A Leadership Lesson For Tumultuous Times

Optimism is true moral courage. Determining to be hopeful and positive in the face of daunting circumstances is a gutsy choice effective leaders make again and again. It’s easy to give in to negativity and pessimism when leading on the edge of chaos. Yet, resisting the tendency to give in to despair, discouragement and defeat when confronting tremendous hardship or disappointment is a key factor in being a leader people will follow – even on the edge of chaos. Our world, now more than ever, needs these kinds of leaders – in our businesses, in our families, and in our communities. In these days when we so often feel like we are living on the edge of chaos, people want and need beacons of hope, bastions of optimism. Such is our challenge and opportunity. Leading on the edge of chaos requires the moral courage that optimism demands.

On October 27, 1915 Ernest Shackleton gave the order to his crew of 27 men to abandon ship. The goal of his expedition—to be the first team to cross the Antarctic continent from sea to sea—had long since been abandoned, replaced by the determination to return all his men back home to England alive. Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance had already endured 281 days of entrapment in an ice floe, including 70 days of pitch-black darkness—the long Antarctic winter night. Now, their ship had been crushed beyond repair, forcing them to abandon its shelter and relative comfort. This small band was left hundreds of miles from the nearest community, with no means of communication, with no one knowing their whereabouts, and with very little material resources.

Three lifeboats, camping-gear, dog sled teams and several months worth of food rations were all the supplies they were able to salvage from the Endurance. Attempts to drag the lifeboats across the ice to open water quickly failed, forcing them to set up camp and wait for warmer weather to break up the ice sufficiently for them to set sail for the whaling station on South Georgia Island. On November 17th, they watched in dismay as the ship Endurance sank beneath the ice. During the six months of encampment on the ice floe that followed, Shackleton worked relentlessly to keep his men hopeful, focused, positive and cooperative. Ice floe soccer games, Saturday evening sing-a-longs, a clear and regular daily regimen for all and regular personal time with each of his men were some of the methods he used to accomplish this.

By April 9, 1916 the ice had disintegrated to the point where they could launch the lifeboats. So began an attempt to sail to a whaling station on South Georgia Island, the nearest inhabited place. Gale force winds, however, drove them westward instead of east, forcing them to land on the deserted and desolate Elephant Island some 800 miles from South Georgia Island.

Undaunted, Shackleton and a crew of 9 took the largest lifeboat in a second attempt to reach South Georgia Island. After 3 weeks at sea, encountering colossal waves that threatened to overwhelm them, sleeping in freezing wet sleeping bags, and struggling at times against near hurricane strength winds, they managed to land on South Georgia Island – only on the wrong side of the island. Unable to row the boat around the southern tip of the Island due to the relentless strengths of the wind, Shackleton and two of his crew decided to climb over the mountains and glaciers and walk 17 miles to the whaling station – something never before accomplished.

Two days later, after experiencing bitter cold days, sleepless nights and a descent of more than 900 feet in less than three minutes by sliding, like children, on their coiled ropes and hoping for a safe landing, Shackleton and his two crewmen straggled in to the whaling station. So haggard and disheveled did they look at this stage that when two small boys playing outside saw them approaching, they ran screaming into the whaling station absolutely terrified. Without taking any rest, Shackleton led a rescue party to pick up his men on the other side of the island. As soon as possible, Shackleton took a ship to rescue his remaining crew on Elephant Island. As he approached the island, Shackleton demonstrated his profound concern for the men under his leadership by yelling, “Are you all well?” On hearing the reply, “All safe, all well,” he responded, “Thank God.”

Shackleton may have failed in his initial objective—to traverse the Antarctic—but he succeeded famously in his greater goal – the safe return of all 27 of his crewmen.

Knowing now a small piece of this incredible journey allows us to appreciate better these words from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s diary:

“Optimism is true moral courage.”

People will follow leaders who demonstrate it. Eight years later, when Shackleton mounted another expedition to the South Pole, in spite of all the dangers and difficulties they previously experienced, eight of the crew members from the Endurance expedition signed up to do it all over again. One of the recurring themes in the surviving diaries kept by several men during the Endurance expedition was the remarkable constancy of Shackleton’s positive outlook and the courage and strength which his men drew from it. These men wanted to follow Shackleton because he lived the words, “Optimism is true moral courage.” And our people will follow us – to the edge of chaos if necessary – if we demonstrate the same.

Some of us who find ourselves in positions of leadership are fortunate that we are by nature optimistic. We may have blips of negativity, moments of discouragement and despair, but we tend to rebound fairly quickly. But for many of us, optimism does not come naturally. We are more prone to negative, pessimistic outlooks and responses. The good news is that optimism can be learned. Here are two suggestions from Dr. Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism.

First, identify your specific pessimistic beliefs. Negative beliefs are often rooted in learned helplessness and as such, can be unlearned. But often they go entirely unnoticed in our minds, consequently, disempowering and defeating us without any opposition. So the first step in overcoming pessimism is to become consciously aware of the specific beliefs and assumptions causing it.

Second, dispute with yourself the validity of these beliefs. You can do this in several ways. You can examine the factual evidence for a negative interpretation you have made or conclusion you have reached. It may be that your conclusion is based more on assumptions or mistaken information rather than what actually happened. Additionally, you can re-assess the expected consequences of the facts involved so you don’t catastrophize them, blowing them out of proportion and discouraging yourself in the process. Finally, even if your facts and interpretation of their consequences lead to a negative conclusion you can reconsider the usefulness of dwelling on them. While your thoughts may be technically accurate, they may in the long run be self-defeating, such as a bomb demotion expert dwelling on the fact that the bomb could go off and kill him/her. Such beliefs, while true, may cause the individual to shake and shiver, thus increasing the likelihood that the bomb will blow up!

However, we do it, do it we must. We must learn to be optimistic when leading at the edge of chaos. Our people need us to. And when we do, they will follow us to the edge of chaos and through the chaos to the calm, order and triumph on the other side. And then, like Sir Ernest’s men, they will sign up freely to do it all over again, just for the chance to be serving with us, and following our leadership—even when it takes them to the edge of chaos.