Inspiration

Weathering the storm
Take a lesson in extreme survival from Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton to keep your spirits up during the economic downturn, suggests DCLnews editor John E. Shreeve (pictured)

AS WE HEAD into 2002 we face an uncertain economic future. The last 18-months have been a roller coaster ride. The dotcom bubble had well and truly burst by the middle of 2000 and recession officially hit in March 2001. Then came September 11th, dragging the markets even lower. An aggressive policy response has since cheered markets, but the momentum may not continue far into 2002.

If we do end up facing adversity for a time, then perhaps we should take heart from Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose feat of survival during the early 20th century was nothing short of incredible. Admittedly, facing the bone-freezing cold of the Antarctic might not be the same as weathering the economic storm, but both demand strength of character and a determined mind.

Desperate to go to sea
Born in 1874 of Anglo-Irish Quaker stock, Shackleton left Dulwich College in suburban London at 16 desperate to go to sea. A junior officer on Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 expedition, he accompanied Scott by sledge over the Ross Ice Shelf. But Scott sent him home with pneumonia and disappointment.

Undaunted, Shackleton organized his own expedition to reach the South Pole in 1908. Ninety-seven miles short of their objective, with unforeseen delays draining their supplies and limited time to get back to their ship, Shackleton make the courageous and difficult decision to turn back. Unlike Scott, he put his men before glory.

First crossing of the last continent
It was the 1914 expedition, however, "the first crossing of the last continent", that became the stuff of legend. Shackleton led 27 men - sailors, surgeons, an artist and a photographer, as well as 69 sledging dogs - in the ship Endurance, which became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea, north of Antarctica. In October 1915, it finally keeled over and the following month sank through a hole in the ice.

By this time Shackleton had given up hope of crossing Antarctica.

In April 1916, after they had reluctantly slaughtered and ate the 69 dogs, the men clambered into three lifeboats, which they had salvaged from Endurance. For the next week, they rowed over 100 miles in the bitter cold to Elephant Island where "no man had ever set foot before."

Dash for the whaling stations
Overwhelmed by hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and frostbite, it was the first time they had made landfall in 497 days. Shackleton, realizing that nobody would think to look for them on Elephant Island, decided to reinforce the biggest of their three lifeboats and make a dash for the whaling stations on South Georgia, 820 miles away.

Because of storms they landed on the wrong side of the island. Two men were close to death, so Shackleton took two of his most trusted colleagues over the unmapped inland mountain range of South Georgia - a 22-mile crossing that took 36 hours. They were unrecognizable when they finally staggered into Stromness whaling station.

When Shackleton finally got back to his other men on August 30th, 1916, amazingly, he found everyone still alive. "Not a life lost, and we have been through Hell," Shackleton wrote to his wife.

Persistence
Anyone in business knows that things can get very tough. Few who are successful haven't suffered setbacks and disappointments along the road of maintaining a living for themselves and their employees. But the key is persistence, never giving up. Even though the odds were stacked overwhelmingly against him, not once did Shackleton lose his optimism. It was tough and terrible, but he was determined to save himself and every last one of his men.

Because Shackleton was a master of group dynamics and psychology in unusual situations, he was able to convey his own strength of spirit and optimism to his men, some of whom probably would have given up without his strong leadership. At one point, in the midst of a vicious gale, one of his men said he wanted to die. It was this man Shackleton chose to replace the cook, who had temporarily collapsed. "The task of keeping the galley fire alight took his thoughts away from the chances of immediate dissolution. In fact, I found him a little later gravely concerned over the drying of a naturally not over-clean pair of socks, hung up close to our evening milk."

The naked soul of man
In these uncertain times many profound lessons can be learned from the life of Shackleton - not least people management and determination to succeed, come what may. But perhaps the most pertinent is that while adversity can push you to the limit of your endurance, it also pushes you to something greater that isn't easily found during easy times.

In his memoir called South, Shackleton put it this way: "In memories, we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen god in all his splendors, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man."

1/10/2002
John E. Shreeve
DCLnews Editor

Read more about Ernest Shackleton at:
http://www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm

Comments and correspondence to: DCLnews@dclab.com

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