The ‘Endurance Expedition’ – Story and Course by Harvard Business School

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review

The course Become a More Resilient Leader in Turbulent Times is a 35-minute online course that runs from January 15^th, 2021 to January 15^th, 2023. It is provided by Harvard Business School free of charge.

This course presents the story of the British explorer Ernest Shackleton and that of his 28-member crew during the Endurance expedition to the South Pole. The story is presented by Prof. Nancy Koehn – historian and James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School whose research focus is on exploring the skills of past leaders to better face the current and future turbulent times’ challenges.

The Endurance expedition started in August 1914 when on the continent WWI had just broken out. The stakes for such an expedition were high from a scientific point of view (discoveries and writing history), as well as on a personal basis (honors and recognition) and for the nation (pride and possible territorial claims).

            Despite warnings that icebergs were unusually far north for that time of the year, E. Shackleton decided to continue his expedition. The ship got stuck and in November 1915 it sank. But it is exactly these events that brought to light Shackleton’s leadership skills and his human qualities. For example, while stuck and working side by side with his crew to clean the ship, his mind was processing existential questions such as: ‘How will my men survive? How do I lead them to survival? How do I help them believe they can survive?’

            He succeeded by keeping his crew focused on the positive, by working together and by passing an enjoyable time together – on the ship or on the ice racing with their dogs – and by maintaining his crew’s belief in their mission. After the ship sank, some might have been scared and in order for them not to spread their panic among the entire crew, Shackleton applied an old wise saying: keep your friends close and your enemies even closer – he, actually, kept them in his tent. And he avoided disbelief spreading among the rest of the crew.

This captivating online course presents the expedition story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew in an interactive way – several interesting questions pop up challenging course participants’ leadership skills. The course ends with the beautiful words of Sir Raymond Priestley: ‘For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.

Enjoy the course!