What We Can Learn About Community Leadership from Sir Ernest Shackleton

<p>One of the cases I have students read in the leadership class I teach is the story of the Endurance expedition to Antarctica, led by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. This story has received a tremendous amount of attention in the last several years, with several books and documentaries, a four hour BBC film starring Kenneth Branagh, and most recently (last month), a three hour PBS documentary called “Chasing Shackleton.” The attention this story has received though was not about the success of the audacious mission to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The ship never made it to shore. Rather, the story is an awe-inspiring saga of survival, and Shackleton’s efforts to make sure his entire crew made it home safely is frequently cited of one of the greatest examples of leadership ever. But while the Endurance expedition is an incredible epic, and Shackleton an inspiring hero, one might legitimately ask how such an extreme story—so out of time and place with our day-to-day experience—can offer lessons for leadership today. I actually think we can learn a lot about leadership in general and community leadership specifically from the Shackleton story if we think about the crisis the Endurance crew faced as a metaphor for community crises today. This post explores a few of the lessons we might learn from this amazing story. </p> <p>First, if you are not familiar with the Endurance expedition story, I’d encourage you to read one of many books that have been written about it. I’d [...]</p>