The Brilliant Success of Shackleton’s Failure cover image

The Brilliant Success of Shackleton’s Failure

How the surprisingly modern leadership skills of Sir Ernest Shackleton, like emotional intelligence and empathy, kept this marooned team alive in the Antarctic continent.

Profile image of Gabriela Cowperthwaite
May 11, 2020 • 32 min read
4.78 (9)
Leadership
Teamwork
Team Building
Empowerment
Servant Leadership
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Summary

Teamistry host Gabriela Cowperthwaite travels back in time to discover the surprisingly modern leadership skills of the determined explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, who expertly employed emotional intelligence and empathy to keep his crew alive. She give us a flashback of what the seamen grappled with during those oppressing times when they were marooned thousands of miles away from civilization. Together with Tim Jarvis (an explorer and a professor from Harvard Business School) and Nancy Koehn, they walks us through the pivotal moments when Shackleton's superior decision-making helped him salvage the expedition and hold the hearts of his men.

Takeaways

  • Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team Ship were marooned thousands of miles away from civilization. He kept the team alive using modern leadership skills like emotional intelligence and empathy.
  • Sir Ernest Shackleton wanted to be the first man to walk across the Antarctic continent. In 1914, with a crew of 28 men, he set sail on the Endurance to complete the first “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition."

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