Endurance In The Face Of Adversity

It’s said that the recruitment notice went something like this:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success." ~Earnest Shackleton

Destination: Antarctica. Date: 101 years ago.

In speaking of the response he received, Shackleton said it was so overwhelming it seemed as though all the men of Great Britain were determined to accompany him. Other sources put the number near 5,000, not bad considering Shackleton needed only 25 crewmembers. But what kind of person would risk life and limb to accompany Shackleton on a journey with no promise of success or even of safe return?

Ships’ Captain, Frank Worsley and photographer, Frank Hurley, were both runaways in their youth. Others who signed on had adopted the sea as a way of life before they reached their 16th birthday. But not everyone was young, brash, or rebellious.

There was a seaman with 27 years experience and others whose skills were forged by the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine. There was an amateur artist, a surgeon, a few men from well-to-do families and even a stowaway. All were adventurers in one form or another. All were brave, energetic, hard working men. But none of this fully explains their motivations. For that, we should look to Shackleton himself.

The entrepreneur. The leader. The visionary.

Earnest Shackleton doesn’t fit the business-based mold we often examine here, but I’ve said all along the Straight Line Persuasion System offers help to more than just salespeople and business builders. Everyone can benefit from a mastery of persuasion skills and in this particular case, mental toughness. You’ll find out why in a minute.

Shakleton’s vision was to discover the South Pole. He had been on two previous expeditions, both of which had failed. Before he could organize a third, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. So what does a true entrepreneur do when someone else beats him at his own vision? A vision that can be achieved only once in time by only one person.

Shakleton expanded his vision with a goal of traversing the entire continent on foot – an 1800-mile journey – passing through the South Pole along the way. Here’s a nice example of failure being turned into opportunity. Remember, see things as they are, not worse than they are. Then see them better as they are and go for that.

Selling that vision was a challenge, even for a national hero who had been knighted for his previous adventures. After all, the South Pole was now old news, Britain had just lost another explorer, Robert Scott, on a failed Antarctic expedition, Britain had just lost the Titanic to an iceberg and Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, called Shakleton’s vision a “sterile quest” and questioned the need for another expedition since the South Pole had already been discovered.

Learn this lesson now: Never let the shortsighted rain on your parade. Even if they will some day be Prime Minister. Your job as an entrepreneur is not to be discouraged, but to encourage others to see things as you see them. Shakleton did just that, and enough money poured in to afford him a new 300-ton barque, which he named Endurance, 69 Canadian sledge dogs, provisions for the long journey ahead and of course, his carefully selected crew. But no amount of money could have anticipated the extreme challenges that lay ahead.

Adapting to changing circumstances

Entrepreneurs know how to do this well. For Shakleton and his crew, the case was more urgent than most. Before ever reaching the continent, Endurance became mired in pack ice – large pieces of floating ice that can be measured by the mile. By the next day the temperature had dropped 40 degrees and Endurance was now surrounded by solid ice as far as the eye could see. For two days the entire crew attacked the ice with pick and shovel, but not enough to move Endurance one inch. There was only one thing left to do and that was to hunker down for the long, cold and dark winter approaching. Escape would not be possible until the following spring or even summer.

But how do you keep 26 restless men of divergent personalities and life experiences, idled by such severe and unexpected circumstances, from going at each other’s throats? Long before this day arrived, Shakleton had learned a few lessons while serving as an officer on Robert Scott’s first expedition. He observed the tensions that arise between men of different classes and personalities and determined to keep flare-ups to a minimum.

Shekleton’s motto was Prospice – Look Forward, the title of a Robert Browning poem. He kept the men busy with a rigid daily routine and insisted that even the officers perform the same tasks as the seamen. The chain of command so crucial to the normal operations of a ship gave way to teamwork and cooperation. From spirited games of ice soccer to shipboard theatrical productions, Shakleton kept his crew focused on the positive.

And they were confident he’d never forsake them to achieve his expeditionary goals. Previously he had turned an expedition back, just 97 miles from that prized South Pole, when provisions ran out. Many of the men on Endurance had been with Shakleton then and had become loyal to the death because of Shakleton’s moral priorities and undaunting optimism. All this would prove vital as things morphed from bad to worse.

Under pressure

Endurance took a beating all winter long and into spring as the ice expanded millimeter by millimeter, heaving up massive jagged ridges, and increasing the pressure against her hull. Timbers creaked and groaned with abandon as the jaws of the icepack slowly but steadily crushed Endurance. In no way did Shakleton ever reveal to his crew the dread he felt in his own heart. Such honesty would devastate them more than being stranded in a bleak wilderness with no hope of imminent rescue.

Ten months after first becoming stuck, with Endurance listing heavily to one side and frigid waters filling her lower deck, Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. Once again, Shakleton’s dreams had been dashed. And once again, new goals had to be established. It was no longer about achieving fame as the first person to do something remarkable. It was now about getting 27 men back home alive. That would require mastery of not only the outer game (the unforgiving nature of the Antarctic continent) but also the inner game (the unpredictable nature of man’s emotional and mental state under extreme pressure) of 27 men.

The crew managed to preserve what meager rations were left, but there were not enough fur sleeping bags to go around. In what many believe was a rigged lottery, Shakleton and his officers won all the wool sleeping bags while the crew members, right down to the lowest in rank, won the far superior fur sleeping bags.

But Shakleton’s benevolent nature was well balanced by his need to maintain control for the sake of everyone’s survival. There could be no rebellion in the ranks and he was prepared to stop dissension by any means necessary, even at the point of a gun.

It would be 1 year, 7 months and 12 days after Endurance became stuck in that pack ice before all the men were rescued. Everyone survived under Shakleton’s leadership. But the rescue didn’t come until Shakleton and five others sailed a 22-foot lifeboat 800 miles through storm ravaged seas to the tiny island of South Georgia. And then scale a 6,000-foot ice covered mountain to arrive at a whaling port on the other side. From South Georgia Shackleton mounted three unsuccessful rescue attempts over a four-month period. The fourth time was a charm.

Sir Raymond Priestley, of Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition, summed up his experience like this:

“For scientific leadership, give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel give me Amundsen. But when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”

A final thought

I’m sure you’ve all read the ‘classics’ like Think and Grow Rich and The Power of Positive Thinking or biographies like that of Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Sam Walton. But every now and then it pays to steer a different tack and study the lives of non-business people who chose or were thrust into leadership roles.

When you get right down to it, whether you’re building a global business empire employing tens of thousands or moving across the wilderness with 26, how you treat, interact with and ultimately lead the people under your command dictates not only your success, but theirs as well.

Happy exploring!

Jordan