SHACKLETON CH 3

●Spread the spirit of optimism

    Leader's behavior has a big impact on their members both positively and negatively. Once leaders show their negative feeling, the members will never be positive. So, even in a terrible condition, Shackleton kept smiling in order to make an optimistic mood among them. Even when he told the crews that he had already been sure that the ship would be unusable in months or in days, Shackleton did not make a sad face so that he can prevent crew members from pessimism as much as possible. Moreover, at the same time, he also expressed his optimistic thought. Shackleton said that he was enthusiastic about the next adventures, and promised that they could get over the present difficulty based on thorough researches by books and maps.

    It is hard for the most people including me to behave positively when we are in despair, but Shackleton could do so despite that a person who was in the most fearful state in the expedition members was clearly Shackleton himself. I think this is because he succeeded in instilling optimism into himself in a correct way. If we get to be optimistic inappropriately, we will be apart from the reality or be discouraged in the middle of a terrible condition that makes us more depressed. To avoid those two bad results, I find "Reality-based research" is very effective. An assured investigation helps us keep clinging to the actual world, and also that gives us hope for success if we have a confident to the research.

    I write "Do something tentatively" (This may be Optimism) is nice in the last blog because that removes the negative feeling from members by the concentration on what they are doing tentatively, and makes members closer by doing something together. And also, I write I want to do something after thinking a lot with a certainty (This may be Pessimism). As you can see, I thought "Tentatively" (Optimism) could not be together with "Certainly" (Pessimism), but now it turns out to be wrong, or rather, the thorough thinking makes it possible to take an action tentatively. Shackleton could be optimistic and his positive behavior made crews optimistic, too because he may have a self-confidence based on the narrow investigation adhering to the reality. I will try to have a thorough investigation toward anything to be an optimistic leader who can inspire others optimistically.