The tree sways alarmingly in the wind; just a light breeze really, though when you’re 60 feet off the ground attempting to hook yourself onto a zip-wire, a light breeze really makes its presence felt. The safety rope would catch me if I fell, though my guts don’t seem to appreciate that fact right at this moment.

My next task is to fling myself off a small plank of wood, nailed to the top of this tree, to slide at high velocity down a wire. Not something that, A – feels natural, and B – would usually be associated with indicators of success in the field of business. The ability to crawl though part-submerged tunnels of mud, clamber over walls and tackle treacherous rope swings was never something too closely aligned with getting on in industry.

However, the UK business software specialist Sage feels that these qualities are highly applicable to most business situations. It’s for this reason that, as part of its new Business Brain campaign, that the firm has been instrumental in the return of one of TVs toughest and most intellectually challenging game shows, The Krypton Factor. Sage believes that the skills and attributes required to succeed on the show, observation, mental agility, general knowledge for instance, are directly applicable to the field of business.

The show’s return, part of one of the biggest business deals ever done on British TV, demonstrates how far Sage is willing to go to be seen as not just a software supplier, but a defender and nurturer of UK business. And god bless them, they invited us to deepest Yorkshire to run the famous Krypton Factor assault course, mud, ropes and all.

Anyone who’s seen the new Krypton Factor assault course will know about the 60ft tree climb, the numerous pools of freezing mud and the exhausted state of competitors as they cross the finish line muttering ‘kill me’ in breathless tones. But what does all this pain and suffering teach us about business?

Paul Stobart, MD of Sage UK and Ireland, has his own ideas on the attributes that make people successful in industry. He calls 20 customers at random every week and says he finds out something new from every one, "Those people who are fit in body and fit in mind, those who are keen on bettering themselves, who believe in finding ways to be more mentally agile, using their powers of observation, using the intelligence they have, all of those factors contribute to success," he says.

Speaking to him about this, you begin to realise what a business journalist was doing earlier that day, 60 feet up a tree. I zip down the wire, unclip myself and, swearing quietly to myself, head off over a series of 13 obstacles. Each, on their own, wouldn’t present too much of a challenge. Though taken as a whole, the course is a gruelling slog through mud and water. As I army crawl through a fetid sludge-filled tunnel, taking my second mouthful of mud that day, it occurs to me that perhaps it’s the ability to persevere in the face of unfamiliar challenges and shifting circumstances that marks out individuals and organisations for success; especially during these troubled times.

"This morning I had a conversation with a fantastic business involved in furniture retailing, which is a pretty disastrous market right now," says Stobart. "But they were remarkably upbeat, talking about the kinds of things that they’ve been doing to save costs, and also some of the promotions and discounting they’ve been doing; how they’ve had to change their game in order to compete and survive in these troubled times.

"It was uplifting to talk to a small business with such energy, drive and enthusiasm," he says. "I think that with that sort of passion, one can survive any kind of economic downturn." The key thing, according to Stobart, is attitude and behaviour; the desire to better oneself.

Sage has launched the Train Your Business Brain [1] as part of this campaign, complete with a number of online games and challenges, video blogs and tips designed specifically to hone the intellectual areas and business attributes we’re talking about.

"As a business person you want to have people on your team that are with you, who believe in what you’re doing and really care about doing their best to make your business success," says Stobart. "Being more observant is important, for instance, to notice when a customer is not looking particularly happy, picking up body language, taking the initiative and doing something about it."

With this new campaign, Sage hopes to change the perception of itself as being solely about accounting software for smaller businesses. "We have all sorts of ambitions to play wherever SMEs wish to have software and service, we want to be involved with that," says Stobart. "Our branding is to make the point that we live and breathe business every day, we’re passionate about it and we understand that it’s people that make it successful."