Andrey EgorovMost of the times when we think about great leaders, the first people that come to our minds are usually presidents, CEOs of big companies, people who made significant contribution to the civilization development and etc. Less often, however, do we think of people who tried hard to achieve something and failed even though he or she could prove to be a great leader in a different way. Ernest Shackleton is such a leader. Despite his major failure, he is the one of those from who many of us can learn several fundamental leadership skills. Ernest Shackleton was a polar explorer who was born in Ireland and started his career path at the age of 16 working on a merchant vessel as a boy and learning every detail about sea life. With the lapse of time he grew through the ranks and was highly respected by many people who knew him. Shackleton was considered as a very good fellow and sailors admired him for his very human, very sensitive attitude. Shackleton led three British expeditions to the Antarctica in the attempt to cross it through the pole. Even though none of those expeditions were successful and thus did not bring Shackleton the long desired fame and prosperity, it is his ability to lead people and care about them that made him known, especially in the leadership world. A book Endurance: Shackletons incredible voyage describes one of his expeditions in which he lost his ship in the Antarctica and despite hostile environment, was able to lead his crew to the survival without losing a single man. There are at least tree skills; such as prioritization, understanding the needs and characters of the followers, and leading them by example, that Shackleton successfully utilized in that trip and which, in my opinion, made him a good leader. Setting priorities correctly can always save a lot of time and resources, especially in severe conditions. This is what Shackleton realized immediately after the ship was crushed by several floes in the Weddell Sea by the Antarctica. From that moment, he no longer thought about crossing the continent, but planned on a way to bring the crew back home. As he wrote in his diary on the same night the crew lost the ship, I pray God I can manage to get the whole party to civilization. That means crossing the pole was not a priority anymore at all, even though he could try to do that because it was why they came to the Antarctica. Throughout the entire trip, Shackleton seemed to understand attitudes and needs of his people. Knowing who the major optimists, pessimists, trouble makers and more or less reliable men were, helped Ernest Shackleton organize psychologically balanced groups to live in same tents and perform various activities. He tried to pay more attention, support and sometimes separate from the rest of the men the ones whose sentiment was low so to make sure they did not spread their bad attitude around. For the same reason did he make his announcements very carefully and assigned few tasks almost secretly to the ones who could complete them. When the crew faced a threat of starvation and sledging was nearly impossible, Shackleton ordered to kill sledging dogs. Because it was such a sensitive topic, Shackleton asked the man who fed the dogs to murder them himself without public involvement to eliminate further tensions between people. Since many people looked at Shackleton as a leader, he knew how important it was for them to see his example. When the crew was abandoning the camp located nearby drowning Endurance, the number of things the crew could carry away was extremely limited and to show that they had to take only life important objects, Shackleton demonstratively threw his golden cigarette case, which was very valuable to him, away. If you read the book, you will see Shackleton setting positive examples repeatedly. He volunteered to take on duty anytime he could, he would do the same type of job as anyone else, despite being in command, and he would always put himself at last especially in life-threatening situations.As a result, Shackleton developed a family-like culture among his people and they were always there to help each other. Once, when the crew almost ran out of food, they were drinking powdered milk. Suddenly, one of the men spilled his entire cup, which was his whole-day amount, on the snow. Without any hesitation, another man came to him and poured some of his milk into the cup of the first man. So did the rest, without saying a word. I believe it was a result of Shackletons caring attitude, which everyone observed numerous times and eventually adopted. Despite being very careful in what he did, Shackleton sometimes made decisions without giving it enough thoughts. This was his major shortcoming as a leader. Because of those poor decisions the whole crew suffered a number of times. Living on a large floe, Shackletons crew was hunting and storing meat for the future. It was a lucky day because they were able to kill many big seals. They stored all seals but two, when Shackleton recalled the men and decided it was enough, despite everyones recommendation to finish with the other two seals. In a couple month, when the crew ran out of meat and almost starved, many of the men remembered Shackletons decision and rumored about his ability to lead. Such situations could be avoided if Shackleton would more often consider the opinions of his followers because multiple opinions often lead to better decisions.Some may say Shackleton was an ineffective leader because he had never achieved his primary goal crossing the Antarctica. Even though he was not able to succeed in it, I would argue that he was quite effective in other things that at certain point for his crew became more important than just exploring the unknown continent. By leading them and keeping their spirits up, Shackleton helped his followers to survive, which they needed the most.Citations: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyageby Alfred Lansing. Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance by Nancy F. Koehn