We’re so taken by adventure, and we use it to teach; not because we expect every student to be an extreme explorer, super athlete, or perform extraordinary feats of fortitude. We use these examples because lessons about leadership, courage, and persistence can all be taught from the likes of Lewis & Clark and Sacajawea, Sir Edmund Hillary, Helen Thayer, and Earnest Shackleton.

 

In my senior Leadership and Ethics course, we recently studied Shackelton’s trans-Antarctica expedition that went from 1914-1917. It is truly one of the most incredible adventure stories of all time.  Shackelton’s intention was to cross the Antarctic continent from one coast to the other via the South Pole.  The crew survived the loss of its ship, the Endurance, when it became trapped in ice, and escaped by camping on the frozen ocean, then ultimately launched lifeboats and traveled 720 nautical miles to safety. 

I would encourage you to read Alfred Lansing’s remarkable Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (as my students did), but if you want a quicker read, you can read an insightful analysis of Shackleton’s leadership approach in a Harvard Business Review article that I have attached here.

 

There are many different types of leaders, and Shackleton represents more of a top-down leadership style. But, there was humility and thoughtfulness in his approach.

I asked my students to write about some of the critical elements of Shackleton’s leadership style.  I thought I would share their reactions and observations about some important characteristics of a noteworthy leader:

 

“One of Shackleton’s most important traits as a leader was his ability to know when or when not to take risks.”

 

“Shackleton’s competitive nature made him driven and focused.”

 

“Shackleton’s ability to keep the group upbeat and optimistic made him a great leader.”

 

“He was intelligently bold, that is to say he made his most significant decisions only after some sort of analysis.”

 

“He mitigated risks by accepting risk. He was conservative, yet daring. He was confident to stand by his decisions. And, ultimately, his balancing of risks ends without a single life lost.”

 

“Shackleton demonstrated quiet and calm characteristics, but was not afraid to be harsh when it was necessary.”

 

“Shackleton was a highly effective leader as a result of his ability to gauge the needs of his team, his sense of when it was necessary to boost morale, and his skill at commanding the expedition despite harsh conditions and obstacles.”

 

“Shackleton’s leadership was the product of prior Antarctic experiences, as well as a natural talent at perceiving the psychology of the sailors on board.”

 

“Shackleton was not a passive leader, but, instead, was quite aggressive and clear when telling others what was needed from them.”

 

“Whereas the entire party could easily lose hope at any time during the many obstacles they faced, everyone, for the most part, kept their hope of survival thanks to Shackleton’s continuous drive to persevere in the face of death.”

 

“Along with simply making the decisions for his party, he jumped into battle with them.”

 

“The most harmful problem to any party traveling in such close quarters for a long time was how to solve the inevitable personal conflicts that arose.  Shackleton excelled in this field.”

 

“Shackleton kept calm, took risks only after he had analyzed them and was close to sure of his decision as he could be.  Dissension was almost nonexistent because of the environment he fostered.”