Inside an Explorer’s Mind: When you’d rather die than not find out, you ENDURE

Endurance is not about winning. It’s about withstanding great hardship and suffering to go the distance. It's the greatest test of human will and spirit. For explorers, to survive is to endure. Explorers and entrepreneurs have a lot in common: the will to venture into the unknown, a willingness to take risks, and gritty endurance.

The famed explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1914 led The British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on a wild mission to cross the entire Antarctic continent on foot, a feat that had never been done before. He appropriately named his ship "Endurance". Unfortunately, the mission failed. Endurance sank under the weight of ice packs in the unforgiving Antarctic winter, and in one of humankind’s greatest examples of endurance, Shackleton endured immense suffering to save the lives of his crew under the harshest circumstances. Together, they overcame unpredictability and uncertainty, and found glimpses of hope in each other.

I have very recently returned from South Georgia Island and the Antarctic Peninsula, my second expedition to Antarctica after my first visit two years ago, and more than 100 years since Sir Ernest Shackleton embarked on a bold journey that defined the meaning of endurance.

“Explorers have a resolute will to go to places uncharted and unknown. They do not know what it is until they get there for the first time; they may not even know it is there until they arrive. But it is there, and it changes them. What exactly is it?” - Clint Willis in his book, Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration .

Whatever it is that they find, explorers seem willing to endure great suffering and even die for it. Would an entrepreneur do the same thing?

This was the burning question in my mind as I spent two weeks in the Antarctic. As a rookie explorer, I tried to take a peek into sir Ernest Shackleton’s mind: when he first set foot on South Georgia after weeks of treading icy waters on a small wooden lifeboat, subsisting on seal blubber and penguin giblets, what egged him to go on? How did circumstances change his mission? Was it merely to survive and to save his life and the lives of his team, this despite the fact that his original mission had already failed?

I was speechless as our ship sailed into South Georgia. I saw for myself why South Georgia is a jewel to be treasured. The extreme and rugged grandeur of its mountains stir emotion. Its majestic glaciers are set on a seascape so calm the waters mirrored everything above it with utmost clarity and detail – or so rough that survival was the only thought that crossed the mind.

It is cold, wet and very windy. It also has the world’s largest and most approachable concentration of wildlife, with the world’s most loved sea bird, the penguin, and the wandering albatross, which has the longest wingspan of any living bird.

During my first trip in 2016, I found myself unprepared for what lay ahead of me when I first arrived in Ushuaia, so-called the “end of the world”. Almost three years after I had sold my company, Bo Le Associates, I was finally able to come to terms with my decision and the consequences. When my friends Nor and Cindy mentioned they were going to Antarctica as part of their journey to explore the world, I jumped at the opportunity.

I’ve always had a keen sense of curiosity and thirst for knowledge, particularly those concerning questions the answers to which may never be found. Antarctica is often on top of many people’s “bucket lists”. I actually do not have a bucket list, as I often seize and jump at opportunities that come along my way, so a bucket list, to me, is about seizing the moment. Why wait?

Bucket lists usually include places to visit or things to do before it was too late, or you would never get the chance to do them again. There are many places I would like to visit, but if I’d never get the chance to visit them in the future, for me, I feel I have had a fulfilling life journey already. The experiences I’ve gained from the many trips around the world, meeting all the people I've met, have given me profound hope for humanity, and a better understanding of human nature, evolution and the many issues we face in today’s world. I feel the time I have ahead of me must be spent acting on the things I believe in, such as championing the right to learn and the preservation of wild life.

I did not know that I would be back to Antarctica after two years. 

Antarctica was discovered in 1820. Scientists and explorers have braved gale-force winds, waves the size of mountains, thick fog, and giant ice bergs to explore and study one of the few truly “wild” territories left in our world. Antarctica is a land of extremes: it is the coldest, windiest, driest, and the highest continent. On the surface, Antarctica is a frozen desert.

It is at the bottom of the world and its extremes have attracted those seeking something beautiful and perfect in its own way. Many had met their death in Antarctica, while many others had found their own version of happiness. I myself found something there that I have not found in any place on earth: a strange and mysterious beauty that inspires and makes one feel completely insignificant. It's humbling.

Many believe that an explorer’s motive is to seek glory, knowledge, or profit. I am not convinced that such motives explain the record of polar exploration. I do believe that all humans long to achieve something significant, and to be free from the often harsh reality and heavy burdens of life. Yet in Antarctica, I found insignificance and the lightness of being. Life and the pristine beauty of Antarctica have remained the same for millions of years without any human intervention. Antarctica humbles me in a way I cannot describe or comprehend. It is not that it is simply beautiful – but that it is powerful. “Its power derives from the tension between its obvious beauty and its capacity to take life,” writes Barry Lopez in Arctic Dreams.

Antarctica shows us that life is beautiful if left alone and untouched. The self-sustaining ecosystem in Antarctica has been untouched for millions of years. What happened?

Endurance is probably one of the most important attributes of entrepreneurs as it showcases the many merits of the human will to achieve: to ensure that one must have perseverance, persistence, tenacity, determination, resolve, tolerance, restraint, and patience.

As an entrepreneur I had to endure and go through a lot to succeed in starting and scaling the biggest executive search firm in China and Asia. The sufferings were not so much about physical endurance. Of course, working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week non-stop did take a toll on my health over time. I remember that the only day I did not work was January 1st, or New Year’s day, as it was the only holiday common in all the countries where we had offices.

I had to overcome uncertainty, unpredictability, skepticism, self-doubt, and heart breaks. These are all forms of emotional suffering, from which came a realization that makes all the pain worth it...

"One is strong because one has felt weak. One is wise because one has experienced doubt."

This realization couldn't have come at a better time in my life. In these uncertain and unpredictable times, as I steer a new company and a new team to places uncharted and unknown, I take refuge in the words of Sir Ernest Shackleton after all was said and done: “No words can do justice to their courage and their cheerfulness. To brave, cheerily, to be patient with a glad heart, and to stand the agonies of thirst with laughter and song, to walk beside Death for months and never be sad – that’s the spirit that makes courage worth having. I loved my men.”

Entrepreneurs must have a strong belief in one’s ability to endure. Even when your original vision and venture fail, knowing that you have endured the journey can be the most serene feeling in the world.

Lots of Love - Louisa