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Vision and Quick Victories
1
Vision and Quick Victories
The first chapter of the book we read, LEADING AT THE EDGE is mainly about setting goals. In Shackleton's voyage, the ultimate goal was to cross the Antarctic Continent, but he and his crew had to stop advancing since their ship, Endurance was broken by tons of ice. Shackleton, as a leader of expedition, I hardly be able to understand his feeling when he was watching the ship going broken. However, surprisingly, he simply said to his crew "So now we'll go home". He immediately set new goal which going back to home without anyone missing instead of clinging on the previous one.
In the situation that every crew being anxious about the future, Shackleton's declaration somewhat ease their anxiety. He set not only long-term goal, but also short-term objectives in order to provide crew a sense of accomplishment each time when they accomplish short-term objectives to keep crew's morale. In addition, working together with members give themselves a sense of unity as well.
It was definitely unavoidable to change ultimate goal in Shackleton's circumstance. However I can hardly believe he could instantly change his mind and put his motivation and energy as much as he had done for previous goal. It is true that he could declare in order to survive, but I think it was not easy to do, he probably despaired so much in some way. HOWEVER, that is one of the reasons that he could be said as a GREAT leader even today.
Thanks for your New Year resolutions, and I wish you the best in achieving them.
返信削除Thanks for this post and for your thoughts on this chapter. I think you are right in that it was not easy for Shackleton to change his thinking the way he did. He had months to think about it, however, as he knew as soon as he got stuck in the ice that they probably wouldn't get out, even though he kept that to himself.