By GIANNI UBRIACO
In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 28 men embarked on an exploration of the Antarctic, but their voyage of travel turned out to be a struggle to survive as they encountered various problems along the way.
To ensure the survival of his entire crew, Shackleton had to exhibit remarkable leadership qualities during the voyage. Now, nearly 100 years later, Shackleton’s leadership qualities are being used as a motivational learning tool for business leaders in the community through an IMAX Leadership Seminar with Antarctic explorer Brian Keating. Keating has just returned from his third expedition to the Antarctic and he believes that people in the business community can learn a lot from Shackleton’s voyage.
His message to business people is that the same leadership principles Shackleton used to keep his entire crew alive for two years in the barren, frigid Antarctic during the early 1900s can be applied in today’s business environment.
“What I want to do is instill a sense of maintaining the ability to have the ultimate goal, but also to focus on the short term, to set up a team where the team can deal with enormous odds, but can stick together and can last so they can see the joy in the objective or end product,” says Keating, who was born in Medicine Hat and who currently resides in Calgary. “I want to look at talking about the concept of setting up a personal example with behaviors, showing leadership trends or leadership abilities that will leave people with a sense of respect and focused energy towards the core value. I want to encourage listeners to be willing to take the big risk and to realize that anxiety is energy without a goal and that taking the big risk, combined with good focused ambition, an optimistic and a realistic attitude, you can make it to that ultimate endpoint of success.”
“You’ve got to be positive about the future, but you also have to ground that optimism with a blend of reality,” he concludes. “You also need to lighten up and find some time to laugh.” Keating, who in 1983 started his own zoo and travel program that takes people all over the world to remote places so they can view the beauty of nature, spoke to a business audience of 200 people at the IMAX theatre in November.
His speech was be followed by the screening of the IMAX film based on Shackleton’s voyage, entitled Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure. Science North dubbed the event the Shackleton Leadership Seminar, and has been experimenting using IMAX films as a corporate venue for a while, Richard Wannan, the corporate sales and relations person for Science North says the company felt this was the perfect film to use as a motivational tool for both business people and consumers.
“Not only does the film have a strong consumer focus, but it also has a strong corporate focus because the film itself, and the Shackleton adventure, brings out some really strong leadership and motivational messages,” Wannan says. “A lot of organizations are looking for cost-effective training tools and IMAX is an incredible vehicle for offering motivational and leadership training through various films, but through this one specifically.”
