Leadership Analysis Based on Shackleton
I. Introduction
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, a British explore, was born in Kilkee, County Kildare, Ireland on February 15th, 1874. His family moved to London when he was 10 years old. At the age of 16, he dropped out from school to join the Merchant Marines, the youngest age to join the service at time. In 1898, Shackleton became a qualified master and a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901.
Yearning for adventure and fame, in 1901 he applied for a position in Robert Falcon Scott 's Discovery expedition to the Antarctic. Unfortunately, in 1904, he was sent back home due to his health problem. With the strong desire of adventure and reputation, Shackleton amended his failure by returning to Antarctica as a leader of Nimrod Expedition in 1907. His purposes were to explore the Ross Shelf Ice and the south magnetic pole. The journey was a success with his discovery of Beardmore Glacier on the Antarctic Plateau on January 09, 1909. On his comeback, Shackleton received many honors and awards for the successful expedition. (Wikipedia)
The “real” journey of Shackleton began on August 1st, 1914 where he went along with his 27 crew members, left London for South Georgia in the purpose to complete the trans-Antarctic expedition – the ship was called “The Endurance”. On 24th February, 1915, the Endurance got stuck in the ice park, crushed by the ice and was finally sunk under the ice in the same year on 21st November.
Regardless to the shortage of foods, supplies, no communication equipments, plus the unbearable cold winter, Shackleton and his crew never gave up hope. On May 19th 1916, Shackleton and his two other crews – Worsley and Crean – crossed South Georgia in search of the whaling stations on the east-coast. They went on foot for 36 hours over the Glacier Mountains and at last arrived at Stromness whaling station. All the 27 men were amazingly able to return in good spirit after almost two years they were stranded in the Antarctic. (Timeline)
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, a British explore, was born in Kilkee, County Kildare, Ireland on February 15th, 1874. His family moved to London when he was 10 years old. At the age of 16, he dropped out from school to join the Merchant Marines, the youngest age to join the service at time. In 1898, Shackleton became a qualified master and a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901.
Yearning for adventure and fame, in 1901 he applied for a position in Robert Falcon Scott 's Discovery expedition to the Antarctic. Unfortunately, in 1904, he was sent back home due to his health problem. With the strong desire of adventure and reputation, Shackleton amended his failure by returning to Antarctica as a leader of Nimrod Expedition in 1907. His purposes were to explore the Ross Shelf Ice and the south magnetic pole. The journey was a success with his discovery of Beardmore Glacier on the Antarctic Plateau on January 09, 1909. On his comeback, Shackleton received many honors and awards for the successful expedition. (Wikipedia)
The “real” journey of Shackleton began on August 1st, 1914 where he went along with his 27 crew members, left London for South Georgia in the purpose to complete the trans-Antarctic expedition – the ship was called “The Endurance”. On 24th February, 1915, the Endurance got stuck in the ice park, crushed by the ice and was finally sunk under the ice in the same year on 21st November.
Regardless to the shortage of foods, supplies, no communication equipments, plus the unbearable cold winter, Shackleton and his crew never gave up hope. On May 19th 1916, Shackleton and his two other crews – Worsley and Crean – crossed South Georgia in search of the whaling stations on the east-coast. They went on foot for 36 hours over the Glacier Mountains and at last arrived at Stromness whaling station. All the 27 men were amazingly able to return in good spirit after almost two years they were stranded in the Antarctic. (Timeline)
Cited: "Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 2 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Shackleton" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 June 2012. Web. 02 Jun. 2012. ( I don’t think we should use Wikipedia as a reliable source ) “Nova Online” Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance. Feb 2002 Web. 02 Jun 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/timeline.html> http://personnel.ky.gov/nr/rdonlyres/6c98ae12-6df1-4476-acd3-ff1c9b2770f4/0/someshackletonleadershiplessons.pdf http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/l_change/Interviews/Shackleton.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackleton-expedition.html?pagewanted=all http://artofmanliness.com/2011/08/02/leadership-lessons-from-ernest-shackleton/