Leadership in Desperate Times: An Analysis of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage through the Lens of Leadership Theory

• Published in: Advances in Developing Human Resources
• Main Author: Browning, Blair W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2007
• Subjects: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management; Antarctic; Shackleton; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1523422306298858; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1523422306298858

The problem and the solution. Ernest Shackleton led a crew on the Endurance that would attempt to be the first group of individuals to cross the Antarctic continent overland. Only one day's sail away from the land, the Endurance became “iced in” and eventually sank, leaving the men with limited supplies. Shackleton's new goal quickly became getting every man home alive. Alfred Lansing's account of this amazing story, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, shows actual photographs and utilizes vivid accounts from different crew members' journals. Shackleton's leadership is viewed as nothing short of spectacular during this journey, and this article highlights three leadership approaches/ theories he displayed in this remarkable story: the skills and the style approaches and the contingency theory. Finally, this article offers various exercises and teaching tools that may aid instructors as they use this story in the classroom.