Leadership lessons from Shackleton's Expedition

Last month was a topsy-turvy journey for me and my team. In recruitment, we always chase numbers, and to meet the numbers, we need to change the strategy sometimes in the middle of the month, as we realize that previously owned strategies are not working out. Adhere to an exemplary strategy to implement, I was doing my research over the week and found this marvelous case study of Shackleton and his leadership adherence.

The Shackleton expedition, which lasted from 1914 to 1916, is a compelling story of leadership when disaster strikes again and again. Considering the handful recent impact of the pandemic and Constant turbulence seems to be the new normal, and effective leadership is crucial in containing it. According to the Novelist David Foster Wallace, leaders are the people who “help us to overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.”

Shackleton epitomized this kind of leadership for almost two years on the ice. What can we learn from his actions?

Story of Shackleton's Expedition: Shackleton had a firm, potentially history-making goal. He and his team would be the first to walk across the continent, starting from the coast of the Weddell Sea, traversing to the South Pole, and ending up at the Ross Sea. But from the start, the expedition has faced unfamiliar defiance. In late 1914, the ship arrived at South Georgia Island, the last southern port before the Antarctic Circle. Local sea-men urged Shackleton to postpone his venture because of unusually thick pack ice that could trap the ship if the wind and temperatures shifted suddenly. But Shackleton was quite firm on his decision and did not want to lose before starting. Shackleton commanded the ship to continue to the south, traversing through the icy jigsaw puzzle. In January 1915, the ship came within sight of the Antarctic mainland. But severe winds and cold temperatures subsided quickly, and the pack ice trapped the ship, just as the South Georgia seamen had warned. Shackleton realized that his men would have to wait out the coming winter in the ship until summer defrosts the ice. Shackleton was more afraid about his men's laziness, disagreements, and idleness than the ice and cold. At that time all the people needed to maintain their basic responsibilities to come out of this situation. Sailors were cleaning decks, scientists collected specimens from the ice, some were assigned to hunt for seals and penguins for fresh meat, protection against scurvy, ran low. He kept a strict routine for everything so that his men should not feel demotivated. After the routine and continuous assurance also, he saw the collective fear among people as the expedition did not do according to the plan. He was not getting the traditional support, and in this scenario, his potential enemies were the cumulative anxieties and pessimism among his people. The ship was sinking, and in this turmoil, he had to make a decision. He decided to make camps near the sinking ship but he also understood this goal is not going to save anyone. So the next day he decided to abandon the mission, and his next aim was to save his people, the food and supplies were not enough to survive till the summer. So he has decided to move towards Antarctic Peninsula, which was the nearest island. Some of his men expressed skepticism about his plans, He tried to win over them and he kept a close watch on them. By April 1916, the ice started breaking up, so without giving further thought Shackleton sailed a small lifeboat with 5 other people towards finding a nearby place and assured other team members that they will find help and come to rescue them soon. After a week of stormy seas, they arrived at the deserted Elephant Island. After he reached there, immediately he took some help, and he sailed the boat 3 times in the next 3 months, but none of them could cut through the pack of ice surrounded by Elephant Island. Finally, on Aug. 30, 1916, Yelcho, a Chilean steamer, Shackleton sailed within sight of the island and rescued the 22 remaining men, without a life lost.

Learning from Shackleton's Expedition:

• As a leader, he did not feel scared to take up a challenge and work towards it.
• When challenges arrived, he changed his goal and his primary goal as a leader was to protect his men, not to reach his target. He took a corrective measurement at the right time so that his men can be saved.
• We have seen that he embodied the new mission by himself and make others believe that they can survive.
• He managed his own emotional intelligence, to keep his own courage and confidence high, when these flagged, he never let his men know. As a leader, he was never doomed or has shown disappointment.
• He had unshakable faith in his mission, himself, and in his abilities. The hardest part of leadership is not just feeding the team with ideas and motivation, but feeding yourself. In the face of enormous obstacles, Shackleton found a way to do this.
• He tried to keep the negative people on his close watch and tried always to be close to them so that they should not spread negativity amongst the team members.
• Even after he saved himself, he never left any of his team members. He again went on missions, until he rescued all of them. The best leader should never ever leave his people behind.
• He has shown incredible commitment to a larger purpose and flexible, imaginative methods to achieve a goal are increasingly important in our tumultuous times.

Ref#: Case Study by Nancy F. Koehn  Harvard Business School.