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.