Leadership in Crisis
Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

3/10/2014 aFriendInNeed Situation Overview:
Shackleton sailed with 27 men from South Georgia Island on a British Polar expedition into South Atlantic aboard the ship called Endurance. The south pole had been recently reached in 1911. The goal of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was to become the first explorers to land on the Antarctic continent as well as cross it. The original plan was to sail Endurance through the Weddell Sea and then use dogs and sledges to support the crew of six men to march on the opposite side of Antarctica.
However, their ship became trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, before they could reach the Antarctic coast. For more than eight months, they drifted helplessly with the ocean currents that carried them to over 670 miles north. Attempts were made to free the ship at times when cracks appeared in the ice nearby, but it was of no avail. The ice around the ship was thick and solid. The wooden timbers of the Endurance, unable to withstand the pressure from the ice, eventually gave up, and massive plates of ice crushed it. Shackleton ordered his members of the expedition to take shelter on the ice floes surrounding the ship. They were able to retrieve three lifeboats and as many provisions and supplies as they could from the ship wreckage before it sank.
For the next six months, the floating ice became the crew's home. They were now isolated on the drifting pack ice with limited supplies. They were miles away from land, without any ship or mode of communication with the outside world. With food supplies dwindling, the men hunted seals and penguins for fresh meat. They had initially hoped that the ocean currents would carry the ice floe towards land, but as soon as spring started, the ice started to break up. Shackleton realized that they would have to attempt to reach one of the nearby small islands off the Antarctic coast. They battled the ferocious weather for seven sleepless days and nights and finally landed on an uninhabited Elephant Island. They were still stranded far from civilization without any outside communication, and no one knew about their condition.
Shackleton realized that they would have to travel to the nearest inhabited place to get help. The nearest whaling station was back on South Georgia, some 800 miles away. In order to reach there, they had to go through the most dangerous and stormy stretches of ocean in the world. He along with a team of five people left that island eight days later in one of the boats named James Caird to get help from the nearest whaling station. They faced gigantic waves and stormy weather which made navigational sightings almost impossible, but managed to reach South Georgia 16 days later. They realized that they had landed 22 miles from the whaling station. In order to reach whaling station, they had to go across the mountainous stretch that ran the length of South Georgia. For traversing mountains, they had no other option but to travel on foot. Shackleton with two of his men set out to cross the uncharted, unknown mountains of the island.
On May 20, 1916, they walked into the whaling station and the three men on the other side of the island were rescued the next day with the help from the whalers. It took four months and four attempts for Shackleton to reach and rescue the remaining crew at Elephant Island. Even after spending almost two years in dangerously cold weather conditions, all of the expedition’s 28 members returned safely.
Shackleton and his men failed utterly at the expedition’s stated goal as they never even set foot on Antarctica. Nevertheless, his spirited optimism, unrelenting courage and sheer determination displayed during the crisis have become legendary.
By what criteria should the Endurance expedition be evaluated? As a scientific endeavor? An entrepreneurial venture? An exercise in imperial opportunity? Given your answer, was it a success or failure?
The Endurance expedition can be evaluated as an entrepreneurial venture. Shackleton was trying to establish a name for himself as an explorer. His main goal was to be the first to reach the South Pole and traverse the continent. Britain held records for the farthest exploration to the north and south polar areas, but faced international competition as time went by. An international race was going on to reach and cross the South Pole and England wanted to be the first to claim Antarctica.
Shackleton acted as an entrepreneur as he spent a lot of time raising the necessary funding for his expedition. This journey had high associated risks, and he needed to secure tremendous funding for, two vessels, as well as for two crews. Not only, he used his family connections to reach out for Britain's wealthiest people, but also sent them a personal letter along with a copy of the expedition prospectus. He managed to secure the needed £51,000 for the expedition. Eventually, he took a huge financial risk to achieve his dream.
He continuously adapted himself and his crew to changing ice/weather conditions just like a business entrepreneur adapts to changing market, or while introducing a new product. He did very well was to recognize the circumstances, revise, and reset, his objectives of the exit strategy in a rapidly changing context. As soon as the ship froze, he figured out that the goal of the expedition was no longer to walk across Antarctica or to strive for fame and glory. He set up a new goal and that goal was to survive.
Shackleton assumed the ultimate responsibility for his team. He knew that being the first to reach and cross the Pole would have brought him glory and everlasting fame. But under current circumstances, he knew his men were weakening and that the final push to the Pole would put their lives in grave danger. He put his people first and turned back. He was able to see immediate goals as an entrepreneur and keep that clearly in focus. His expedition did not accomplish its original mission, but as a leader, he succeeded in getting back his crew alive to Britain.
A management scholar has defined entrepreneurship as “the relentless pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” Using this definition, evaluate Shackleton’s actions on the endurance expedition. Was Shackleton an entrepreneur?
Shackleton has displayed an amazing mix of leadership abilities during his entire life that belong to entrepreneurs and leaders. He was able to perform a difficult task starting from scratch, maintained the flexibility and perspective to alter his objectives to the context, which is a skill crucial for successful entrepreneurs.
He came across similar problems that entrepreneurs face in current times. He had to deal with multiple facets of business such as effective employee hiring, boosting team morale, raising funds, and maintaining the overall profitability. He set forth his goals, pursued his dreams by grabbing the opportunity, and handled the funds appropriately using effective utilization of resources.
Additionally, external factors and market condition were not favorable for a polar expedition. WWI broke out in Europe two weeks before the expedition starting date, and this affected the entire expedition planning. The war gave him a tough time in hiring crewmembers, finding international sled dog trainers, or raising necessary funds for polar expedition by selling his vision.
He implemented a unique style of selection and organized the crew by categorizing the candidates into possible, mad, and hopeless groups. He chose to meet with candidates from “possible” category. During the recruitment process, he relied mainly on his instinct for judging the character of each man. He preferred men with qualities such as cheerfulness and optimism, and he gave special importance to candidate's sense of humor. Candidates who had experience on fishing trawlers were his topmost choice. He believed that these candidates would be able to survive the harsh weather conditions of the South Pole due to previous experience of working extended hours on frozen, windswept decks.
As soon as the Endurance gets engulfed by ice floes, he realizes that he has to abandon his dreams of traversing the South Pole. He knew that he must focus wholeheartedly on his crew's survival and its safe return. He even instructs his crew to abandon tools for collecting specimens on the island as he wanted the crew to travel lighter. He was simultaneously able to see the overall picture. The major goal was to keep his crew alive and plan for a safe return. He effectively handled the minor details, such as the ability to engage and entertain the crew over long, dark days and nights with very little activity.
Shackleton proves to be an insightful manager under crisis and demanding conditions of friction between crew members, and seemingly unending boredom. He gave the crew morale a paramount importance. Even though the expedition was officially over, Shackleton promised to pay the entire crew for their time on the ice, in the face of conflict and possible mutiny from the carpenter. This further highlights his negotiation strategies and his ability to convince a group of people. Any forward progress toward Antarctica was ruled out, yet he followed his usual tasks and kept his crew on a strict routine. To keep the crew engaged and entertained he used to perform skits and read poetry during the long nights.
He tries twice to march toward the sea. They had to drag supply and provision laden lifeboats across snow and soft ice in order to survive. And both times he gives up the effort after realizing that the progress would fall far short of his estimates. Time and again, he keeps on setting objectives and a course that was altered due to change of context. This proves that he was not afraid to make smart mistakes and acted just like a great leader and entrepreneur.

What parallels do you see between Shackleton and other leaders we have studied? What were Shackleton’s strengths and weaknesses ?
Ernest Shackleton skills parallels with global leaders since he possessed all five of characteristics of exemplary leadership: encourage the heart, model the way, foster collaboration and build active spirited teams, challenge the process, and envision the future. Consider some recent events: the oil spill in gulf, financial crisis in 2008, Japanese nuclear disaster, and euro crisis in 2011. Constant turbulence in the business world has become the new norm, and an effective leadership is crucially required to contain the ever changing objectives and contexts. Shackleton fundamentally acted as the glue that prevented his men from untangling; the glue that helped keep his crew sane and active. His optimism and perseverance inspired the crew members and provided them with hope that even unachievable goals can be achieved through untiring and guided efforts. He sustained optimism in the face of adversity and strived toward his goals through constant perseverance.
Strengths: Shackleton has been consistently described as courageous, optimistic, sympathetic, loyal and driven; undeniably the requisite characteristics that every leader must possess for earning global respect and recognition. The crew always looked up to Shackleton; his calmness and ease were infectious and, thus, provided the men with hope even in the midst of worst circumstances. Shackleton fundamentally knew that the leader must not show the minutest sign of apprehension, concern or cynicism. If he fails to overpower those emotions then all of his crew's spirit and their morale would be lost and nothing will be accomplished .
Shackleton believed that actions persuaded more strongly than words and so he led by example. He was admired for his fair treatment and honored for inveterate behavior among his crew. Shackleton did not discriminate based on individual's qualifications and, hence, everyone was equivalent in his eyes: the biologists, scientists, carpenters, doctors, and sailors, each shared same chores around the ship. He did not believe in “special-treatment”.
Weaknesses: Shackleton was pretentious to a fault, an aspect that led to the remarkable mistake of overlooking the whalers' warnings of ice floes and advanced south to Antarctica. At South Georgia, whalers informed him of the possibility of getting stuck as the waters had become more ice-choked than at any other time in the history. He knew that earlier adventurers had become trapped in such icy waters but still proceeded with the expedition. The hiring of crew was also somewhat haphazard; although the outbreak of WWI can be argued as one of the reasons. He almost provides no training; most of the crew had no experience in skiing - a skill that is crucial for traversing Antarctic. Even the commissioned sled dogs from Canada arrived untrained.
Moreover, although the Endurance was equipped with a radio receiver, Shackleton could not procure funds sufficient for transmitter, which could have been used to send transmissions or distress signals for help. Furthermore, their gear was designed primarily for trekking across dry land. He could have procured waterproof boots and clothing as he was informed about the potential weather conditions. He makes some other errors in judgment which act as a necessary evil to entrepreneurship. The above mentioned attitudes proves that he may have been too eager to initiate the expedition.
Why are people today still so interested in Shackleton? What does this interest tell us about our own era?
Shackleton's trans-Atlantic expedition is a compelling story of spirited entrepreneurship and fearless leadership at a time when disaster or crisis strikes again and again. Real leaders, wrote the novelist David Foster Wallace, are people who “help us 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.”(nytimes.com)
Shackleton epitomized similar leadership style for almost two years on the ice. He has been referred as the greatest leader in the history for ensuring the safety and survival of twenty-seven crew members stranded with him facing unimaginably harsh weather conditions. He began the voyage for fame and glory with a mission of exploring and traversing Antarctica, but it instantly became a survival mission after the ship froze. Shackleton assumed ultimate responsibility for his team. Shackleton enabled himself to lead his crew through a torturous two-year ordeal in one of the most remote and inhospitable places. According to Shackleton, an explorer must have:
1) Determination 2) Optimism 3) Courage 4) Patience.
The same can be said about leadership. His outstanding leadership qualities can be classified into following characteristics:
1) Lead by example: He taught his crew how to finish jobs and get things done, performed gracefully under pressure and extraordinary determination. He kept everyone involved, and took responsibility for the hardest tasks. He valued his crew's needs and always put them before his personal needs.
2) Boosted team morale: He created a sense of community and togetherness among members of the crew. He never lashed at anyone in public, lauded his crew members often, and built a relaxing atmosphere by encouraging team engagement and entertainment.
3) Effective Communicator: He energetically communicated to forge bonds and calmly communicated to explain the plan of action and back-up strategies during crises. He had a democratic style of leadership where he valued everyone's advice and opinions before making a final decision.
4) Spirited Optimism: For him, the true moral courage was achieved by remaining optimistic and maintaining a positive outlook. He often cracked jokes with his crew members to keep their spirits high. He did his best to mitigate conflicts between crew members.
Shackleton’s commitment and responsibility came with a high suppleness of means. Shackleton led the crew across ice, stormy sea and mountainous land with sufficient supplies and provisions, and ensured their safety at all times. This combination of credible commitment to a larger purpose and imaginative, flexible methods to achieve a goal, is becoming increasingly relevant in our tumultuous times.