Endurance: Shackletons Incredible Voyage - Essay Example

?Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage The novel “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” was written by Alfred Lansing. It was first published in the year 1959. The book revolves around the failure of the Imperial Trans-Antartic Expedition. The expedition was led by Mr. Ernest Shackleton as he attempted to cross the Antarctic continent in the year 1914. He and his twenty eight men suffered in their bid to struggle for almost 2 years. The use of the word Endurance in the book refers to the name of the ship used for the expedition. During the course of the expedition, the ship was eventually crushed down by the ice floes in the Weddell Sea. It left the men on the voyage stranded amongst pack ice. The crew dragged along and kept struggling on the ice for a year. They were successful in managing their boats and eventually landed safely on the Elephant Island. Shackleton then helped five members of the crew board on the James Carid boat. They were then helped through the Drake Passage and from there they landed at the South Georgia Island which was 650 nautical miles away. After this, Shackleton miraculously helped two of the men from the successful overland crossing of the island and took them. After a period of three months, he succeeded in rescuing the remaining crew members that had been left behind on the Elephant Island. About Shackleton: Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was born on February 1874 and died on 5th January 1922 in the book. He has been sketched as an Irish born British explorer in the novel and was main hero on the Age of Antarctic Exploration. His first encounter with the Polar Regions was as the third officer in 1901. From this expedition he was sent home earlier on in the day. He was a determined man who was keen on turning around his fortunes. He knew he wanted to turn around his failure into a phenomenal success. In 1907 he returned to Antarctica and this time he was the leader of the Nimrod Expedition. He was also knighted with the award King Edward VIII when he returned home after his exploration journey from the South Pole. Once his journey to the South Pole came down to a fleeting halt in 1912, Shackleton turned his attention towards his biggest object of the Antarctic journeying. This was the crossing of the continent from one sea to the other sea through the pole. From here on he started his preparations for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917. As mentioned before, the ship on which they sailed was called Endurance. During the journey, it got trapped in a pack ice and crushed before they could reach the shores. This was followed by many twists and turns in the journey and an ultimate escape in which no lives were lost. The journey gave Shackleton the heroic status he rightfully deserved. He returned to Atlantic again in 1921. He wanted to conduct a programme and scientific survey there. But unfortunately, it couldn’t happen. Soon Shackleton died of heart attack. He was buried there only at the request of his wife. As a leader, Shackleton was very restless and thirsty. He was always on the search. It was precisely his curious nature that helped him launch business ventures and other money making schemes. However he couldn’t succeed in them. He had a misty financial life and when he died he was under heavy debt. He was accolade in the press for long after he died but after that he was completely forgotten. Towards the end of the twentieth century Shackleton found his lost glory all over again. He was again repeatedly considered as someone who could be a role model for leadership who helped his team survive through the most extreme circumstances. His role as a leader was exemplary throughout the course of the journey and is described by many as simply “incredible”. On the book and encounters that they came across: The book is a remarkable tale of an exceptional and an extra ordinary of survival. It proves to the maxim that there is nothing so bad that can’t qualify to become worse. It also points out that one can’t know the end of the end of the story till the end is reached. Shackleton’s remarkable leadership traits helped his men survive through this arduous trial. Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people and instigates, motivates and guides a group towards the goals. The person who wields such influence is called the leader. When leaders are effective, the influence they exert over others help a group or organization achieve its performance goals But when the leaders are ineffective, their influence does not contribute to, and often detracts from goal attainment. In simple words, leadership is the ability to direct a group towards the accomplishment of goals. Leadership is a vital part of being a successful manager. Employees would tend to follow a good leader rather than a manager that does not possess leadership skills and will respond positively to their direction. A poor leader will often fail to win over staff and will have problems communicating with and organizing workers effectively. Similarly Shackleton showed remarkable leadership skill as he led his team through. Truth is not just weird but is hard too. The story hits of in the year 1914 when Shackleton left with his team on the Endurance ship in their bid to travel and reach the South Pole. He had tried his hands at the trip before but had failed before in 1908. The Endurance was made such that it could be easily pushed through the pack ice but the conditions proved otherwise. Summer dawned and they found themselves facing a troublesome situation. There was no escape in sight; the winds were running in the wrong direction and soon winter cracked and they were all trapped in a boat. They had only started sailing along steadily on a normal routine till the ice crashed into them and cracked the Endurance. Shackleton eventually realized that the only way out was to do it on his own accord. He had to find a way out with the help of his team mates. He led very effectively by example. They all abandoned the boat and then used a floe to carry the boats to north where they expected to find more supplies and ways to get rescued. In the end all they need was a lot of courage to trespass through the ordeal set before them. They drove their strength to fight from Shackleton’s inspirational charisma and motivation. A motive is another aspect of the traits of a leader. Motives are revealed as the intentions seen in the behavior of leaders. Motives are also evident through the emotional energy which shows how important the leader considers things to be. The motives of the leader need to be clear. The motives are of four forms. Power, drive and achievement, strong work ethics and Tenacity. The power motive involves the leader influencing the actions and behaviors of others. Power is further divided in personalized power motive and socializes power motive. Personalized power motive is when the leaders pursue their own interests and use their power for their own self fulfillment considering it as a form of high-status and luxury. Shackleton was exemplary where his motive was concerned. He was also an able and an intelligent leader who was successful in inspiring his followers. Intelligence in leader is as important as are other factors. Mental abilities are one of the important traits that a leader must possess. A person that is smart and mentally sharp solves difficult problems, brings a creative edge to the company and also inspires others and comes up as more sensible and thus, motivates people in his or her following the leadership. All this was demonstrated in those trying times at the expedition in a place like Antartica, where the shelter was never adequate and where there were only starvation rations. There was no heating and the they had barely any clothing left to their credit. The Novel leaves you on your edge at all times. Every time one would think that Shackleton is about to win, another disaster would crop up and things would start going haywire. It was a constant struggle and constant battle for survival with diminishing odd for survival. In the end, eventually everything was well worth the effort. References: 1. Argyris, C .Increasing leadership effectiveness. R.E Krieger. 1976 2. Bratton, J, Grint, K, & Nelson, D.L .Organizational leadership. Thomas south-western.2004 3. Dale, E .Management: theory and practice. McGraw-hill.1973 4. Drucker, P.F The practice of management. Harper.1995 5. DuBrin, A.J.Leadership: research finding, practice and skill. south-western college pub.2006 6. Heifetz, R.A (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Harvard university press.1994 Read More