Almost exactly a century ago, Ernest Shackleton and his crew aboard the Endurance became trapped in Antarctic ice. When the pressure from the floes crushed the ship, Shackleton led 28 men on a gruelling journey across shifting ice, frigid seas, and barren land.
But what ultimately ensured their survival wasn’t just physical endurance. It was psychological navigation. The ability to pause, reorient, and lead with clarity in the face of collapse. Shackleton adapted when the environment changed. He listened closely, changed course when needed, and modelled calm when others panicked.
The challenges facing today’s leaders may not include glaciers or lifeboats. But they do demand the same kind of internal anchoring. Many of us are drifting in ambiguity, trying to lead amid constant change, disconnection, and pressure. And too often, we reach for what culture has over-promised: the shortcut. The “hack.” The formula.
This is a call to lead differently.
The best leadership doesn’t begin with tactics. It begins with threads. Psychological, emotional, and ethical through lines that connect who you are to how you lead.
Below are 10 threads I explored in my book. These 10 threads are not “one size fits all.” They are invitations to examine yourself, your purpose, and your relationship to those you lead. They are not hacks. They are practices. When practiced deliberately, they help you weather storms and lead with courage, clarity, and care.
1. Find your through line
Before you lead others, you must understand what leads you. Your “through line” is the psychological thread that runs through your life, your story, your values, your purpose. Leaders who know this thread lead with consistency and authenticity.
🧭 Ask: What experiences have shaped how I lead today? What values do I return to in moments of stress?
2. Lead with stories, not scripts
Data informs. Stories move. Real leaders use their personal narratives to make values visible, build trust, and create connection. Vulnerability is not a liability. It’s a bridge.
💬 Try: Share a story with your team about a time you got something wrong and what you learned.
3. Reject the flat-packed leader model
Leadership isn’t an IKEA project. There’s no one right way, no perfect assembly. Hacks may promise speed, but they flatten complexity. The best leadership is handcrafted.
⚠️ Resist: Adopting surface-level behaviours without the belief systems that underpin them.
4. Reach in before you reach out
Leadership is an inside job. Self-awareness, emotional literacy, and psychological resilience must come before performance metrics.
🔍 Practice: Take five minutes each day to name your current emotional state. Leadership starts with presence.
5. Reset as a strategy
When circumstances shift, don’t power through, reset. Letting go of a goal or approach isn’t failure; it’s adaptive strength.
♻️ Build: Institute reset rituals for yourself and your team; moments to reflect, reorient, and recommit.
6. Make care your competitive advantage
Caring is not “extra.” It’s essential. People remember how you made them feel, especially in times of stress. Psychological safety isn’t just nice to have; it drives performance and retention.
❤️ Move: Notice something unspoken in a team member’s behaviour and ask about it with genuine curiosity.
7. Complicate the narrative Complicating the Narratives. What if journalists covered… | by Solutions Journalism | The Whole Story
Don’t fall for simple binaries. Real leadership embraces paradox: confidence and humility, action and reflection, structure and fluidity.
🤔 Shift: When you feel stuck, ask: “What’s a truth I’m not seeing?”
8. Inspire from the inside out
You don’t need to be charismatic to inspire. You need to be clear. Inspiration doesn’t come from grand gestures. It comes from showing up in alignment, day after day.
✨ Reframe: Ask yourself, “How can I be the kind of leader someone wants to become, not follow?”
9. Choose meaning over metrics
Metrics matter, but meaning motivates. A shared sense of purpose can drive performance through uncertainty, burnout, and fear.
📣 Act: Tie every strategy conversation back to “why this matters” for real people.
10. Ask a question that matters: If you don't, who will?
This is the call to lead. Not for control, but for responsibility. For care. For stepping in when others step back. For creating space where others can show up too.
🧵 Remember: Leadership isn’t about being the hero. It’s about holding the thread for others when they forget they have one.
In a world that prizes shortcuts, these practices ask more of us. But they also give more back: clarity, confidence, and connection.
Shackleton didn’t save his crew with hacks. He saved them with resourcefulness, care, and conviction in the face of chaos. Today, the ice might look different. But the qualities required of leaders remain the same.
