The role of great leadership (once you’ve built a great team) is to remove any obstacles (including yourself) that get in the way…

You’ve no doubt heard the classic and brilliant Steve Job’s quote:

‘It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.’

It goes a little further for us, you also need humility and to treat them as you’d want to be treated.

You spend so much time together, they become your extended family and your most valuable asset.

Get to know them personally. Find out what makes them tick. Pick them up when they’re down. Help them when they most need it. Learn to laugh and cry together.

It wasn’t always like this. We’ve had some who stole from us, which made it hard to trust again.

And it’s only through self-education (reading about how others build, lead and care for their teams) that things for us have changed.

One of the people I find most inspiring when it comes to leadership, building and caring for teams, is no modern business leader like Richard Branson, Alan Sugar or Oprah Winfrey.

Let me take you way back in history to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. On 15th February 1874 Ernest Shackleton was born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland.

Becoming a famous explorer Shackleton was famed for his team leadership heroics, whilst leading 3 British expeditions to the Antarctic.

The best example being the Endurance expedition, when his leadership and team management skills were crucial in saving the lives of the 28-strong party.

Shackleton planned to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, via the pole. And prepared for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917.

Disaster struck when their ship (Endurance) became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed, leaving Shackleton and his team to camp out on the ice.

He was an inspiration to his team, instilling a belief the marooned team would survive and get home. It was a simple message he frequently reinforced, ensuring they never lost sight of their goal.

Most of the team were novices and totally ill-prepared for the ordeal. To avoid any cliques or running conflicts Shackleton only let them spend a week in a tent with the same people.

He instinctively understood the importance of teamwork and threw a protective cloak around them. All were treated equally, and he took particular care of anyone struggling to cope.

He made each person feel as though they were as important as the next and there were no favourites. Scientists shared chores with sailors and sailors helped take scientific readings.

When the winter clothing was distributed, Shackleton ensured the crew were supplied before the officers, and during one horrendous boat journey he gave his mittens to a desperate colleague.

He was intensely loyal to his team and expected full support in return. Discipline was kept with a light touch, as he understood the difference between a barked order and a measured command.

Normal duties continued (scientific specimens to seal hunting) with the ship’s routine enforced.

Meals were taken at the same time each day and the team were well fed because, as Shackleton knew, a team with a full stomach are less likely to complain than a hungry team.

After dinner singsongs and party games were arranged, birthdays were celebrated, and the group once staged a full-scale 11-a-side football match on the ice.

Although Shackleton was personally concerned about the desperate plight, he never let it show, and any anxiety was well concealed to ensure that the despair did not spread to his team.

On December 20th, 1915 Shackleton decided the time had come to abandon their camp and march westward to where they thought the nearest land was, hauling their lifeboats with them.

That the team kept going was a tribute to Shackleton’s leadership skills and his ability to keep up morale. The whole team were kept together in the monotonous and strenuous task of pulling laden lifeboats across broken up and ridged ice floes.

They eventually spotted Elephant Island (part of the South Shetlands) and headed that way in seas that were by now largely open for navigation.

On elephant island they were still stranded with no-one knowing where they were. There was no chance of rescue. No ships passed that way. No radio at that time was capable of summoning help.

Shackleton realised that in order to effect a rescue, he had to travel to the nearest inhabited place, which was the whaling station back on South Georgia, some 800 miles away, across the most stormy stretch of ocean in the world.

Shackleton chose a small-experienced team and chose Frank Wild to stay behind with the remaining team, as he felt that he would make the best team leader who could hold them together well.

Finally, after 14 days at sea, they sensed their journey was approaching an end as they eventually caught sight of the black cliffs of South Georgia.

‘Thirst-ridded, chilled, and weak as we were, happiness irradiated us,’ wrote Shackleton. ‘The job was nearly done.’

Immediately a rescue mission for those marooned on the desolate Elephant Island was launched, but the elements work against them.

Three separate attempts – in May, in June, and in July are all forced to turn back as pack ice threatens to entrap them just as it had with Endurance.

Finally, over four months after first landing on Elephant island, hope arrives for the team. They are gathered around a lunch of soiled seal carcass, some shelling limpets, when a cry is heard. ‘Ship!’

Shackleton had finally completed the journey back to Elephant Island and was pleased to see his men have made it through the long and dark winter without losing a single member of the party.

…like Shackleton, I’d run through hell for our team. Would you do the same for yours?