The Last Voyage of the Endurance

I just finished another really good book about the ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage).  Shackleton led a British crew of 27 other men aboard the ship, "Endurance" (named after the Shackleton family motto, By endurance we conquer) on an expedition whose objective was to be the first land crossing of the continent of Antarctica.  Allegedly, Shackleton selected his crew from more than 5,000 applications in response to an advertisement in the London Times that stated, "Men wanted for hazardous journey.  Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness.  Safe return doubtful.  Honour and recognition in event of success."  The plan was to sail across from South Georgia Island across the Weddell Sea to Vahsel Bay, where a smaller group would travel by dogsled across the continent to the Ross Sea, where another ship would be waiting to take them home.  The first part of the expedition went according to plan, but the Endurance was eventually caught in the pack ice.  The ship was crushed and eventually sank, and the rest of the book details how Shackleton led his men to safety nearly 2 years after leaving South Georgia Island (if you want the details - read the book!).

There have been a number of leadership books based upon the Endurance expedition - there is no question that Shackleton's leadership as well as his men's perseverance made the difference between life and death.  It is a wondrous example of the human spirit that all 28 men survived to tell the tale.  One of his men called Shackleton "the greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none."  Someone else said, "For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

What was it about Sir Ernest Shackleton that made him such a great leader?  In one word - steadfastness.  Shackleton was focused on one simple goal - getting his men safely home.  He remained optimistic, even when there was no reason to be so.  He said, "If you're a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you've got to keep going."  "Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all."  And finally, "Optimism is true moral courage." 

Randy Pausch, the MIT professor who gave "The Last Lecture" while suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer (he later wrote an inspirational book of the same name) said, "Complaining does not work as a strategy.  We all have finite time and energy.  Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals.  And it won't make us happier."

Shackleton understood this too.  When you are spending day after day floating on an ice floe in the middle of the Weddell Sea, trying to survive on nothing but seal meat cooked using blubber on a stove during the long, dark night of the Antarctic winter, time may be unlimited, but energy is not.  The less time spent on complaining, the more energy was left to do things that truly mattered - like surviving.  Tenacity.  Perseverance.  Indefatigable will.  These are the characteristics that led Shackleton's crew all the way to home.

While we as leaders may never spend time eating seal meat on an ice floe in the Weddell Sea, the story of the last voyage of the Endurance provides us with an important lesson.  Difficulties and setbacks are truly "just things to overcome, after all."  Keep your eyes pointing forward to the goal and never waver.  Trust in yourself and your team - and lead the way home.