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)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Analysis of Shackleton Expedition to Antartic 1914-1916 Leadership of Shackletons multi-sense analytical model Shackletons 10 strategies of authentic leadership Comparison leadership Shackleton with Hall and Fisher Lesson learnt from Shackletons leadership Conclusion References

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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, Britains 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 Years 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.

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.

Shackletons 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.

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 partys 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.

There now remained the last stage of their miraculous odysseythe 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. Shackletons 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 ones 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'.

Shackletons Multi-sense Analytical Model Personally, my own analysis of Ernest Shackletons 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.

Secondly, on the behavioural approach, with Shackletons 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. Shackletons 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 oceans 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. Shackletons 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.

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, Shackletons 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. Shackletons 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.

Strategy 6: He reinforces the team message constantly by echoing the motto that: "We are onewe 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 tentmate. 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,

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 Shackletons 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 Shackletons 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 Shackletons 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 Shackletons 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

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that the rest of the world tells them are unavoidable. Shackleton would explore 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

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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 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.

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REFERENCES 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, Shackletons Way, Viking Press, 2001 12. Torpey, Shackletons Approach, Ernst & Young LLP, Aug 2002

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