None of us are ever going to be stranded on an ice-floe but Shackleton's Endurance expedition is a metaphor for the challenges we all face - life-threatening illnesses, difficult business climates, personal problems.
What we love about Shackleton is that in the face of overwhelming obstacles, he refused to give up and got every single person through their ordeal successfully. Many years later, sail-maker Walter How recalled, “He was a tower of strength and endurance, and he never panicked in any emergency."
Shackleton modeled the attitude that he wanted his crew to adopt and they all followed his lead.