Excellent Leadership Manual for Small Units

books:


	• Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer Margot Morrell, Stephanie Capparell, 2001 - 238 pages average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A new slant on the Endurance expedition

I've read a lot of books on Antarctic exploration, but this is the first one that's intended as a text for leadership skills: apparently the intended audience is MBA students and other budding executives. This is an interesting slant on the story, and the authors do seem to have a lot of insight into what made Shackleton a model for leadership. One oddity is that they don't say a word about his controversial decision to site the Nimrod expedition's home base at McMurdo, giving rise to much bitterness in his relations with Scott and the British Antarctic "establishment"; I'd have been interested in the authors' judgment on this.

Does a book like this really give useful guidance to executives? Beats me! The aphorisms they provide seem oversimplified, but I can't claim any expertise here. It was, however, most interesting to contrast Shackleton's leadership principles with those of the current occupant of the White House!

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Leadership and Teamwork from the past

For those familiar with the story of Shackleton and the Endurance, this is a great book. Actually anyone not familiar with the story can learn it with a lesson in leadership and teamwork. Shackleton took his men and kept them alive thru 9 months trapped on a ship in the ice then 6 months living on the ice after the ship broke up and finally depositing them on Elephant island and leaving on an 800 hundred mile open boat trip to South Georgia island. After nearly 3 years of survival in the Antarctic, Shackleton brought all 27 men home. None died. That is an amazing feat.
Shackleton's Way by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, breaks this amazing odyssey down into chapters with short notes on leadership method's and then adds in a view or perspective of a business or leader in today's world who applies some of Shackleton's methods. The story starts Sir Ernest Shackleton's method of selecting his men for the voyage. Then the initial voyage and how he made sure each man could do the others job and everyone understood they were a team united. This allowed the survival of all. Shackleton knew men and how to keep them organized, hopeful and strong. This is a great book to add to your bookshelf of leadership, teamwork and people management in crisis.

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Bold Vision & Careful Planning

I enjoyed this book. It's a short read but certainly with some substance. Ernest Shackleton is, of course, a famous traveler and explorer and there is little new information in the book on the actual subject of his travels. However, the author, who I believe is Shackleton's relative of sorts, does a decent job of putting his experiences in the context of today's management practices. The author analyzes specific actions by the explorer (selection of prospective employees, using public relations to advance his cause and fundraise, etc.) and summarizes take-aways in a simple and straightforward fashion. More than anything, the book made me want to go out and find our more about the man!

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Uncommon common knowledge

I have heard it said many times that management is common knowledge and this book reaffirms those sentiments. But common knowledge is often forgotten when adversity happens or when things become too busy. This book takes the effort of reaffirming all those things that are important to leadership in adverse times. It covers many of the things Sir Ernest Shackleton faced in many of his polar expeditions and how he learned from past mistakes. It talks of his planning, expenditures, morale focus, and other things he felt were to make for a successful trip. It also talks about how one can set what success is, where sometimes reaching the South Pole is not the best idea when you focus on bringing everyone through to the end with you.

I recommend this book just for an inspirational aspect. It is well written if occasionally hokey when they pull out leadership bullet points, but still a good read.

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Excellent Leadership Manual for Small Units

I was assigned this book as part of my Master's class in business, but as a military officer found it a great source of leadership principles on leading a small unit in remote, harsh environments when the tasks ahead seem impossible. Each chapter focuses on a different part of building and leading a team with 2-3 page vignettes followed at the end of each chapter with a business tie-in.

I must admit that I did not know of Shakleton before reading this book. Since reading it, I have already bought it again as a gift for a fellow officer headed to Iraq. A must read! The book is very easy to pick up and read for just 5 minutes or for hours.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Sir Ernest Shackleton has been called "the greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none" for saving the lives of the twenty-seven men stranded with him in the Antarctic for almost two years. Today the public can't get enough of this once-forgotten explorer, and his actions have made him a model for great leadership and masterful crisis management. Now, through anecdotes, the diaries of the men in his crew, and Shackleton's own writing, Shackleton's leadership style and time-honored principles are translated for the modern business world. Written by two veteran business observers and illustrated with ship photographer Frank Hurley's masterpieces and other rarely seen photos, this practical book helps today's leaders follow Shackleton's triumphant example.

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