Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Leadership Read!
Review:
Knowing of my interest in leadership, a friend recommended that I read Shackleton's Way. When I first viewed the picture on the cover of the book and glanced at the subtitle, I thought, "What on earth would this book have to do with leadership?" The answer is an unqualified, "Absolutely plenty!" The cover picture shows several men who appear to be playing some type of a game on snow and ice. The complete subtitle is "Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer." The authors of Shackleton's Way, Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, skillfully combine a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat story with legendary lessons on leadership.
Very briefly, Shackleton's Way is the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the 27 men stranded with him in the Antarctic for almost two years in the early days of the 1900's. Everyone survived, but probably only because of Shackleton's outstanding leadership abilities and practices. Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, skillfully weave lessons on leadership throughout the pages of the adventure-filled book.
The thorough research from various diaries, letters, books and other documents is evident on every page of the book. The authors certainly did their homework! Each chapter tells of a portion of the trip, while illustrating the leadership lessons Sir Ernest utilized in maintaining hope, working with diverse folks in an often-adverse environment, working as a team, creativity in problem solving and many other traits a good leader uses. Near the end of each chapter, bullet points clearly and succinctly illustrate pertinent points in that chapter. Finally, each chapter ends with a section called "Working It In," in which contemporary leaders demonstrate how Sir Ernest Shackleton's leadership lessons were of value to them.
Not only will you find the lessons in Shackleton's Way useful with co-workers and employees, but you'll also find them helpful with your family. Even though these principles and lessons about leadership were illustrated nearly a century ago, they are timeless; if anything, they are more valuable now than at that time. Sir Ernest Shackleton was a servant leader; we would all do well to learn leadership lessons from Shackleton's Way.
Rating:
Summary: Horizontal Hierarchy
Review: Building a united and loyal crew was the foundation of Shackleton's leadership. Teamwork was the ingredient of success. "Adventure is the soul of existence because it brings out true harmony among men", Shackleton told Hussey. Shackleton made him self available to his crew, at dinner men talked to him openly and shared ideas. This familiarity did not diminish discipline, Shackleton believed life was a game and the game had rules, these rules were to be followed, but he was not to be excessive in enforcing harsh discipline. Instead, Shackleton encouraged his men to debate, the men talked openly about a wide range of issues, and sponsored democratic forum where creative members were reward for the initiative, ingenuity, and bravery. Shackleton broke down the traditional hierarchies by having the scientist share in the ship chores and having seaman taking scientific readings with the effect being the creation of a group of generalist skilled in all aspects of the ships operations. Everyone had to take his turn sailing and steering the ship and doing night watch, which entailed noting ice conditions, maintaining the fires in the furnace, and taking meteorological readings. In addition all hands scrubbed the common spaces, trimmed the coal by leveling of the pile, packing and unpacking provisions, and caring for the dogs. Shackleton attempted to by fair in punishment and not excessive. Shackleton led by example. If anyone was ill or injured, Shackleton would help with the lifting and cleaning. Shackleton believed in working hard, eating good food, and finding time to relax and recreate. Shackleton used these work exchanges to show how things were to be done, understand the effort involved in the task, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the men. Shackletons willingness to get involve gave each job a certain dignity on the ship and enhanced his standing with his crew. Shackleton often used luxury food to boost morale or help recover from a traumatic crew experience. Shackleton gathered his crew weekly to listen to the gramophone, play games, perform skits, watch slide shows, sing, and play instruments. Hussey was particular good on the Banjo and in the future help the men keep their sanity in the most remote of circumstances. Shackleton had regular gatherings to build spirit de corps, dinner was just a gathering, and alcoholic drinks to wives and loved ones. "He led mentally and physically and gave a sense to the individual that he, the individual, was a most important part of the whole show" wrote G. Vibert Douglas.
Shackleton believed in the importance of comforts in maintaining morale. Shackleton insisted on healthy diet, exercise, and reasonably safety measures. The play soccer and hockey, raced the dogs, and took long walks. Orde-Lees rode his cherish bicycle and one venture went too far and got lost, after that Shackelton forbad his to ride the bicycle. In order to prevent men from getting lost in the dark, Shackleton order ice mounts be placed around the ship. Frank Hurley place lights 20 feet talk near the ship to light the floes. Shackleton matched personality types with work assignments. This knowledge became especially help when assignments were given to route crew to specific lifeboats in the crossing to Elephant Island. Each team functioned because of the talents and strengths of its crew members. Shackleton brought these talents together in an effective manner. Shackelton wanted to place each man in a long term job that he enjoyed. Shackleton viewed each member of the crew as a human being and form personal relationships with them and because of this relationship he knew how to ask questions, get encouragement, and provide reminders and insights. Shackleton liked to chat with his men in the early morning hours when there was a particularly relaxed atmosphere. Shackleton was tolerant of people quirks and foibles. Shackleton showed remarkable kindness to his men and never expected his men to do more than they were capable. Shackleton encouraged crew members to focus on their strengths and not to overdo their expectations. Shackleton occasionally pampered his men in reducing high-stress situations.
During the crisis to Elephant Island, the organization hierarchy went flat with Shackleton addressing his men leaving no doubt he was in complete charge and would led them through the crisis into safety if they stuck together and trusted him. The men swore their loyalty. Offering food for comfort was Shackleton's way of letting the men talk and relax and let the Bosses words sink in. Shackleton made contingency plans in detail but remained flexible. Shackleton left nothing to chance when it came to the men's lives and Shackleton's flexible save lives on a number of occasions. Shackleton made sure the men had a realistic understanding of their plight. Shackleton wanted his men to be happy and confident of their survival. At the same time he wanted them to take serious their situation and assume some responsibility for their fates in their own hands.
Patience Island presented some fascinating lessons. Shackleton streamed-line supplies and operations and could do nothing. Shackleton had to wait for the opportunity to reach ocean for a chance at three land possibilities. Shackleton let go of the past. He never wasted time or energy regretting past mistakes or fretting over what could not be changed. Shackleton used humor to diffuse high tensions and help his men see the absurdity of their arguments. Shackleton gave his men reality checks to help them on their course. Shackleton knew that everyone must be involved and do some work in a crisis, even if the work was less involved. Shackleton realized he needed plenty of time for the staff to get use to an unpopular decision.
The men rowed for their lives to avoid being crushed by two converging ice formations. Shackleton trusted his team leaders but kept an eye on the individuals. Shackleton chose the workhorses for the toughest assignments, one being Frank Wild. The decision to got to Elephant Island demonstrates Shackleton was not afraid to change his mind as the situation dictated. "It was the fourth time in the four days since taking the boats that he changed his plans: from heading toward Elephant Island to the east, to aiming for King George Island to the west, to trying for Hope Bay to the southwest, and back to Elephant Island. Shackleton was self sacrificing and gave comfort to his men were possible, such was the case, when Orde-Les was sick and Shackleton sleep on a chair getting three hours of sleep while Order-Les slept in a bed with the temperature raised to 70 degrees. As Shackleton left for South Georgia to gain resources for a rescue attempt, he showed great confidence in the men he left in charge. Frank Wild performed magnificently in the stead of Shackleton and single handledly prevented death, discouragement, and insanity from driving the men wild. Wild followed Shackleton's model to the T.
Shackleton decided to take extreme risks when his options were limited. The extreme risk was to travel 800 miles to South Georgia's whaling community where they started and get help. Shackleton could not wait because ice cap was forming around Elephant Island and the food rations were rapidly running out. Shackleton, Worsley, Crean, McNeish, McCarthy, and Vincent accomplish the amazing journey. Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean cross the South Georgia mountain into Stromness May 20, 1916, "Our beards were long and our hair was matted. We were unwashed and the garments we had worn for a year without change were tattered and stained." Later at dinner, the Norwegian whalers with no common language each walked silently up tem and shook their hands, each wanting to congratulate the men who had made the magnificent boat journey. Shackleton's men were sustained by faith and trust in their leader.
Rating:
Summary: Great Leader, Great Leadership Traits
Review: By now, most are familiar with the trials and adventures of the Irish, Antarctic explorer's failed attempt at reaching the South Pole. But what authors Morrell and Capparell focus on is Shakelton's leadership traits and skills in crisis management. Strength, endurance, flexibility, caring, fairness, patience, self-sacrifice, loyalty, duty, determination -- all take on an indelible meaning in the context of the unimaginable obstacles Shakelton and his crew faced ...and survived!Each chapter not only reads like a part of a reveting adventure story but is summarized with a list of leadership skills followed by a contemporary story of an individual who was inspired and demonstrated those meaningful traits of character. "Shakelton's Way" should be required reading for anyone with the responsibility of a handful of individuals much less a corporation-full. One wonders how different the outcome might have been had Shakelton been at the helm of Enron, WorldCom or Arthur Andersen.
Rating:
Summary: Great Leader, Great Leadership Traits
Review: By now, most are familiar with the trials and adventures of the Irish, Antarctic explorer's failed attempt at reaching the South Pole. But what authors Morrell and Capparell focus on is Shakelton's leadership traits and skills in crisis management. Strength, endurance, flexibility, caring, fairness, patience, self-sacrifice, loyalty, duty, determination -- all take on an indelible meaning in the context of the unimaginable obstacles Shakelton and his crew faced ...and survived! Each chapter not only reads like a part of a reveting adventure story but is summarized with a list of leadership skills followed by a contemporary story of an individual who was inspired and demonstrated those meaningful traits of character. "Shakelton's Way" should be required reading for anyone with the responsibility of a handful of individuals much less a corporation-full. One wonders how different the outcome might have been had Shakelton been at the helm of Enron, WorldCom or Arthur Andersen.
Rating: 
Summary: Great leader, not so great leadership book
Review: Ernest Shackleton accomplished arguably superhuman things. He was good at selecting, cajoling and inspiring men. How he brought his crew back alive from such a frozen, forbidding world, is one of the amazing miracles of the past two hundred years.
Yet a close, hard look suggests that the leadership lessons to be learned are limited for most readers. The authors try too hard to take each Shackleton episode or act as a lesson tobe learned and applied yet these lessons are not as clear as the authors might want to suggest nor are the lessons necessarily generalizeable to modern life or commerce. After reading the entire book, little remains to explain Shackleton's theory or practice of leadership, just a lot of anecdotes and incidents. Shackleton and his leadership remain inscrutable.
An amazing story, yes. An amazing leadership book, I think not.
Rating: 
Summary: Now I don't want to get off on a rant here, but...
Review: Heard the taped version of SHACKLETON'S WAY:
LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE GREAT ANTARCTIC
EXPLORER by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell . . . this
was the perfect companion to the recent documentary I
saw on the same subject, THE ENDURANCE . . . it enabled
me to better appreciate how Ernest Shackleton and his men
survived the wreck of their ship with no means of communication
and no hope for rescue . . . the amazing thing was that not
only did every man survive--but did so in both good health
and spirits. Shackleton was clearly ahead of his time . . . he led his men
from 1914 to 1916 using some techniques that are now
accepted by all, but I imagine were revolutionary at the
time . . . for example, the book's authors noted that
he believed in the following: A good boss will make a burden of work seem lighter. One person can change an entire work environment. It was better to replace a failed goal with a more ambitious one. Chip-in sometimes with the work you are having others do. In trouble, danger and despair, never give up hope. The worse
can always be got over.
Rating: 
Summary: Shackleton's Way
Review: If you want an in depth analysis of Shackleton or any other leader, go take a course, read the volumes of books on the subject, invest the effort elsewhere. Don't expect to have an in-depth analysis effectively accomplished in 200 pages. If you want a light, entertaining, interesting read of an incredible story, touching on various leadership points, then you will find this book worthwhile. If you are looking for a bit of spark to investigate Shackleton a bit more, then you will find this book worthwhile. Shackleton was a very capable leader of expeditions... not a Saint. If you are looking for a look into his personal life and any shortcomings in it, you won't find it in this book... but then again, I don't think it's called Shackleton's Family Way: A Critical Account of His Family Life.
Rating:
Summary: "Way" is Wonderful!
Review: In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and 27 others started on a journey to be the first people to cross the Antarctic Continent. Their ship was caught in the ice, eventually crushed, and the story of how they all survived has become a classic. In this book, the story is retold with new insights and information. The authors focus on Shackleton as leader. The conclusions are very well drawn, and the connections and insights regarding "leadership" are true, valid, and extremely worthwhile. They make sense, they are useful, and they work! I've been to South Georgia and Elephant Island, and thus have some appreciation of the difficulties Shackleton and his men faced. His leadership skills came through for his team then, and the lessons learned are more than appropriate for leaders of today.
Rating:
Summary: Leadership Lite
Review: On one of the last pages of "Shackleton's Way," the authors state, "This book attempts to provide what Shackleton wished to explain about his experiences and achievements." This refers to Shackleton's fascination with "the mental side" of leadership. This self-congratulatory pat on their collective backs ignores the simple fact that they failed badly in their attempt. Shackleton was by all accounts a great adventurer. He successfully assembled a group of kindred spirits and had a great adventure. He may well have been an equally great leader who practiced the art of leadership brilliantly. Unfortunately, you won't read about it in this book. A more appropriate title for this book might be, "Leadership Lite" or "The Hardy Boys Go to Antarctica." The authors crammed about 25 pages of story into 238 painfully puffed out pages, including pictures; appendices; introductory remarks by the subject's granddaughter; bibliography, with a glaring omission of any literature on the subject of leadership in any form; three pages of acknowledgements; and, an exhaustive index which is probably the best written part of the entire book. They also include lengthy asides describing how various others have used the Shackleton story to help them in their efforts to lead others. Finally, as if their writing might overwhelm the reader with its "subtlety" they provide a laundry list of homilies summarizing each chapter. That these nuggets of leadership lore might well be included in a remedial course in management clearly escapes the authors as they present them in a manner suggestive of Moses' tablets of stone. Finally, they mention in passing that Shackleton was a philandering womanizer who couldn't seem to get and hold a real job so he decided to go on a grand adventure. This suggests an obvious candidate for their next book, a recent resident of Washington DC and one of their new neighbors in New York.
Rating:
Summary: Shackleton's Way
Review: Sir Ernest Shackleton's well-documented story of his ill-fated attempt to cross the Antarctic Continent and his heroic efforts to save his crew of 27 after the crushing and sinking of his ship Endurance is indeed the material for a major network mini-series. However, Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antartic Explorer, is an unglamorous and non-preachy lesson in leadership with authority, integrity, humor, and compassion. I do have a slight criticism, an important lesson in leadership was skipped - balance. Shackleton's ability to coach and encourage, listen and build a sense of community, and focus on meeting the needs of others while developing and bringing out the best in them did not extend to his family. The authors Morrell and Capparell do mention his neglected family. However it was glazed over and they failed to offer insight on how we the reader might learn from this shortcoming. Clearly he was a self-directed and other-focused man, but he lacked balance. He devoted his life to his work and crew while his family settled for scraps of time and attention. It is important that we learn from success and failure, not just the stuff that makes for great TV and/or big screen movies. While Shackleton's Way was admittedly a bit dry at times, I thoroughly enjoyed the mixture of history and practical applications of servant leadership in today's business world. The book provides a glimmer of hope in light of the recent corporate ethics scandals. I am impressed by Shackleton's pioneer sprit in exploration and leadership. He certainly did not have Covey, Greenleaf, Hunter or Autry to reference. How lucky we are to have Sir Ernest. Whether you are searching for a historical biography, travel journal, adventure story or a desktop guide to servant leadership you just might find something more than you bargained for in Shackleton's Way.
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