Getting the Best from a Team

Shackleton had lots of challenges to deal with among his team.

Photographer Frank Hurley was a prima donna. Hurley was loud and inconsiderate. He'd get up early in the morning and bang around the cabin. Then, just in case, anyone was still asleep, he'd go outside and leave the door open. In Antarctica. In winter. Even more significantly, he tried to undermine Shackleton's leadership.

But Hurley did the best work of his life on Shackleton's Endurance expedition and his photographs and film were the only valuable assets salvaged from the expedition.

The carpenter, Harry McNeish, was the sort of guy who gets drunk on Saturday nights and goes looking for a fight. One shipmate said of him, "He was always on the grouse." He always had something to complain about.

But McNeish was a brilliant carpenter and in maintaining the life boats, he made a critical contribution to the group's survival.

Thomas Orde-Lees was the worst pessimist on the expedition. Shackleton once took him sharply to task for spreading gloom among the team.

Lees was hired to be the motor expert but proved completely incompetent at that job. Hurley took over doing all his work. But, early in the expedition, Lees asked Shackleton to put him in charge of the food supply. In stretching out their food supply, Lees was an enormous asset.

Shackleton recognized his team had faults and strengths. He didn't get caught up in their faults and he made sure they used their strengths.

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