisively, leading responsibly, and moving with confidence when the time is right.

Follow Summit After the Storm for leadership lessons on pressure, timing, and decision-making.

Connect with me at summitafterstorm.com