There was a very interesting documentary on TV recently. It concerned the race between the explorers, Amundsen and Scott, to be the first to reach the South Pole back in 1911. Amundsen went on to win the race while, tragically, the majority of Scott’s expedition died on the return journey. The documentary served to contrast and highlight fundamental differences in relation to preparation and leadership between the Norwegian and British teams.

The British team did not use dogs. The men expended an amount of energy pulling the sleds, but were not taking the correct amounts of food and nourishment to compensate. The Norwegian team used dogs, and they also went to great lengths to put food stations in place along the route before the expedition started. They also seemed to know, and which was unusual at the beginning of the 20th century, the vital constituents of food. There was a high intake of vitamin c before the journey and along the way Amundsen insisted that some fresh meat (seal and blubber) was eaten every day to ward off scurvy.

A few years later, in 1914, Shackleton took leadership and courage to the outer limits of human achievement when he kept the morale up among his men when the ‘Endurance’ was stuck in ice for over nine months, and also the courage he displayed on the perilous journey aboard the small boat from Elephant Island to South Georgia.

There are not many more territories to be discovered anymore and it is more a personal voyage of discovery these days. However, the ability to prepare well in advance and the qualities of leadership are still very valid in our modern world. A good leader and manager, whether in business or sport, knows that that best and most important work takes place on the training pitches and in the dressing rooms. A manager cannot do an awful lot on the day of the game, as the team pursue their own destiny inside the white lines, except maybe to alter the tactics at half-time.

A great leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. A leader is also best when people barely know they exist, when the work is done, the aim fulfilled, the team members will say: we did it ourselves. Modern leadership involves a transparency in sharing information, creating a higher level of trust and promoting a sense of inclusion and belonging.

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a very crisp and clear vision; otherwise you will confuse people by blowing an uncertain trumpet. Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. Fear of failure is possibly the greatest reason why we do not press our foot firmly on the accelerator of risk. The question we should ask ourselves is: ‘what great project would you attempt if you knew you could not fail’? Perhaps you should go ahead and do it anyway.

Shandon Hats is a niche business that was formed over 120 years ago at the very beginning of the 20th century, and we are very excited to embrace the transformative digital technology of the early years of the 21st century.

‘If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever’ – Thomas Aquinas