Shackleton and Apollo 13

A friend recommended a book to me recently and I could remember it vividly, because I had read it while I was away on a overseas business trip sometime in 2003. The nights were boring, so I took the time to read it.

Ernest Shackleton was perhaps the most amazing character in terms of leadership and charisma in my opinion. Read the book Shackleton's Way by Margot Morrell and Stpehanie Capparell.

How he could sustained his crew of 27 what got trapped in the Antarctica for two long years is really quite an achievement. This man showed all manners of leadership in harnessing the inante power of his people. He not only was able to reshift his priorities quickly after his ship Endurance was crushed by the ice, but he showed that he led by example. I remembered he threw away all his valuables in the snow, to demonstrate his resolve to his crew that anything else other what is a necessity should be not be brought along.

In a sense, what the authors said about Shackleton was true. He led the most successful unsuccessful mission in the history of our time. Perhaps, only the incident of Apollo 13 can rival that. But Shackleton's true greatness I think, lies in his ability to really foster camaraderie of his people without the usual disintegration that occurs when turmoil is the order of the day. What is even greater was that none of his crew perished in the whole entire ordeal which took two long years.

Apollo 13 in contrast had a shorter duration of a couple of days, but itself is not an easy feat, considering the engineers in NASA were racing against time.

Got another book relating to his story in Alfred Lansing's Endurance, but have not had the opportunity to do so.