8 Leadership Mantras to keep in mind
In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton led an expedition comprising seamen and scientists to the Antarctica with the aim of crossing the then-unexplored continent. Unfortunately, the expedition ship ‘Endurance’ was trapped in ice and drifted off course for 10 months before being crushed in the pack ice. The members of the expedition then drifted on ice floes for another 5 months before escaping in boats to Elephant Island, where they subsisted on seal meat and penguins. Shackleton and five others sailed 800 miles (1,300 km) in a whale boat, a 16 – day journey before landing on the southern part of South Georgia. Four months later, he led four separate relief expeditions that culminated in the successful rescue of his entire team without a single fatality. The Shackleton expedition is a compelling story of leadership when disaster strikes repeatedly.
Lessons learned from Shackleton’s leadership can be summarized into eight mantras:-
- Reinvent your ultimate goal when absolutely necessary. This capacity is vital in our own time, when leaders must often change course midstream – abandoning previous standards of success and redefining their purposes and plans. Shackleton began a journey with a mission of exploration, but it soon became a mission of survival.
- Focus energy on short- term objectives. When his ship was trapped in ice, he realized that they would have to wait out the coming winter in the ship’s cramped quarters until summer’s thaw. Fearing the potential effects of idleness, anxiety and dissidence among his men more than he did the ice and cold, he required that each man maintain his ordinary duties as closely s possible. Sailors swabbed decks; scientists collected specimens from the ice; others were assigned to hunt seals and penguins when fresh meat ran low.
- Set a personal example. Shackleton realized that he himself had to embody the new survival mission – not only in what he said, but also in his physical bearing and the energy he exuded.
- Reinforce the team message constantly. Survival was the daily goal. But as days became weeks and weeks became months, the ship’s timbers were weakening under the pressure created by the ice, and in October (after been immobile in ice for nearly 8 months), water started pouring into the ship. Shackleton ordered his men to abandon the sinking ship. The next morning, he announced a new goal: “ship and stores have gone – so now we’ll go home”.
- Minimise status differences instilling courtesy and mutual respect. He kept a strict routine for meals and insisted that the men socialize after dinner as a tonic for declining morale.
- Handle conflict – deal with anger, engage dissidents and avoid power struggles. When a few men expressed skepticism about his plans, he acted quickly to contain their opposition and negativity by trying to win them over and keeping a close watch on them. He assigned several potential troublemakers to his own tent on the ice, proving the value of the saying, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.
- Unshakeable faith in yourself and your abilities. The hardest part of leadership is not just feeding your team with ideas and motivation, but feeding yourself – especially when faced with enormous challenges. Shackleton found a way to do this.
- Never give up – there’s always another move. When attempting to rescue his crew he set sail in three different ships, yet none could cut through the pack ice surrounding elephant island. A fourth attempt finally succeeded in rescuing his men, : I have done it,” he wrote in his diary. “Not a life lost, and we have been through hell.”
Shackleton’s credible commitment and sense of responsibility along with his unwavering determination, using imaginative methods to achieve a goal – that of getting his men home safely, is increasingly important for current day business leaders, especially in our times of unexpected disruption.
Ilzaf Keefahs - writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike.
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