Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer

From time to time, I'll read a book that I think my readers would find of value.  Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer by Margo Morrell and Stephanie Capparell is one of those books.

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and 27 others under his command start on a journey to be the first expedition to cross the Antarctic continent.  Their ship was caught in the ice, eventually crushed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.  The story of how they all survived has become a classic.  If you haven't read this true story I would recommend The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander.

In Shackleton's Way, the authors focus on Shackleton's leadership traits and skills in crisis management: self-sacrifice, optimism, perseverance, loyalty, duty, honor, and humor - to name just a few.

As a person who manages his own business and an avid reader of inspirational biographies, I found this book a perfect blend of my two interests.  Each chapter provides a chronological flow of the life of "the Boss" from early childhood, through each of his Antarctic expeditions and finally to his untimely death.  At the end of each chapter is a summary of leadership skills he demonstrated, followed by a contemporary story of an individual who was inspired by Shackleton to follow his example of leadership.

For anyone who has the responsibility to lead others this a must read book.  For those of you who may not want to read the book but would like a quick overview, I've written a 4 page summary for your review.  To access it, click on the link below:

Doug Marshall's Recommended Reading List

This link will take you to the correct page of the MCF website.  Then scoll down under the category "Professional Growth" to the "Leadership" subsection where you will see the name of the book - Shackleton's Way.  Click on the blue ball to the right of the page and open a PDF of the 4 page summary.

John Mitchell's Economic Forecast - Opportunities to Be Seized

I had the opportunity to hear John Mitchell’s economic forecast at the Sterling Savings Bank November 3^rd breakfast meeting.  John always does an excellent job making a boring topic interesting.  There were no surprises in his presentation about the current economic situation, the gist of which was, the U.S. economy is growing, albeit at a slower rate than one would hope.  

But I didn’t go to hear John Mitchell talk about our current economic situation.  I went there to hear what he thinks will happen going forward.  Accurately forecasting future economic trends splits the men from the boys, which reminds me of the Yogi Berra quote: “It’s tough to make predictions especially about the future.”

Not surprisingly, John Mitchell didn’t go out on a limb making any bold predictions about our economic future.  Economists as a rule are not known for being risk takers.  But in fairness to John, he did identify several issues that could influence the economy for good or for ill.  I would like to focus on two of these challenges.  If these issues are handled properly it would have a positive long-term impact on our economy. 

Opportunity #1 – The Housing Crisis

As John Mitchell pointed out, 17% of all homes in Oregon and 22% of all houses in the U.S. are underwater, i.e., homeowners owe more than their houses are worth.  Until this crisis is resolved, house prices will not bottom out, let alone begin to appreciate in value.  And until house prices begin going up most Americans will not have the confidence that the economy has turned the corner regardless of what the economic numbers may say.

One proposal that would go a long way to resolving the housing crisis is writing down some of the principal on these underwater mortgages.  It is estimated that 10 million out of 55 million mortgages are likely to default. The single best indicator of whether a homeowner will default is the size of the imbalance between what is owed and what the house is worth.  Reduce the size of the imbalance and there will be fewer defaults.  Fewer defaults would be a major step in stabilizing house prices.  

Banks hate this idea and would rather continue with the status quo.  The solution: Leaders in Congress should propose legislation that will allow banks to quickly write down mortgages in a manner that doesn’t punish the banks’ long-term viability.  The alternative is continued stagnation in the housing market. 

Opportunity #2 – The Congressional Supercommittee

As you already know, the congressional supercommittee has been given the task of proposing a combination of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts or revenue increases over the next 10 years.  Their deadline to make their proposal before Congress is November 23^rd which is fast approaching.  Most economists believe that anything less than a $3 trillion package will be perceived by the market as little more than putting a band aid on a gaping wound.  Failure to come to some agreement will likely increase our chances of a further downgrading of our nation’s credit rating. 

I hope that those on the committee are closely watching the debt crisis in Europe unfold.  Just in the last week both the Greek and Italian leaders have been forced from office.  Europe is in the throes of a financial crisis.  We could be next.  Compromise, a word that is now considered a pejorative by many, needs to happen between Republicans and Democrats in order to get anything through the supercommittee that has a chance of passing both houses of Congress.   

Both of these issues are at major crossroads.  And both of these are opportunities to be seized or to be squandered. If those in political power show some leadership they could help turn our economic ship around.

Sources: Aftershocks, Oil Shocks and the Long Good-Bye, by John Mitchell, November 3, 2011; A Good Idea in Principal, by Joe Nocera, The Oregonian, November 8, 2011.