4
Stamina
I had not slept for eighty hours. … I had been steering for nine hours while leading the other boats and found it almost impossible to keep awake. Greenstreet—a fine seaman—continually urged me to hand over the tiller and have a nap. I had, however, become so obsessed with steering for the island … that I kept on when I should have handed it over to him. The consequence was that at intervals I fell asleep for a few seconds and the Docker… sheered off course. Everyone through fatigue and loss of sleep had slightly lost his judgment.1
—Frank A. Worsley
Those who choose to lead at The Edge are often individuals gifted with high energy and drive. At the same time, pursuing lofty goals places heavy demands on physical and psychological reserves. These demands are most obvious under extreme survival conditions, but they are endemic to any tough organizational challenge. There is an inherent tension between taking care of one’s self—of preserving one’s own well-being—and accomplishing the mission at any cost.
Some choose to ignore the dilemma. I recently heard a senior executive remark, “A leader needs to be there 100 percent or not at all—even if it means sacrificing your health; that’s what it means to be a leader.” I disagree.
The tension is real, of course, and it needs to be acknowledged. Strategy 2, for example, highlights the importance of personal example, and there are times in which setting an example means making personal sacrifices. When Shackleton gave Hurley his “mits” on the journey to Elephant Island, he wound up with a frostbitten finger. Sacrifices can take a physical or psychological toll, and there is a trade-off to be recognized.
There might be times when you choose deliberately to make this sacrifice—but be careful. As the leader, you are the foundation of your expedition. If you fail to maintain your own stamina, then you will be unable to summon the energy needed to reach The Edge. Furthermore, taking care of yourself is essential because others on your team will take their cues from your behavior. If you want others to have the reserves of energy they will need to do their jobs, you need to reinforce that message by personal example.
This chapter explores the critical importance of taking care of yourself and your team so that you will have the stamina needed to reach your goal. It addresses the burden of responsibility often experienced by leaders at The Edge, and suggests ways of dealing with feelings of guilt that can accompany mistakes and errors of judgment.
Look Out for Yourself as Well as Your Crew
Polar exploration calls for individuals who can withstand almost continuous physical and emotional challenges: extreme temperatures; lack of sunlight; possible starvation; painful snow blindness; social isolation; and physical hardships, including frostbite. Shackleton was a man who yearned to explore the outer reaches of the Earth, where he pushed himself to the physical and psychological edge.
Surprisingly, Shackleton was not blessed with good health. A boy who always dreamed of being a sailor, he was able to convince his parents to let him join the merchant marines at the age of sixteen. On his first voyage, he became ill with what Shackleton called the “Mauritius fever.” Biographer Roland Huntford suspects that this illness, which has no mention in medical diagnostic history, was malaria, or perhaps even rheumatic fever that caused irreparable damage to the young explorer’s heart.
Possibly because of his health problems, Shackleton deliberately avoided the physical examination before joining the Discovery expedition when he, Robert Scott, and Edward Wilson attempted to reach the South Pole in 1902. It was a grueling journey, and after ninety-four days in the bitter cold of the Antarctic, the twenty-eight-year-old Shackleton was close to death. Delirious, having difficulty breathing, and unable to walk, he was lucky to make it back to the Discovery in time to receive shelter, food, and medical attention from the ship’s physician. Shackleton was diagnosed with a severe case of scurvy and what might have been pneumonia.2
Shackleton was devastated by Scott’s decision to send him home early from the expedition to recuperate. This event seemed to reinforce the need for Shackleton to keep himself at arm’s length from the medical profession, and he developed a pattern of avoiding the physical evaluations necessary for joining future expedition crews. Huntford observes:
Exactly what ailed Shackleton, however, remained an enigma … but Shackleton shied away from doctors. Perhaps he was afraid of what he might find. If for no other reason, in the Edwardian cult of manliness, sickness was a stigma. In any case, his health remained part of the secret core of himself he shared with nobody at all.3
In spite of these physical limitations, Shackleton never complained either to his men or in his personal diaries about the physical difficulties he experienced while exploring. He seemed to deal with what must have been intense discomfort and, sometimes, excruciating pain by denying its existence and willing himself to continue.
In the light of this, it is somewhat ironic that Shackleton placed tremendous importance on the physical and psychological needs of his men. He constantly monitored the crew’s condition. For example, Shackleton was aware of the toll of moving everyone onto the ice floes from the crushed Endurance. He watched closely for signs of trouble and wrote, “I took a final survey of the men to note both their mental and physical condition, for our time at Ocean Camp had not been one of unalloyed bliss.”4
Shackleton was also known to let the men sleep late after a night in which the weather had made it difficult to get any rest. When the sun would shine and the temperature was warm enough to allow them to be outside safely, Shackleton would order the sleeping bags and other gear to be hung out to dry to make things more comfortable. He encouraged everyone to eat until they were full before or after days when they overextended themselves. He noted:
Although keeping in mind the necessity for strict economy with our scanty store of food, I knew how important it was to keep the men cheerful, and that the depression occasioned by our surroundings and our precarious position could be alleviated by increasing the rations.5
His vigilance for the well-being of others was maintained with consistency as the days dragged on. Reflecting on Shackleton’s leadership toward the end of the expedition, during the 800-mile sail to South Georgia, Worsley wrote:
Looking back on this great boat journey, it seems certain that some of our men would have succumbed to the protracted strain but for Shackleton. So great was his care for his people that, to rough men, it seemed at times … even to the verge of fussiness. If a man shivered more than usual, he would plunge his hand into the heat of the spare clothes bag for the last sodden pair of socks for him.6
Shackleton was also consistently willing to put the well-being of others above his own. He would unselfishly volunteer to stand extra watches and to stay at the helm for extended periods—often three times longer than the other men.
His self-control, lack of self-pity, and ability to care for others are admirable qualities. But his disregard for his own health undoubtedly contributed to his early death. On his last expedition, while attempting to circumnavigate Antarctica, he suffered a massive heart attack. He called Macklin, the surgeon, who had joined the expedition to be with the Boss again. But Shackleton refused to be examined and, against medical advice, stayed on the bridge four nights in a row, keeping his vigil during a storm.7
Days later, while anchored at the whaling station where Endurance had been moored some eight years earlier, he suffered a second heart attack. The indomitable leader, who had cared so much for others, was gone, just over a month shy of his forty-eighth birthday.8
Lessons for Leaders
There is considerable evidence showing that effective leaders have high levels of energy, stamina, and the ability to deal with stress. This makes sense, since leadership—especially at The Edge—typically means putting in long hours, making decisions under ambiguous conditions, and dealing with adversity. And we sometimes think of exceptional leaders as superhuman beings who have been blessed with perfect health and boundless energy.
As Shackleton demonstrated, however, the idea that every leader is a picture of health is clearly a misconception. Shackleton was physically flawed, but in spite of his limitations, he was able to summon the courage and the stamina to overcome his physical limitations.
Unfortunately, the care that Shackleton extended to his own crew was never turned inward. Certainly, if any one of his men had exhibited these symptoms, the Boss would have been the first one to ensure that he got adequate treatment. Shackleton’s denial of his own health problems, and perhaps his feelings of invincibility, prevented him from doing the things that would have enabled him to extend his days of exploration. This attitude is not unique to polar explorers, and it extends beyond the behavior of an individual leader.
I spoke with a senior executive at Texas Instruments (TI) after the sudden death of the company’s leader many years ago. He described the shock that hit the organization when Jerry Junkins, the company chairman, chief executive officer, and president, died unexpectedly on a business trip to Germany.
Junkins’s obituary described him as a relaxed leader who was not a workaholic and who had no history of heart disease. Yet the TI culture was one that rewarded heroic efforts, long hours, and machismo. The death of their leader prompted many in the organization to reexamine their values and to think carefully about the limits of extended performance pressures. As a result of this shock, an intensive effort was made to examine the expectations placed on leaders and to promote wellness throughout the workplace.
Junkins’s death is an extreme case, but I have observed other instances in which leaders pushed too hard and lost their effectiveness. In one case, a newly appointed CEO felt that he needed instantly to “get his arms around” his new role. This meant long hours and relatively little sleep. Unfortunately, this also meant that he was bone-tired in meetings.
The problem came to a head when he started dozing during presentations. Many times presenters had worked for weeks in preparation for the event and were looking forward to their moment in the spotlight. Understandably, the sight of their leader nodding off was a deflating experience. The CEO, fortunately, was able to hear my feedback in a coaching session and changed his behavior. The problem was easily solved. He stopped trying to do more than was humanly possible and became more effective as a result.
Strong leadership extends beyond monitoring one’s own health, and many companies are beginning to realize how important it is for employees to be healthy.9 In one recent study, 73 percent of companies surveyed reported having programs to promote healthy behavior. Encouraging healthy lifestyles makes economic sense: With premiums doubling for American employees in the past ten years, smart organizations aim to prevent avoidable health issues.10
Pitney Bowes is one company leading the way in employee health initiatives. Focused on rewarding positive choices rather than punishing unhealthy behaviors, Pitney Bowes offers wellness programs to help employees lose weight and quit smoking. Employees can save money on drugs to manage chronic conditions, which has ultimately saved the company 8 percent and 15 percent on spending for employees with diabetes and asthma, respectively.11 These programs, combined with providing a pharmacy at World Headquarters, healthy options at cafeterias, and fitness centers and medical clinics at several facilities, are helping Pitney Bowes employees to improve their stamina and performance.12
The message here is clear. At The Edge, leaders need to demonstrate concern for others and monitor the health of those who work for them. They also need to extend this awareness to themselves and to recognize that even the most energetic individual has limits.
There is a nautical expression that applies to this dilemma: “One hand for the sailor and one hand for the ship.” In other words, do what you need to do to accomplish your work—but make sure that you keep one hand free to keep yourself from being washed overboard.
Beware of “Summit Fever”
How is it that smart people can completely lose sight of their physical limits? One cause is a psychological phenomenon known in mountaineering as “summit fever.” The individual becomes so fixated on reaching the summit that all else fades from consciousness.
The ill-fated 1996 Everest expedition, recounted in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, provides one such example. Of the twenty climbers who fought their way to the summit, five would die. One survived with such severe frostbite that his right forearm, his nose, and most of his left hand had to be amputated.
Although some elements of Krakauer’s account have been disputed,13 one conclusion stands out. While a “rogue storm” was the immediate cause of the disaster, attributing the death of the five climbers to bad weather misses the point. The underlying causes are complex, but it is clear that—in their relentless drive to reach the summit—both the guides and their charges completely lost sight of their physical and psychological limits.
Scott Fischer, who died on the mountain, was a world-class climber. His strength and stamina were legendary. In 1994, he had climbed the 29,028-foot peak without oxygen. But on the day of the 1996 ascent, Fischer had gone beyond the limits of his strength. As Krakauer wrote:
“That evening,” recalled his tent-mate Charlotte Fox, “I couldn’t tell that Scott might have been sick. He was acting like Mr. Gung Ho, getting everyone psyched up like a football coach before the big game.” In truth, Fischer was exhausted from the physical and mental strain of the preceding weeks. Although he possessed extraordinary reserves of energy … by the time he got to Camp Four they were nearly depleted.14
Fischer was strong, but he was not invincible. Although he concealed his inner turmoil, the strain and worry of the ascent, coupled with physical exhaustion, took its toll.
The proclivity to ignore all but the goal is not limited to mountain climbers. Pilots on dive-bombing missions have been known to fly their aircraft into the ground trying to find their target. The label target fixation is different, but the phenomenon is the same. It is a human tendency to be so concerned about the goal that all else fades into oblivion. At the Survival Edge, this obsession can mean death.
Lessons for Leaders
In work situations, the emotional fever to meet deadlines, complete projects, or accomplish business goals can be dangerously analogous to that experienced by mountain climbers and pilots. Leaders need to be aware of this threat and build in safeguards to ensure that they maintain a sense of perspective and recognize when it is time to make camp, turn around, or pull out of a dive.
Periodic process meetings, for example, can be devoted to reviewing the physical and emotional health of the team. Leaders can help ensure that team members schedule regular downtime—even if only fifteen minutes a day—to regroup, reassess, and relax. Leaders can also sense when target fixation is setting in and intervene with something “completely different.”
During a push to redesign a popular SUV, for instance, pressure was extremely high.15 The deadline was looming, and the design team had yet to submit a promising concept sketch. The current president could have turned up the heat, but he took another path. He chose to close up shop and take everyone—designers to secretaries—to the movies!
The decision not only enhanced the team’s health—it had a direct business payoff as well and was worth the cost of movie tickets and a long lunch break. Shortly afterward, ideas began to flow and the project got back on track. As the president put it, “The cost … for our truancy was fifty movie tickets, fifty bags of popcorn, and about fifty extra minutes of lunchtime. The payoff was a flood of ideas for an international product representing hundreds of millions of dollars in development investment.”
Find Outlets for Your Own Feelings
Shackleton was amazing in his ability to maintain the morale and psychological health of his expedition. What was not obvious to most of the other explorers, however, was that Shackleton was dealing with his own fears at the same time he was managing others’ anxieties.
He dealt with these potentially destructive internal forces in a number of ways. For one, he talked to Frank Wild, a partner in whom he had complete trust. He could confide in Wild in a way that he could not with others.
He also shared private feelings with Frank Worsley, the captain. At one point during the open boat journey, exhausted and anxious for the safety of his men, Shackleton became discouraged and worried and was close to depression. In a rare moment, he said to the captain one day: “I will never take another expedition, Skipper.”16
Shackleton also kept a private journal in which he recorded doubts that he could not share with others. These entries revealed, for example, just how much the loss of the Endurance had affected him. After the ship went down, he wrote:
The end of Endurance has come. … It is hard to write what I feel. To a sailor his ship is more than a floating home, and in the Endurance I had centered ambitions, hopes, and desires. Now, straining and groaning, her timbers cracking and her wounds gaping, she is slowly giving up her sentient life at the very outset of her career.17
As painful as this experience must have been, the ability to write down his feelings provided some relief from despair.
Finally, he wrote letters home. After his third unsuccessful attempt to rescue the castaways on Elephant Island, Shackleton was so distraught that his misery was palpable. Worsley observed: “So deep were his emotions that, in contradistinction to his behavior after the first two attempts, he did not even speak of the men on the island now.”18 In the depths of his despair, he found an outlet in a letter to his daughter, Cecily:
I am very anxious about … our men for they must have so little to eat now. … We are very short of water, and have not been able to wash since we left South America … but that is nothing for I had no wash from October last year until 25th May this year. … I will have many stories to tell you … when I return, but I cannot write them. I just hate writing letters but I want you to get this to know I am thinking of you my little daughter.19
Thus, although he could not share his doubts publicly, he was able to express his feelings in a poignant letter to his daughter.
Lessons for Leaders
Leaders need not be completely stoic, solitary figures. They can, and should, enlist the support and guidance of those around them to assist them in taking the right next steps for the team.
Shackleton’s approaches to dealing with his inner fears suggest ways in which leaders in other situations can find outlets for their own anxiety:
Talk to friends. Find a Wild or a Worsley—someone you can trust who understands the challenges you face and can deal with your candid thoughts.
Keep a journal. Shackleton expressed many of his private doubts in his journal. The simple act of recording one’s emotions can provide relief.
Write letters home. Communicate with others you care about, even if they may not fully understand the conditions you face. Shackleton wrote letters, even though there was no way to send them. Of course, we have access to technology not available in the days of early polar exploration, including email and voice mail. Use whatever works. The point is to find effective outlets to ease the weight of leadership.
See a counselor or coach. Periodic meetings with a professional can be valuable both as a forum for leaders to express their feelings and as a way to get an independent perspective on the challenges they face. The expression “It’s lonely at the top” may be old, but it’s also true—and it’s especially true for leaders who ascend to the highest levels. These leaders are often surrounded by others who have their own agendas, however benign. And they frequently find themselves in situations in which spontaneous expression of feelings would be inappropriate. For these leaders, counsel from a trusted advisor outside the organization is an excellent option.
Let Go of Guilt (But Learn from Mistakes)
Those at the Survival Edge are often placed in positions that require split-second decisions that can have disastrous consequences. One such instance occurred when Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, found themselves on a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes Mountains. Attempting to negotiate an ice wall, Simpson fell to the slope below. He hit the base of the cliff with both knees locked, felt his bones splitting, catapulted backward, and slid screaming down the slope, headfirst on his back.
Yates somehow checked Simpson’s slide and Simpson came to a violent stop. Simpson’s right knee, which had literally exploded in the fall, had been shattered beyond repair. He was alive, but just barely.
In the hours following the accident, Yates attempted to lower Simpson down the mountain to safety. Each movement was agonizingly painful. It appeared that they might succeed in their painful progress until Simpson slid unexpectedly into space, spinning helplessly as an avalanche of snow poured over him.
Above, Yates clung to the cliff, as immobilized as Simpson. He had two choices. He could hold on indefinitely, lose consciousness, and be pulled from the mountain. Then he and Simpson would both fall to their deaths. Or he could cut the rope.
Yates cut the rope, but was consumed with guilt:
It wasn’t until I had descended half the rope’s length that I glanced down and saw the crevasse. I jammed the belay plate shut, and stopped abruptly. I stared at the endless black depths at the foot of the cliff, and shuddered in horror. Joe had undoubtedly fallen into the crevasse. I was appalled. The idea of falling into that monstrous blackness yawning below me made me grip the rope tightly. I shut my eyes and pressed my forehead against the taut rope. For a long nauseous moment feelings of guilt and horror flooded through me. It was as if I had only just that minute cut that rope. I might as well have put a gun to his head and shot him….
If I hadn’t cut the rope I would certainly have died. Yet, having saved myself, I was now going to return home and tell people a story that few would ever believe. No one cuts the rope!20
Yates finally overcame his remorse and—certain that Simpson had died—returned to their base camp.
Simpson had fallen 100 feet into the crevasse and was badly injured. But he summoned enough strength to make four attempts to escape before giving up hope of climbing out. After lying trapped in the dark for seven hours, Simpson rappelled to the bottom of the crevasse. Then, energized by the light of a sunbeam, his outlook was transformed:
In seconds, my whole outlook had changed. … I could do something positive. I could crawl and climb, and keep on doing so until I had escaped from this grave. Before, there had been nothing for me to do except lie on the bridge trying not to feel scared and lonely, and that helplessness had been my worst enemy. Now I had a plan. The change in me was astonishing. I felt invigorated, full of energy and optimism. I could see possible dangers, very real risks that could destroy my hopes, but somehow I knew I could overcome them.21
This confidence enabled Simpson to overcome the pain of his broken leg and continue his descent. Using his ice axe to cut his yellow foam sleeping bag, he constructed a crude splint using straps from his crampons and rucksack. Then, bent over and using his short ice axe as a cane, he developed a pattern of movement: “Place the axe, lift the foot forward, brace, hop, place the axe, lift brace-hop, place-lift-brace-hop.”
Simpson knew that time was running out. Since Yates would be convinced Simpson had died in the fall, his partner would soon be breaking camp. If Yates left, Simpson was a dead man. Spurred on by that knowledge, he hopped, then crawled and—in the final stages—dragged himself backward down the mountain.
Three days later, Joe Simpson crawled into base camp, just as Yates was preparing to break camp. Simpson was crippled, starving, and frostbitten, but he was alive. If Yates had refused to cut the rope, or lost his will to survive through guilt, both climbers would almost certainly have died on the mountain.
Lessons for Leaders
The very act of exploring at The Edge puts leaders in situations that call for tough decisions. Some of those decisions will be the wrong ones, mistakes in judgment, and those mistakes can create feelings of self-recrimination.
Although mistakes are to be avoided, leaders who dwell on them only compound the problem. Feelings of guilt can be distracting, causing a loss of focus and an inability to deal with the next challenge. Instead of fixating on the past, leaders should identify the critical issues at stake and develop solutions to deal with them.
In Reputation Rules, Daniel Deirmeier recounts how a luxury car-maker made an impressive turnaround from a well-publicized public relations fiasco. After investing in an extensive ad campaign for a car designed for young women and families, the company was contacted by a journalist who said the car had flipped over during a safety test. Rather than rush to assure its customers—and the media—of its commitment to safety, company leaders handled the fallout badly, at first issuing no statement and then making remarks that focused on faults with the crash test. Although the test was indeed flawed, the public recoiled at the cold response to a car that was marketed to carry children, and the media lambasted the company as its stock fell sharply.
Company leaders finally owned their mistake and developed an aggressive strategy to regain public trust. No longer criticizing the imperfect safety tests, the carmaker recalled the vehicle and fitted it with technology that fixed the issue. To rebuild its reputation with the media, the company invited journalists to submit the new model to rigorous tests and also launched an ad campaign with a famous athlete describing the times he learned from his own mistakes. These tactics worked, and the model ultimately became the number one seller in the country.22
As Deirmeier points out, when handled well, efforts to reframe public relations problems can actually improve a company’s standing.23 Make decisions, make mistakes, and move the expedition forward.
Expedition Log
1. Step back and take stock of your physical health. Are you taking care of yourself, as well as those who work for you? What more can you be doing to maintain your stamina as a leader?
2. Think about a current challenge, change, or “summit” that you are facing. What, specifically, can you do to keep your perspective and avoid summit fever?
3. Assess your emotional well-being and stress resistance. Whom do you turn to when you need to vent? Identify a person, a process, or an activity that will alleviate stress and reenergize you.
4. Reflect on a time when you have made a significant mistake or faced a disappointment. Did you let your feelings of guilt or frustration distract you? If so, what changes did you make to get yourself back on track? Do you need to alter the way you characteristically react to mistakes—especially those “massive learning opportunities”?