Ernest Shackleton Endurance expedition: lessons in leadership as granddaughter displays Frank Hurley photos at Hong Kong exhibition
The polar explorer’s legacy has a great deal to teach us about priorities in life as Alexandra Shackleton displays expedition photos in Hong Kong
Ernest Shackleton may have died nearly 100 years ago but leaders can heed lessons from his expeditions, according to his granddaughter.
Alexandra Shackleton is opening “The Endurance Exhibition” on Friday evening, hosted by the Royal Geographical Society-Hong Kong, in Central.
“People come to Shackleton for all sorts of reasons, but mainly leadership,” Alexandra said, adding that 280,000 have visited a Shackleton exhibition in London. “The one thing that defines Ernest Shackleton is the way he led his men.”
Firstly, she said, he took the time to get to know his men. It might seem unremarkable now, but 100 years ago in the rigid hierarchy of British society, officers and their men did not mix. It was not simply what was expected, but that integration was hard because of difference in experience such as education levels.
“Some of the men were barely literate,” Alexandra said. “One man wouldn’t eat penguins because he said it was well known that penguins were the souls of dead sailors.”