Management Today - March 2001

Shackleton's Way
by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell - Nicholas Brealey Books, £14.99

A HUSKY HERO FOR OUR TIME
A life-long admirer of Ernest Shackleton, John Harvey-Jones acclaims an account of the Antarctic explorer's subtle skills as a leader.

Shackleton was one of my great heroes from before the 1940s and I can claim to have read every book written about his astounding feats of personal leadership. In fact, he is one of the only public heroes who is revered not for his accomplishments - he failed to achieve his objective in every expedition he undertook - but for the way he chose and then inspired his men.
However, no written words can begin to describe the magnitude of his responsibilities until you have visited and seen for yourself the awesome conditions he and his people coped with.
During my service in the Royal Navy in 1953, I was in the Antarctic and so was able to pursue my obsession with the man. As well as visiting his grave at Grytviken, I also saw Elephant Island and retraced the voyage of the James Caird to South Georgia. This was tough going, even in a relatively modern warship with good food, warmth and clothing.
As we battled through the seas, feeling sorry for ourselves, I could not imagine then - and I still can't now - how any man could have taken on such an endeavour after months of privation and a diet of penguin and seal. And, after all of that, Shackleton and his two companions traversed South Georgia - a feat that was not replicated until the 1960s.
This book, Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer, for the first time analyses his skills in leadership in a way that is entirely relevant to every businessman today. Shackleton was not a theoretician. He was a pragmatic, thoughtful leader who learnt from every experience and never neglected the details. He saw that his people had the best equipment and provisions he could provide and he treated every man as an equal and vital part of the team.
He and they knew that he never lost a life, despite apparently insurmountable odds. He led by example, and despite taking risks no ordinary man would contemplate, he believed that he was a cautious man.
The risks he took, as so often in business, were the lesser compared with shirking the opportunity. For most of us managers, our lives are dedicated to challenging the unknown. We know that the biggest business risk is taking no risk at all - but we also know that meticulous preparation and attention to detail are the only way we can offset the dangers.
Above all, we know, as he knew, that we are only as good as those we are responsible for. It is the commitment and skill of our colleagues that will carry us through.
This analysis of Shackleton's timelessly applicable style demonstrates clearly his methods of selecting and building teams. He did not believe in command and control, although he was more than capable of exercising these if necessary. He knew that leadership is about hearts and minds. Hearts and minds are given only to those of integrity, belief and, above all, optimism. The Antarctic is the loneliest place in the world. The only strength you have is that of your own belief and optimism. You can rely only on each other and you know - even 50 years ago when I was there - that no-one else could rescue you.
These are aspects of management with which we are all too familiar. Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell have done us a service by their practical analysis of the lessons we can all learn from Shackleton's way of doing things. I thought I knew everything there was to know about his expeditions, trials and tribulations, yet I still found my attention drawn to aspects of his leadership that I had previously undervalued.
For me, reading this book is a must. I hope it is the same for you.
Sir John Harvey-Jones was chairman of ICI 1982-87. He is now a management guru and his most recent book is Making it Happen - Reflections on Leadership

PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK) Corporate Register - March edition

The fame of Ernest Shackleton has become somewhat overlooked over the years but, in 1914, 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 some 1,200 miles from civilisation. Remarkably, each one survived their ordeal. And each one ascribed their individual and corporate survival to Shackleton's superb leadership skills.
Shackleton's Way - a collaboration between Shackleton scholar Margot Morrell and Wall Street Journal writer Stephanie Capparell - aims to analyse the secrets of Shackleton's man management and leadership success. It draws on anecdotes, crew diaries, contemporary material and interviews with some of today's leaders to illustrate and illuminate Shackleton's tactics.
With detailed reference to that expedition - where temperatures were so low that the men could hear the water freeze and where they lived on an unappetising diet of penguins, dogs and seals - the book examines such concepts as:
* The path to leadership - establishing the values and character building traits that help to form a good leader.
* Hiring an outstanding crew - the importance of surrounding the leader with exceptionally talented staff.
* Creating a sprit of camaraderie - the value of establishing order and routine; breaking down traditional hierarchies; being both fair and informal.
* Getting the best from each individual - helping each person to reach his/her potential.
* Leading effectively in a crisis - inspiring confidence and quashing dissent.
* Forming teams for tough assignments - balancing talent and expertise in each team and getting each team to help the others.
* Overcoming obstacles to reach a goal - techniques for providing inspiration and keeping sight of the big picture.
All the great teachers that this world has known - Socrates and Jesus among them - were at their most effective when teaching principles and precepts through the medium of stories. Many people have found inspiration and answers to their own searching through reading and studying the stories of others and applying the lessons of those stories to their lives and circumstances. Shackleton's Way is a fine addition to this tradition. On one level, the book is 'ripping yarn' of the sort that has enthused the impressionable young at heart for generations. On another level, it provides a well-focused insight into the essence of exemplary leadership skills, as well as offering a few tips on how to develop and apply these in less climatically challenging but no less hostile conditions.
This book has all the appeal of an old-fashioned adventure story - especially since the outcome was a triumph rather than disaster. It also has the allure of a well-written biography. In addition, it has the added value of some valuable insights from modern men of action on the techniques that Shackleton used in order to let hope triumph over despair and bring success out of almost certain failure.