Curated by Alibaba Business School
_Original from Cao Xi: Partner of Sequoia Capital China Fund
Nobody would have imagined that the spring of 2020 would start in this way.
It reminds me of a sentence from a documentary titled The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition. The sentence is “By endurance we conquer”.
Today, I would like to spend some time to share the original story of this sentence, a legend that happened more than 100 years ago.
This story has been selected as a classic case of leadership in crisis by most of the business schools. I hope it can also provide reference for entrepreneurs who are facing challenges at present.
In 1914, the explorer Ernest Shackleton led 27 chosen crew members to embark on a grand expedition: A 3,000 kilometer trek across Antarctica. Ernest Shackleton named the expedition ship “Endurance”, which was the name from his family motto “By endurance we conquer”.
Unexpectedly,they were hit by a series of set backs, such as being trapped in glaciers and sinking ships. With a severe lack of food, clothing and shelter, Shackleton and his crew struggled to survive in the ice and snow. It’s amazing that all 28 people survived after being trapped in such an extreme environment for nearly 700 days. It is a great feat of desperate rebirth in the human history.
In sharp contrast, on 3rd August 1913, an expedition led by a Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson took the Kalac to explore the Arctic, also became trapped in glaciers, but the results were quite different. With the Kalac in trouble, the explorers became a group of selfish and loose mobs. Lying, cheating and stealing became common things. Finally, the Kalac ended in tragedy. 11 members died in the desolate Arctic.
If we regard the crew as a start-up company, Shackleton is the CEO of “Endurance”. What were the serious crisis encountered by the crew in this entrepreneurial journey? How did the CEO Shackleton deal with? How did he lead the crew to escape?
Let’s get back to over 100 year ago and review this feat –
1- Stuck on Floating Ice
December 5th 1914, Endurance left South Georgia Island heading to the Antarctic Circle. As the ice got thicker, it became harder to move forward. Eventually, wind and floating ice trapped the ship at 130 KM away from the shore. For days, the ship did not move an inch.
This was the first major crisis Shackleton encountered: The ship was stuck，i.e. “the business was stuck”.
Nine days after being trapped, Shackleton ordered the kitchen to start cooking hot food and getting ready for the long wait till the next summer.
Shackleton feared the potential effects of idleness, boredom and dissidence among his men more than he did the ice and cold. He required that each man maintain his ordinary duties as closely as possible. These daily tasks included swabbing the deck and hull, organizing the supplies, preventing the anchor from getting rustic and monitoring the movement in the ice to find a good opportunity to set sail again. Shackleton even sent a few team members to hunt for seals and penguins when the meat supply was low.
Shackleton was determined to keep the team occupied in the winter months with activities they meant to do but have not had the time to work on. For example, the long wait was a good opportunity to train the sled dogs.
Apart from sufficient tasks to keep the team busy, Shackleton’s attitude and behaviour also helped to maintain the moral of the team. For example, one day, he surprised and entertained everyone by dancing waltz with Captain Wolseley on the floating ice to his own whistle.
A sailor recorded it in the diary: “He was always able to manage all the difficulties with courage. His optimism uplifted us in the dark days. Although we were all very clear the situation we were in and he was also affected by the disaster, somehow he also projected hope, optimism and humor in those days”
In a ship that was trapped in ice, confined by the cabins, the differences in the team members’ classes, personalities and habits became more obvious and created more and more conflicts. Shackleton ordered all the government officials, scientists a sailors to share the manual tasks on the ship. Shackleton believed that by working together, the team would become more humble and less jealous of each other.
2- Adjust the Objectives
In the winter months, millions of tons of floating ice would bash Endurance and weaken the wooden structure. On 27th October, the ship started to crack. Shackleton had to order the team to abandon the ship. The same night, the team set up the camp on the ice and the ambient temperature dropped to minus 26 Celsius.
A sailor reflected on the moment when Endurance disintegrated afterwards - the ship was trembling, the windows shattered and the deck warped and cracked. We felt utterly helpless with the enormous force crashing down the ship.
This was the second major crisis Shackleton faced: The ship gets destroyed.
Shackleton felt the acute pain of losing Endurance. After all, this ship carried his ambition, dreams and hope. Facing the ship wreck, he told the team that they had to give up the ship as it could no long carry the hope we placed on it and than they had sufficient supplies and equipment to survive in the camp and no one would be left behind.
Even pain times, Shackleton kept his bearing and adjusted the team’s goal to leaving no one behind.
A sailor recalled “when I sheltered myself in the tent from the bitter wind, I saw a shadow slowly pacing in the dark. He kept planning the next move and the best solution. He faced up to the crisis without showing a sign of anxiety in front of the team. It was that moment that I realized a leader’s duty and loneliness”
3- Defend the Authority of the Leader
After one month, Shackleton decided to lead everyone to trek to the west of the ice floe, and then reach the land to the west with a lifeboat after reaching the edge of the ice floe. This move could also relieve the crew members’ gradually growing laziness and helplessness.
The crew members pulled a boat and a sled full of supplies together on the muddy ice for a few hours at a time, but with little success. Affected by anger, exhaustion, and foot pain, Carpenter McNish refused to move on, openly challenged Shackleton’s authority. He claimed that since the Edurance sank, he was no longer obliged to obey the captain’s orders.
This was Shackleton’s third major crisis: The authority of the leader is openly challenged.
Shackleton convened the team to re-evaluate the ship’s rules, and made a major adjustment. Although legally he was not obliged to continue paying his teammates after the shipwreck, Shackleton announced to all crew members that they would be paid in full every day until they reach a safe place. Shackleton’s speech and changes to the ship’s regulations calmed the situation, while solidifying his authority.
After 7 days of hard trekking, Shackleton rationally evaluated the food storage and the speed of the trek, and concluded that they could not reach the edge of the ice floe in time. He decided to terminate the trek, camp again on the ice, and continue to wait patiently until the environment becomes more favorable to getting out of trouble. The crew members called the new campsite a “Camp of Patience.”
The crew members were confined to their tents most of the time because of the bad weather. But it is not easy to take a rest, because the sleeping bag were often wet during the day and frozen at night. In the evening, Shackleton would go to different tents to chant and play cards with his teammates. Days went on like this.
On April 9, 1916, when the ice floes cracked, Shackleton ordered the lifeboats to set sail in search of land. It has been fifteen months since the Edurance expedition camped on the ice floes for the first time.
4- Looking for Hope
Days of sailing at sea are a nightmare. Unstopped heavy sleet and snow completely blocked the stars, and also drenched people. Between the ice floes and whales, the crew members endured seasickness, insomnia, and endless bumps and collisions. It was from this night that many people were severely hit and their will became extremely fragile.
Amidst the cold wind, frostbite and thirst, the three boats finally struggled to reach the shore of Elephant Island. However, there was nothing in this small land, except for rocks covered by ice, let alone shelter from wind and rain.
The team members were in a low spirits, their health was poor, there was a food shortage, and many were in despair.
This was Shackleton’s fourth major crisis: The team members were depressed and gradually fell into despair.
Shackleton was faced with a major choice, and he must come up with a feasible plan to let everyone see the hope of survival. He decided to send a ship immediately for rescue, and he couldn’t afford any hesitation. Shackleton chose South Georgia Island as a destination for rescue, which is more than 1,300 kilometers away with a whale processing plant.
Shackleton set out from Elephant Island with the five selected members. The ship was loaded with food for six weeks, along with some navigation equipment and rescue facilities.
After being battered by bad weather at sea for 5 days, the crew members of the boat had to endure pain every time they moved: their skin was scratched by wet clothes and began to form sores and weep, and their legs became swollen because of soaked in sea water for a long time, the frostbite on their hands felt hot and painful. In order to withstand the severe cold, Shackleton decided to let the crew members eat a small hot meal every 4 hours during the day and hot milk every 4 hours at night. Since it is almost impossible to sleep, food becomes the sole source of strength and comfort.
Shackleton was keeping a close eye on the crew members and was alert for symptoms that require attention. “Two teammates almost lost their lives,” Worsley recalled. “In fact, it could be said that Shackleton was holding everyone’s pulse with his hands. As soon as he found someone who seemed to be over frozen or shivering, He would immediately order an extra portion of hot milk and distribute it to him. He never let the person know that the milk came from his portion, for fear that person worried about him. “
Finally, after 14 days of sailing, the boat reached the west coast of South Georgia. The six men completed an almost impossible task: sailed an unobstructed boat and traveled 1,300 kilometers in the world’s most restless seas.
5- Walk Out of Despair
Shackleton originally planned to take a break at the landing site before sailing to the whale-processing farm on the other side. However, on the first night of arrival in South Georgia Island, a storm arrived, and the ship hit a reef, which caused non-repairable damage to the hull.
To Shackleton, now there is only one way to reach the whale-processing farm on the east coast - to cross the South Georgia Island. Although it is only 47 kilometers large, there are several mountains as tall as 3,000 meters and glaciers on the island. No one had ever crossed it before.
This was Shackleton’s fifth crisis: Crossing unknown and dangerous areas and challenging the limit of human capabilities.
Shackleton took the captain and the second officer to finish this difficult task, leaving the other weaker three at the original place.
After 24 hours of trekking, they took a break. The captain and the second officer fell asleep immediately, but Shackleton did not even dare to close his eyes. He knew that if he fell asleep, all of them would freeze to death. So he watched them sleep for 5 minutes, then woke them up and lied to them that they had slept for half an hour and it was time to leave.
In the end, they continuously trekked for 36 hours without shelter nor sleep, and they finally arrived at the whale processing farm.
Years later, Shackleton attributed the success of crossing the island to a mysterious force:
“During our long and difficult 36-hour journey through the unknown mountains and icebergs on South Georgia Island, I often had a feeling that it felt like there were four people walking together instead of three. I didn’t tell this to any of my companions. But Worsley came to me and said, “Boss, I have a strange feeling that there is one more person walking with us along the way.”
The “fourth person” was probably the mysterious power of “belief”.
Shackleton, who had not yet recovered, immediately borrowed a boat to pick up the crews who remained on South Georgia Island, and then headed to the Elephant Island to rescue the other 22 crew members he left there.
Due to big winds and waves, the first three tries of rescue failed. On August 30, during the 4th rescue, the boat could finally approach Elephant Island. Shackleton was really excited, he stared at the shore and started to count when he glimpsed some people, 1, 2, 3, 4 … 22, all of them were there.
After the rescue, some people asked what kind of power supported these crews to persist for 149 days in continuous waiting. One of the crew members said: “We firmly believed that Shackleton would succeed. He has this ability. Even if he failed, I still believe that he already tried his best. “
After nearly 700 days, all 28 people of “Endurance” got rescued. It is one of the biggest achievement of human kind in surviving such hardship. Even until today, there is a crater near the Moon’s South Pole named after Shackleton- the Shackleton Crater.
6- Leadership in Crisis
If we take Shackleton as the CEO and review the whole process, how Shackleton makes correct decisions and demonstrates his leadership in the face of crises. There are many things worth learning from him:
1. Let all team members continue to perform their duties to avoid the spread of laziness and boredom.
2. Make full use of these months to let team members develop important skills and improve some work that they don’t have time to do in the past.
3. Manage the team’s morale, observe the team members’ emotions, and spread the optimistic and persevering belief to everyone. Come up with feasible and concrete solutions to overcome difficulties, so that everyone can see tangible hope, rather than blind optimism.
4. Fairness，justice, management of conflict, let everyone feel that the team is one. We should strictly protect the authority of leaders and not allow division.
5. Use various optimization methods to supplement the required funds and materials; control costs and reduce consumption.
6. Always pay attention to the changes in the external environment and wait for the turning point.
7. Adjust new objectives in a timely and flexible manner. Even if it’s painful, be calm and rational.
8. Finally, at the critical moment, let firm “faith” become the strength to resist everything.
Entrepreneurship is a journey of exploration. The crisis has both “danger” and “opportunity”. When you lead the whole team to survive in the most difficult situation, the future cohesion and fighting power will be unstoppable.
“By endurance we conquer！”
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