Ernest Shackleton Characteristics

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What makes a great leader? This age-old question has piqued the interest of intellectuals across all spectrums since the dawn of time. We need to look no further than the life experiences of Ernest Shackleton to provide us with some insight on this question. One area that he excelled in was emotional IQ. Throughout his exploration career, he demonstrated his ability to be self-aware, self-regulate, socially aware of those around him, and socially manage very difficult situations. In addition to having an extremely high emotional IQ, Ernest did an amazing job of having and providing a clear vision to his team. Because of his uncanny ability to do this, he was able to attract the right people for the job. Lastly, Shackleton demonstrated …show more content…

First Acceptance of Reality, Second the ability to find meaning, and last the ability to improvise. Resiliency is another trait that Shackleton demonstrated throughout his exploration career. On their journey to Antarctica, Shackleton was repeatedly forced to accept reality. After initially finding themselves frozen in a giant floating island they attempted to cut their way to freedom. Realizing this wasn't possible he quickly changed goals and moved on to trying to solve the problem in a different way. Another example of this can be seen after they reached Elephant Island. There was really no chance that anyone would find them on this Island. This ability to accept reality allowed them to not only survive but to adjust their goals and shift their focus to the next goal. The second trait Contu mentions is the ability to find meaning. Referenced above I'd like to highlight again Shackleton's ad "honor and recognition in case of success." This group of men didn't set out on this journey simply because they enjoyed each other's company, they did so because they felt strongly that there was meaning to their journey. Lastly the ability to improvise was what kept them all alive. The first sign of capability to improvise can be seen in the shift of focus from getting to Antarctica to getting everyone home. Later evidence can be seen from abandoning ship to setting sail for South Georgia. Shackleton was constantly forced to improvise and devise a new plan to get them all back to

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