Shackleton's Way

In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton led 27 men, for almost two years, through a harrowing fight for their lives after the wreck of their Antarctic vessel, Endurance, left them stranded on an ice floe 1200 miles from civilization. But every man survived. And every man ascribed it to Shackleton's superb leadership. Nearly a century later, this once-overlooked explorer is riding a wave of 'Shackleton mania'. Yet nowhere have the secrets of Shackleton's leadership success been fully analysed. Shackleton's Way draws on anecdotes, crew diaries, contemporary material and interviews with some of today's leaders to illustrate Shackleton's tactics. Here readers will learn how to manage crises with limited personnel and resources, how to create order out of chaos, how to hire good workers, how to support and inspire employees to do their best, and how to lead by personal example -- with optimism, egalitarianism, humour, strength, ingenuity, intelligence and compassion. Shackleton's Way is a fascinating and practical case study of a leader who triumphed by putting people first and striving for the seemingly impossible. "Reading this book is a must... Shackleton's Way for the first time analyses Shackleton's skills in leadership in a way that is entirely relevant to every businessman today." --Sir John Harvey-Jones "A leadership handbook that reads like an adventure story. Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell... show how successful military leaders, dot-com entrepreneurs, investment bankers, educators, corporate executives and even an astronaut have patterned themselves on the incomparable Antarctic explorer. Better yet, they have neatly codified his winning strategies for the rest of us." --Dava Sobel, author of Longitude