In August 2005, under a blue alpine sky, the 29 senior executives of Partners Group were navigating the steep climb from Lake Lucerne to the tiny village of Isenthal, Switzerland, perched some 8,000 feet up the mountainside. Co-founder and executive chairman Alfred Gantner was less anxious about the grueling hike than about the likelihood that the meeting he was headed for would reshape his company and the lives of everyone in it.
