“Shackleton is Unique among Explorers” – an article by Brad Borkan and David Hirzel. Illustration by Sarah Barnard

Ernest Shackleton is not only unique among polar explorers, he is unique among all explorers throughout history.

This might be a bold statement, but on the eve of the film premiere Endurance, a major motion picture that weaves the story of the finding of Shackleton’s famous ship with the incredible saga of his 1914-1916 expedition, it is worth explaining why this statement is meaningful and true.

Consider all the great historical explorers. It’s a long and impressive list of epic achievers. Every reader will likely have their top five or ten.

Such a list could include people like Columbus, Magellan, John Cabot, Henry Hudson, Leif Erikson, Sir John Franklin, all of whom went in the most sophisticated ships of their day in search of new sea routes and undiscovered lands.  We’d add to this list the names of twentieth-century explorers Roald Amundsen – first to sail the Northwest Passage and first to reach the South Pole, Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay – first to summit Mt. Everest, Wally Herbert – first man to trek over the floating sea ice to the North Pole, Ranulph Fiennes – first to circumnavigate the world on the polar axis.

Also those who left the earth in rocket ships, should be included, such as Yuri Gagarin – first astronaut to go into outer space, Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman astronaut (in 1963, she orbited the earth 48 times and even to this day is the only woman who ever traveled solo into outer space) and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – first to set foot on the moon. 

Their experiences show the remarkable reach of human endeavour, but what is remarkable is few if any are set forth as examples from which we can learn.

Consider this:

• • Leading business schools do not teach case studies about Magellan.

• • Inspirational talks are not commonly based on John Cabot, Leif Erikson or Yuri Gagarin.

• • No one talks about leadership lessons from Columbus, nor for that matter from Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, or Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. This is not to detract from their enormous accomplishments. It’s just not how they have been perceived by history.

• • Few if any books highlight the people management skills and teamwork of any of these epic achievers.

Shackleton, on the other hand, never achieved his primary goal on any of his expeditions.  He showed that setbacks do not necessarily mean the end of the enterprise, and that how one deals with failure can show the way for others to reach new, and possibly better goals.

The precedents he set appear today in:

• • Leadership lessons taught in primary and secondary schools, universities, businesses and as keynote speeches at conferences.

• • Business school case studies,

• • Inspirational talks and podcasts, and

• • Quite a few books, such as Shackleton’s Way, It Takes Two or Three: The Superpower of Small Teams, Leading at the Edge, and When Your Life Depends on It: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic, have been published highlighting Shackleton’s skills and showing how they can be useful to modern people.

Here are a few examples of Shackleton’s failures and lessons derived from them.

On Captain Scott’s Discovery Expedition (1901-1904), Shackleton was the junior member of a 3-man team (Captain Scott, Dr. Edward Wilson and Shackleton). They were the first to trek far into the interior of Antarctica. On the return journey, Shackleton nearly died of scurvy and against his will was invalided back to Britain, at the insistence of Captain Scott, on a relief ship.

Rather than accepting his fate as having been disgraced, he took advantage of his early return to Britain, giving lectures about Antarctica and the journey he had survived. He used the experience to raise funds for his own expedition to Antarctica with a goal of being the first to reach the South Pole. This is an excellent lesson is recognizing and seizing opportunities.

In Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909), he and three others (Frank Wild, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams) set off on foot to travel the 800 miles to the Pole, and the same distance back to the shore of the continent.  The journey was more than any four men could make on the food and equipment they had to work with.  By January 8, 1909, 103 miles short of their goal, it was clear they would have to turn back, or die in their tracks on the return journey.

As desperate as they were to start the 700 mile trek to safety, Shackleton encouraged them to leave the tent and sleeping bags behind and trek south for one more day, plant the British flag, return to their encampment and start the journey back the next day. They reached 97 miles to the South Pole. Why did he do this?

He knew he would not achieve his goal but felt that it would be far better to have achieved a milestone he could name, “within 100 miles” of the Pole.  There’s a poignant photo of the men standing next to a large British flag at their “furthest South” point. Shackleton wrote to his wife Emily, “I thought you’d rather have a live donkey than a dead lion.”

This is an exceptionally valuable lesson for all of us. We can’t always achieve our goals but we can achieve meaningful milestones that can feel victorious. Next time you risk missing a career or life goal, strive for a milestone at which you can ‘plant your flag.’

His third expedition was his most famous. The Endurance Expedition (1914-1916) had the intention of enabling Shackleton, Frank Wild and a few other men to be the first to trek across the entire Antarctic continent. On that expedition, he and his men never even reached the shore of Antarctica. The Endurance became trapped in the sea ice and then crushed.  During the months they were to survive on the floating sea ice of the Weddell Sea, Shackleton led his men to accept a new goal, that all of the stranded mariners would get home again.

It was an epic tale of survival against the odds. The lessons for modern people are many. The most important one is this: Never, ever give up trying. Keep striving towards your new goal (in his case to get his men home), trying every angle until you succeed. All the men from the Endurance survived.

Shackleton’s fourth expedition on the Quest (1921-1922), was to be his last. It had the goal of exploring seas and lands in the Southern Ocean, but Shackleton died on the Quest before reaching the island of South Georgia.

On that voyage Shackleton was surrounded by men he led on other expeditions. The great lesson for modern people was one of camaraderie. Treat people with honor, respect and decency, and they will be loyal to you forever. It is said of great leaders than their teams would follow them “to the ends of the earth.” In Shackleton’s case, his men literally did that time and time again.

By not achieving any of his primary goals, in every instance, Shackleton showed us all something else. Something far more valuable.

• • How to be a leader not just in the early 1900s in Antarctica, but in any era.

• • How to strive for audacious goals.

• • How to motivate teams when all hope is lost.

• • How to pivot to a secondary goal and make that successful.

• • When to be patient and when to take action.

This makes Ernest Shackleton unique among all explorers across all of history. He taught us profound and important lessons that we can bring into our modern lives.

The finding of the Endurance cements Shackleton’s legacy. As shown in this remarkable documentary, his legendary ship was searched for twice. Once in 2019. When that failed, the team went back again three years later. Endurance was found almost 2 miles below the surface of the Weddell Sea, on March 9, 2022, on the 100^th anniversary to the day that Shackleton was buried on South Georgia. 

The work of the search team to locate the wreck on the bottom of the sea provides a modern example of the precepts embodied in Shackleton’s own work.  No matter how daunting the work ahead of us: Never ever give up trying.

About the authors and illustrator

Brad Borkan and David Hirzel have co-written three books on the lessons that can be learned from people like Shackleton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Teddy Roosevelt, the Wright Brothers, Hillary and Tenzing, and other epic achievers. Their most famous book is When Your Life Depends on It: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic. Their newest book is It Takes Two or Three – The Superpower of Small Teams. Their website is https://www.extreme-decisions.com.

Sarah Barnard is an award-winning professional polar artist and illustrator with a background in ocean exploration and marine biology. Sarah’s website is https://www.barnardpolar.shop/