Some people are born leaders. The rest of us find ourselves in positions where leadership is required. Self-described as an “accidental leader,” Dr. Joe MacInnis has led or participated in more than fifty of the world’s most important expeditions and logged more time beneath the surface of the Arctic Ocean than any other scientist on earth. A medical doctor and expert on human performance in high-risk, high-stress environments, Dr. MacInnis is an eloquent and stirring speaker who shares the leadership lessons he’s learned from the high seas and beyond. Dr. MacInnis has recently crafted a new keynote, based on Ernest Shackleton’s iconic Antarctic expedition of over one hundred years ago, using the story to share six key leadership principles.
After losing his ship to the Antarctic ice and spending months surviving on an ice floe, Shackleton and a skeleton crew climbed into a small boat and made a near-miraculous, 800-mile journey across a wind-swept, heaving ocean. On reaching the island of South Georgia, they trekked over mountain ridges and glaciers to find help for the 22 men they had left behind. How did he achieve his astonishing success?
In his gripping, visually-driven talk Dr. MacInnis distills Shackleton’s leadership lessons into key takeaways that will help any organization build a culture of fierce ingenuity and team genius. The takeaways include deep empathy, deep eloquence, and deep endurance. With spellbinding storytelling, humor, and sheer energy, Dr. MacInnis delivers an instructive look at the path to leadership success—reminding us to anticipate the needs of our team partners and perform random and excessive acts of kindness.