The Colonel said, “Your leadership will not be challenged when your team succeeds. That part is easy. It’s when your team stumbles or fails—that’s when you’ll be tested as their leader.”
Sir Ernest Shackleton is the best-known leader and explorer who never reached his destination. In 1901, Shackleton set out on a ship called the Discovery to explore Antarctica and reach the South Pole. However, he succumbed to frostbite and scurvy and had to return home. Undaunted, in 1907, Shackleton set out again for the South Pole, this time on the Nimrod. Although they made it farther south than any person yet before them, this expedition fell 97 miles short of its target.
In 1912, Shackleton once again took charge of his destiny as captain of the Endurance—only to see her trapped by a shifting ice floe in the Weddell Sea for over eight months. The ice eventually crushed and sank the Endurance. Seemingly stranded there on the shifting ice, Shackleton rallied his crew, and they rowed lifeboats to secure landfall on Elephant Island. Although on dry land at that point, there was still little hope of rescue because no one would know they were there. So, Shackleton took 5 of his crew and rowed 800 nautical miles to South Georgia Island, then hiked 32 miles across that island to reach a whaling station and arrange a rescue. A year and a half after first being trapped in the shifting ice floe, all 27 crew members were rescued, and every single one made it home alive. Talk about a victory in the face of overwhelming adversity?!
When your crew (your team) is sailing in smooth, sunny waters, there is no real need for your leadership. It’s when the seas grow rough and stormy when the skies become dark and heavy, and when the ice starts forming on your sails and bow that your team will look to you for focus, guidance, and salvation. It is your responsibility to be up for the moment when it happens. Will you be up to the challenge?
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
