Rebecca Rusch calls herself the most decorated athlete you’ve never heard of. The endurance competitor says she does her best work in the most stressful and challenging conditions. She’s ridden camels in Morocco. She swam the Grand Canyon on a boogie board. She’s ridden the entire 2,000 miles of the Ho Chi Minh trail on her bicycle. She could have made a lot more money with her business degree. “But I’m rich in experience,” she says.

Despite her rugged outdoor career, she says she’s not so different from Evergreen entrepreneurs — leaders who know what they want and work hard to attain it, even if other people think they’re crazy.