MBA 506 – Leadership and Organisational Effectiveness
Unit Coordinator: Mr Brendan Ho
Assignment 2
Due: 19th December 2009
The Authentic Leadership of Ernest Shackleton
Student ID: Mr YEW ENG TEIK (10166320)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Analysis of Shackleton Expedition to Antartic 1914-1916 3
Leadership of Shackleton’s multi-sense analytical model 6
Shackleton’s 10 strategies of authentic leadership 7
Comparison leadership Shackleton with Hall and Fisher 10
Lesson learnt from Shackleton’s leadership 11
Conclusion 13
References 15
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“Ernest Shackleton: From Tragedy to Triumph”
Introduction
To quote Bernard Shaw: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.
In this age of constant rapid change, business leaders must develop the wisdom of
learning from past tragedies so as not to succumb to bad and sometimes destructive
outcomes when making hasty and wrong decisions for their team or organization.
One day each one of us will have to face our own despairing moment – be it our
career, our family or our own life. The situations and obstacles seem so
insurmountable. However, as leader we should not retreat when face with such
obstacles. Rather, we can take a higher road and become an over comer and in that
process discover our very own self. Thus, the journey of any leader to the top is
always filled with uncertainty and great risk much like what happen to Shackleton and
his men when they came within the whisker of achieving their goal. Overall it is a
process of discovering our very own self and conquering our very own fear.
Analysis of Shackleton Exploration Across Antartic Continent 1914-1916
After years of gathering large funds and selected the right crew, Shackleton got the
approval from Admiral Winston Churchill to proceed with his expedition on July 1914.
On October 1914 in Buenos Aires, Shackleton had to reorganize his crew due to the
captain Frank Worsley incapable to keep the discipline of the crew. Here, Shackleton
took control as a leader in dismissing three sailors for their disorderly conduct.
Shackleton arrived at South Georgia Island, Britain’s southernmost whaling village.
After some weeks there he decided to depart for Antartica. And on Christmas Eve,
strong wind closed the ice pack around his ship the Endurance. Then on New Year’s
Eve, his ship jammed between two floes. Finally on January 27, 1915 the ice prove
unrelenting and froze the ship 80 miles offshore within the sight of the destination.
Days became weeks and weeks become months, and yet the ice held the ship. For
nine torturing months Shackleton and his men were stuck on frozen ice watching in
pain as their beloved Endurance slowly sink under the ice.
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On October 27, 1915 Shackleton instructed his men to abandon ship. After the
abandonment of the Endurance the process of survival on ice began. It has been
altogether 15 months since Endurance first lodged in the ice. Roughly his men march
in three periods with Ocean Camp, Patience Camp and Elephant Island. Their stay at
Ocean Camp was the briefest; for as the ice became unsafe, they were forced to
seek stronger floes. From Ocean Camp, a mile and a half from the Endurance, one
of the necessary tasks was to salvage from the vessel any extra items they would
need in addition to the basic necessities they had already managed to rescue.
Shackleton’s attention was now turned to his remaining three lifeboats, the James
Caird, the Stancomb Willsand and Dudley Docker. At the end of March the last of the
dogs were shot and the sledges abandoned in preparation for launching the boats
towards Graham Land. The situation now became increasingly dangerous. The men
might drift helplessly into the Atlantic if they could not make a landfall before the
South Orkneys were passed. They now headed towards Elephant and Clarence
Islands and one of these seemed to present their best chance of survival.
The Endurance
They approached a sheltered bay on Elephant Island. It had been an anxious
moment. After sea sickness and exposure in heavy seas the men somehow
managed to pull the boats ashore. But Shackleton was not satisfied with the spot
they had found as a site for their camp, and after allowing his weary men 24 hours of
rest he set about finding a more suitable place. Eventually the 3 boats were rowed to
a nearby sandy spit and there the tents were set up and the place called Cape Wild.
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Shackleton saw that help was now essential as food supplies were dwindling and,
with the oncoming of winter and the return of the ice, seals would become scarce.
The Falkland Islands, 550 miles away, was the nearest harbour, but a boat journey in
the face of the north-westerly winds would be impossible. The only alternative was
South Georgia which having a few whaling stations, was 250 miles further, but could
be more easily approached on account of the prevailing wind. The seas of the
extreme south Atlantic were the worst during May and with the 20-foot James Caird
boat.
James Caird Life Boat
The journey would be extremely hazardous. Shackleton had decided to take
Worsley, a superb navigator, and to leave Frank Wild in charge of the party on
Elephant Island with instructions to lead them to Deception Island in the event of the
boat party’s failure to reach South Georgia. Six men would be taken in the James
Caird boat and for the rest of his crew Shackleton called for volunteers. Eventually he
decided upon McNeish, the carpenter, McCarty and Vincent, all experienced
seamen, in addition to himself, Worsley and a man named Crean. The continuing
storm prevented Shackleton from setting sail and, when the weather conditions had
subsided, McNeish the carpenter was ordered to make the small boat as seaworthy
as possible for its coming ordeal.
On April 24th, 1916 the refurbished lifeboat James Caird left Elephant Island on her
solitary voyage to South Georgia, and the six men were now embarking upon the
expedition seek for assistance to rescue all the remain men. On May 8th, 1916 after
fourteen days in the boat, his men sighted the cliffs of South Georgia. But the
perilous task of landing in rough weather occupied a whole day of navigation along
the coast. At last, when the gale had momentarily subsided, they were able to make
a landing in a small cove.
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There now remained the last stage of their miraculous odyssey—the journey
overland to Stromness Bay, the whaling station, where rescue could certainly be
sought. Shackleton set off with Worsley and Crean and after 3 days of walking
reached Stromness Bay. Here they seek the help of Chilean Navy who sent a tug,
the Yelcho, to Elephant Island, but not until the fourth attempt, at the end of August
1916, was Yelcho finally able to cross the heavy seas to reach the marooned men.
Shackleton’s men had built one of the upturned boats on to a stone foundation and in
this cramped hut, measuring ten by eighteen feet, the twenty-two men had spent 4
months fighting to survive.
It had been the steady and constant leadership of Shackleton that saved his men.
Shackleton personal traits like adaptable to situations, assertive, building
cooperative, having a decisive trait, akert to the social environment, high level of
energy, persistent, self-confident, ability to tolerate great stress, willing to assume
responsibility, knowledge of the business, integrity, his ability to perceive the needs
of others and to adjust one’s behavior accordingly and not to discount his continuous
motivation for his troop are the traits that are found in Ernest Shackleton.
Shackleton himself, the survivor of the experience, wrote them in his book South:‘We
had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had ‘suffered, starved and triumphed,
grovelled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole’. We
had seen God in His splendours, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached
the naked soul of man'.
Shackleton’s Multi-sense Analytical Model
Personally, my own analysis of Ernest Shackleton’s multi-sense analytical model
expedition has brought me a certain appreciation and perspective on the need for
authentic leadership especially in time of crisis. They are all five approach consisting
of the i. Trait approach, ii. Behavioural approach, iii. Power-influence approach, iv.
Situational approach and v. Integrative approach
Firstly, on trait approach, Shackleton has a personality of a born leader with a
passion for sea exploration and a great focus in putting the interest of his fellow
colleague above himself.
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Secondly, on the behavioural approach, with Shackleton’s leadership being trained
and honed further from his earlier exploration has helped him to be an authentic
leader, who is constantly in touch with his people. Shackleton is able to be a good
task performer, group maintenance and also to engage the group participation when
the need arise.
Thirdly, for power influence approach, Shackleton possessed the power and he
exercised his power with careful thoughts especially in managing dissent among
certain of the individual in the group thus avoiding a mutiny among his men.
The fourth was the situational approach where Shackleton after seeing the extreme
situation which his beloved ship ‘Endurance’ sink by the force of the ice, has rounded
his troop and communicate to them a new mission of getting back to civilization
safely.
Finally, the fifth being the integrative approach where Shackleton again as an
authentic leader had display optimism to his followers and seek their fullest
commitment to the new mission of going back to civilization.
In the context of managing team because the goal needs an authentic leader to build
his/her team around people from diverse background and different skill sets. His
team members had to suffered severe weather and when hope seem almost
impossible, Shackleton rallied together his team and took great effort to understand
each of them better and had built a very deep level of trust by with his men.
Shackleton’s 10 Strategies of authentic leadership
In adopting strategies to overcome and thrive from any major catastrophic crisis, the
leaders need to know what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who is the best
person to do it. There are 10 strategies for authentic leadership displayed by Ernest
Shackleton and it is listed below and they are:
Strategy 1: He never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term
objectives. When Endurance sank under the ocean’s ice Shackleton rebounded from
this major setback with a renewed passion to get all his men back to England alive,
this has become his new mission. Shackleton’s troops moving forward with a series
of short-term victories, giving them encouragement while distracting them from the
ultimate, unanswerable question of survival. And each day he is able to inspire his
men to stay positive with his words and his action.
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Strategy 2: He has strong resilience and never gives up and reminded himself there
is always another move. Shackleton epitomizes the traits of great leader when he
endures and suffers so much for his team yet same time never ever give up despite
huge obstacles reminding himself there is always another move.
Times of endurance require relentless creativity. On their trek across the island South
Georgia, Shackleton’s team found themselves 4,500 feet up on the crest of a glacier,
under darkness and fog. If they had stay put they be freeze to their death. And any
attempt to descend slowly was to freeze more slowly. Shackleton’s instructed his two
mates to slide down the glacier. They slid down the slope at a mile a minute. This is
so important in today business world where many have given up when they face
negatives opinion or when they meet obstacles. The lesson learnt here is that as a
manager and leader we had to be catalyst and agent of hope and having the resilient
to press on when the situation gets tough. This quality will separate great leader from
just good leader.
Strategy 3: He sets a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and
behaviors. Shackleton took only two pages from the bible and threw away some gold
coins when he gave instruction to his men to take only small amount of personal item
from the sinking Endurance. He practices fairness when deciding on who gets the
warmer clothing by drawing lots and made himself equal among them.
Strategy 4: He instills optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality. In
Subzero conditions, dwindling supplies and energy; every day posed nearly
impossible odds. Yet, Shackleton believed they would and could find a way to
surmount each obstacle – leading his team to believe it, too. Shackleton knew that he
had to get to South Georgia where there is whaling station that call for a rescue
mission for the rest of his 21 men. Shackleton volunteered himself to lead his 6 finest
men to travel the very dangerous high-sea rescue expedition on a small boat.
Strategy 5: He took good care of himself physically, mentally and spiritually.
Shackleton maintain his level of stamina by ensuring his men did not oversleep
during the harsh snowing weather that would have prove fatal to his men when they
were stranded at the south of South Georgia and had to walk on foot for 3 days to
look for the rescuer at the whaling station situated on north of the island. And
Shackleton let go of his guilt by redeeming himself the chance to put in a rescue of
his other 21 men stranded now on thin ice for months.
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Strategy 6: He reinforces the team message constantly by echoing the motto that:
"We are one—we live or die together." This is particular important because his team
are made of diverse experience and he has to kept them working as a single unit and
also to manage the dissent by himself. It was also the ingenious thought of the
rebellious carpenter McNeish that had able to reconstruct together the James Caird
boat that had able him and his 6 other brave men to sail across the Antartic high
seas to reach South Georgia.
Strategy 7: He minimizes status differences and insists on courtesy and mutual
respect. Shackleton was a man with a good heart who always put his men interest
before himself. He was their comforter making sure the health of his men is well by
serving them hot milk something forgoing his own. Shackleton himself walk the talk
when he also subjected himself to the daily chore of scrubbing the deck of the ship
and hunting for seals. Far from expecting special treatment, Shackleton performed
tasks cheerfully along with his men, leaving little cause for grumbling.
Strategy 8: He masters conflict able to deal with anger in small doses, engage
dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles. Shackleton seeks to create an
environment of unity, harmony and he engages directly with the dissent that had
prevented a mutiny. He dealt with one potential naysayer by taking him as his tent-
mate. He also encouraged his men to be direct with each other and keep tensions at
bay by regularly letting off steam. In today organization, we as leader must deal with
any dissent immediately so as not to affect the entire team morale.
Strategy 9: He finds something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
Shackleton is known as a man with wide knowledge in story telling and poem
reading. He organizes theater, dog sledding race, football, hunting of seals, card
games, and other entertainment to encourage and occupy the mind of his men during
this long winter when Endurance was stuck on ice. Even when storms raged outside,
the men of the Endurance did not forget how to have fun together. It kept up their
spirits, and gave them perspective. The session is important and has kept the sanity
of his men, while they plan for their next journey.
Strategy 10: He is willing to take the high risk. Shackleton himself took on the
courage to inspire his men to withstood great suffering when they are stuck on thin
ice with their food ration getting shorter by the day. Shackleton and a small team
rigged a sail on a small open boat, the James Caird, and embarked on the 800-mile
journey across extremely hazardous seas to seek rescue. Fighting giant waves,thirst,
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extreme fatigue, freezing temperature, the team made it to land. To the surprise they
landed on the wrong side of the island. After many more trials, they reached whaling
station. Had they not taken the risk, all men would certainly have been lost.
All the ten strategies highlighted here are traits for authentic leadership. As leader
when we are aware of all potential pitfalls in each situation but having the courage
and the sheer will to face it and always focus on the team first.
Comparison between leadership of Ernest Shackleton versus Hall and Fisher
The authentic leadership of Shackleton is classic example of a great triumph over
adversity. With a mission that look and seems impossible, but Shackleton is able to
inspire and give hope to all his 27 men and thus had enabled him to bring all of them
back to civilization with not a single casualty in a period that span almost two years
when the first set sail from England towards the Antartica continent on the eve of
World War 1 in 1914. To Shackleton and his men they showed resilient, courage and
great teamwork that truly inspired me to agree to the adage that “success is about
the journey and not about the destination”
When compared the expedition of Antarctic by the Endurance in 1914 to the incident
of Everest 1996. The ‘96 Everest expedition was a major disaster as both the team
leader Rob Hall and Scott Fisher perished. The two leaders are over-confident on
their own ability, thus failing to commit to the turnaround time of 1pm causing his
other climbers to be caught in the storm while descending, and from start had failed
to nurture and develop a team centric expedition among his climber, the guides and
his sherpas team.
As we analyzed, both the expedition are complex and dangerous plus they are
subject to external elements beyond their control like harsh weather. Both encounter
breakdowns and ultimately failures. However the Everest 1996 was tragic because 5
lives were lost on a single day whereas, the Endurance expedition lead by the team
leader Shackleton, despite the sinking of his ship, there were however no lives lost.
In fact, all the 27 men on board came back alive to England after a voyage of almost
2 years between 1914 and 1916.
Here, I can single out the main factor being the leadership of Shackleton in dealing
with crisis. Shackleton is able to apply his personal traits and skills to turn the failure
of his earlier main goal to another new mission to bring back all his men back to
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England safely. Whereas, for Hall and Fisher both the leader are gunning for
personal ambition to bring their climbers up the summit at all cost and for bragging
rights and ultimately leading to their own death.
Other analysis from the Antartic expedition is that Shackleton willingness to assume
responsibility for all his men and his own integrity in his leadership has enabled him
to win the hearts, minds and soul of his troop. In contrast, to Hall and Fisher both
failed to unite their team members to become one team unit. More poor decisions
made by the two leader including ignoring certain safety aspect by allowing their
guide to climb without supplemental oxygen and did not adhered to the strict rule of
the 1pm turn-around time. In leading their climbers both leaders failed to build that
team participation and constant communications needed to achieve the goal. It was
all the while an individual race for personal glory of reaching the summit and in the
process had disregard all the aspects of safety and looking for each other. This is
also very evident, in today organization where many companies’ leaders failed to
communicate concisely with their people resulting in poor teamwork and resulted in
negative corporate result. Many employees would have agreed that most CEOs did
not provide effective role models, nor did their actions match their words.
Other of Shackleton’s traits is his tolerant of stress and his resilient. Being a boss of
the expedition he lost his main ship Endurance, then from the three life boats
available only one is in good condition to set sail for South Georgia where the
whaling station is situated and even after the sail by the life boat overcoming might
waves they finally landed on the south west of the island a long distance from the
whaling station. Times and times he and his men faced obstacles yet their spirit did
not bow down and they continue to fight on. This is truly a hallmark of a true
authentic leader. In modern times, with so much external factors that are not within
our control only team centric approach can have a higher chance of achieving the
organizational goal.
Lesson from Shackleton’s leadership
I would describe Ernest Shackleton as truly a courageous and selfless leader. Having
lost his expedition ship Endurance swallowed by the ice short of 100 miles from
reaching his ultimate goal of crossing the entire Antartic continent, many would have
felt despaired and gave up hope. However, Shackleton set himself a new mission
that is to get all of his troops back safely to England.
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To apply Shackleton’s leadership principles into my own journey of self awareness
and self discovery, I come to realize I am very much a task oriented manager and
lacking the aspect of being a people manager. Thus, I can learn from Shackleton to
build on my people skill and thereby to combine the approach of people and task so I
can adopt a team management style for all my upcoming and future projects.
The team centric style displayed by Shackleton has shown that they are strongly
united for a single purpose which is to keep the team members alive and continue
accomplishing smaller goals like landing on Elephant Island on the three live boats
and the success of finally reaching South Georgia by Shackleton and his 6 finest
men. Shackleton continued to walk the talk by putting the interest of his men first in
every situation like taking good care of their meal, their health and treating each one
equal.
Shackleton shared poems, story telling and provide his men entertainment and
games during the period when the ship stuck on the ice for more than 15 months,
thereby building that trust and camaraderie vital in any strong solid team. All the
activities organized with his men had kept their spirit and hope alive after seeing their
ship sunk under the ice.
Personally, in my own career advancement journey I have faced many occasion
when the leaders I looked up to are unable to walk the talk and promote that
necessary trust in the organization. As a result of that, the corporations suffer huge
losses in the business due to the failure of the top leader to instill trust and teamwork
among his/her people thereby causing discord and failure. After working for almost
10 years, I can testify on how important it is to build trust. Trust bond the people
together and trust will ensure you that the customer stays with you. From the lesson
learnt, I am now committed to continue my personal journey of authentic leadership
by building on my trust with my fellow colleague. I must be able to walk my talk and
not make promises that I cannot deliver.
Other lesson learnt here is on Shackleton’s decision making and integrative thoughts.
I felt that unlike conventional thinker, Shackleton has an ability of making an
“integrative thoughts” in his decision like having ability to hold two opposing ideas in
his minds at once, and reach a synthesis that contains elements of both but improves
on each. His integrative thinking has produce new possibilities solutions and ideas
which are superior. As an integrative thinker Shackleton refused to accept tradeoffs
that the rest of the world tells them are unavoidable. Shackleton would explore
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different angles and perspectives to create various permutations; convinced that
“there must be a better solution somewhere”.
Also with the lesson learnt here, I have a new found confidence that the small
setbacks and obstacles will not stop me to press on and work on achieving the
ultimate goal. I believe the only way for me is to march forward with resolute and
purposeful in bettering myself and to serve with a greater commitment together with
my team in advancing towards the journey to become a true Level 5 leader, a
confident, resolute, courageous and competent leader.
Conclusions
Much of what Shackleton experienced throughout the journey of getting back to
civilization should be emulated by all of us today especially the up and coming
leader. We have to be determined and train our mental to be strong and not to give
up in pursuit of happiness and success. Yes for all of us out there everyday is a climb
and the struggle for a better comfort for our colleague, our family and towards a
better world to live in. In all the society and the community is looking up to authentic
leader who can make a positive difference to their lives.
Like Shackleton we had much to learn and emulate from his personal traits and
experience in turning a tragedy into a triumph. Importantly we must be able to make
another strong comeback when face with objections and obstacles. From the process
are able to develop a greater passion in what we are doing. This attitude will
definitely help in winning the hearts and mind of our fellow colleague. To ponder,
what good is a leader if he/she cannot guide the team of people to be better worker
and team mates than when they first were? To learn from Shackleton on his quest to
be the pioneer of the Antartic continent, he has in the grueling expedition transformed
his team of boys to be real men of substance.
The lesson from this MBA program has taught me that in order to lead better I need
to put the interest of the company and my colleague before me and to win their heart
and mind to contribute towards realizing the set objective of working as a team. As
we face setbacks and obstacles we as leader must have the courage and the
resilience to motivate others to give it another shot and finish strongly what we
started. It is ultimately to finish the race we started strongly and not give up too
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easily.
South Georgia Island
Although pioneering a new venture like sailing across the Antartic continent, climbing
Mount Everest or even starting on our very own business can sometimes be
tempting, it is also littered with challenges, risks and hidden traps. It could cause
much sufferings and financial loss if we are not able to plan ahead and negotiate this
unchartered water. I am glad that in term of life experience, I have being in a position
of pioneering my own business and leading my very own business expansion on
behalf of my employer to the Latin America region and I have my fair share of
challenges and obstacles. However I am also happy I have stood on higher ground
and remain true to my own value of not compromising on my personal integrity. And
with the knowledge and self awareness of knowing myself better I could better make
wiser decision for myself and my organization.
When you and I are at the crossroad of any major decision it will ultimately test our
own courage to take the higher road which are less traveled but our intuition and our
personal values would agreed that we are right when we stood by those decision.
And to become a great leader, besides all the competence and people skills we need
our personal values to guide us through.
REFERENCES
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1. Brower, Resurrection Island, National Geographic Mag, Dec 2009
2. Koehn, Leadership in Crisis, Harvard Business School, June 2003
3. Alexander, The Endurance, Hodder & Stoughton, 1985
4. King, South, Century, 1991
5. Martin, The Opposable Mind, Harvard Business School Press, 2009
6. SAS Airline, Shackleton : Model for Leadership High Life Magazine, 2001
7. Perkins, Leadership On Ice, Amacom , Dec 2003
8. Chappel, Leadership of the Endurance Expedition, Wharton, 2001
9. Gardner, On Leadership, New York Free Press, 1990
10. Useem, Foundation of Leadership, Wharton, University Pennsylvania, 1999
11. Morrel & Capparell, Shackleton’s Way, Viking Press, 2001
12. Torpey, Shackleton’s Approach, Ernst & Young LLP, Aug 2002
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