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Sir Ernest Shackleton : The Most Important Characteristics Of A Good Leader

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Does Shackleton display the most important characteristics of a good leader?

Sir Ernest Shackleton had all of the most important characteristics of a perfect leader, plus more. He was able to stay motivated, optimistic and very resourceful throughout his entire dangerous, freezing cold, backbreaking, journey across the atlantic ocean. But why should a leader possess these traits? How do they help?

The first trait that a good leader should have is motivation. Motivation is what starts the journey. It is the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. Without Motivation nobody would get anywhere or do anything with their lives. To be motivated you usually have something or someone motivating you. One of Shackleton's most famous quotes is “If you're a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you've got to keep going” this shows that his crew members were the main thing motivating him, they are what kept him going. Another thing that helped keep him motivated was setting goals. His goal at first was to make the first land crossing of the antarctic continent. When that failed Shackleton didn't give up. He made another goal and that was to reach the land with all the members of the expedition. Being motivated helped them do great things. After they spent 2 hours of backbreaking labor, hauling the boats through wet, heavy snow and detouring around piles of broken floe then finding themselves only one mile from where they left off, they kept going. They didn’t stop. He made a goal and wasn't going to give it up.

To be a leader you must be optimistic and stay positive. You can’t let anxiety, worries, anger or sadness take over your mind or everything will crumble. Being optimistic is having hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something. For the most part Shackleton remained optimistic and positive throughout his whole expedition, which would be extremely hard. At one point thick, greasy smoke from the blubber stove turned Shackletons face black and regularly sent him bursting outside coughing, but he still stayed cheerful. When they had to leave Endurance he was making jokes with another crew member. On December 31, 1915, shackleton wrote in his diary. “The

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