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Sir Ernest Shackleton´s Survival in the Antarctic Essay example

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For an exemplary leader, what is one of the highest compliments that you could ever receive? Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British explorer who–after failing to reach the Southern Pole first–wanted to be the first to ever accomplish a trans–Antarctic expedition. On October 27th, 1915 Shackleton’s boat–the Endurance–was crushed by the pressure of the melting Antarctic ice; leaving Shackleton and his crew stranded in the Antarctic. On August 30th, 1916 after a treacherous one and a half years of living in the Antarctic and surrounding islands, Shackleton and his crew were rescued following an unimaginable story of survival. The qualities of leadership Shackleton exhibited that resulted in the survival of him and his crew were, having certain …show more content…

By putting the needs of the crew ahead of his own, Shackleton acquired a level of respect and trust not convivial by an egocentric leader. To be an obsessive person, one must have a certain subject constantly on one’s mind or routines must be followed correctly and/or on time. The benefit for the Endurance’s crew to have an obsessive man as Shackleton was that he was ready for the unexpected, and his crew’s safety was the utmost important topic for him. With Shackleton’s obsessive nature, he made a very specific routine for the men to follow; at exactly 9:00 am, breakfast was served, at 1:00 pm, lunch was served, at 4:00 pm, tea was served, and at 6:00 pm, dinner was served. Between the meals, the men did chores such as, cleaning the ship and melting ice for drinking water. Such a precise and stringent following of a routine gave the men purpose and managed to keep the men from going stir crazy. The crew’s safety was on Shackleton’s mind from the moment everyone abandoned the Endurance. Shackleton stopped all unnecessary activities that posed a risk to crew safety; for example, he stopped Macklin and Greenstreet from paddling on an ice floe like children on a raft. Shackleton also commenced unpredicted safety drills for cracking of their ice floe–which could happen at any moment. Shackleton often didn’t sleep due to the fact that he worried about all the dangerous and potentially fatal situations that he and his crew

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