Like pornography, most of us know leadership when we see it. Experts list dozens of attributes, traits, and behaviors that when mixed in proper proportions magically produce great leaders. Others observe followers and reduce the equation to trust, followers' belief in the competence of the leader to get them to the goal. A few have abandoned the 'great man' theory, and find that leadership emerges when and where it is needed and that leadership is organic.
Extreme conditions test any theory, and few tests can approximate the experience of the crew of the Endurance and their leader, Sir Ernest Shackleton. The goal was to cross the continent. The achievement was survival. In 1918, the entire team was rescued after being stranded in the Antarctic for two years. All attributed their success to one factor, their leader and his optimism in the face of impossible odds.
Yesterday, I was fortunate to be one of 18 people--a mix of land use and association professionals--to sign on to a one-day adventure, guided by the author of Shackleton's Way, Margot Morrell, and Linkage facilitator and executive coach Dick Gauthier. One of the exercises in the workshop included the use of an assessment tool, the results of which arrayed participant's scores in the four quadrant box all consultants adore. One scale was realism, the other optimism. The assessment brought home Shackleton's secret, his extreme realistic optimism, best illustrated by his reaction to watching his ship succumb to the pressure of the ice pack. He gathered his crew, turned his back on the sinking ship, and said, "So now we will go home."
Contrarian that I am, I couldn't help thinking of Abraham Lincoln. Isn't he the opposite of Shackleton yet also one of the greatest leaders the world has known? Does realistic optimism hold up? I think so because Lincoln was not a pessimist. (See my January 11 post on Lincoln's Melancholy.) He was what Victor Frankl called a 'tragic optimist,' all too aware of the danger of the future but deeply secure in his belief in the group, the promise inherent in "the abundance of man's heart."
In the workshop, I also noticed that the developers--members working in both the public and private sectors--live in the same space as Sir Ernest, realistic optimists all. Association professionals, on the other hand, appeared to be aspiring to the median score. And there lies the opportunity. Rather than worry about what's missing, be realistic, but turn your back on setbacks and don't hold back.
In boldness, there is magic, as Goethe said. Leadership is about stepping up, committing, knowing what really matters, and trusting our ability to find a way.
In the extremes, there is greatness and in members' hearts there is promise. Go for it!
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