One of the most famous job advertisements in history is the one Ernest Shackleton published in newspapers in 1914 to recruit his crew for the Antarctic expedition, the Endurance Expedition:
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success."
A story so often quoted that it has become familiar. In some cases, it is used as an example of the much-abused concept of "leadership." In reality, given the tragic outcome of the expedition, the advertisement demonstrates one thing above all: that even the most incredible missions and the most absurd jobs need effective advertising. If even Sir Shackleton found his team on that occasion, then there really is hope for everyone.
His expedition went so badly that his ship was only found on March 9, 2022, by the Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust, which announced that the wreck of the Endurance had been located at a depth of 3,008 meters in the Weddell Sea, about six kilometers from where the ship sank in 1915.
The ship ran aground after a few months of sailing, but miraculously everyone was saved. What is most astonishing is that his crew, evidently not satisfied with such an incredible adventure, followed him on other expeditions, until the last one in 1920. To understand how committed his men were and how absurd the decision to follow him to new destinations was, we need to take a closer look at the Endurance expedition: the ship set sail on December 5, 1914, reached the Weddell Sea in 1915, and shortly afterwards ran aground in the ice floe, drifted and had to be abandoned. In that situation, it was completely destroyed by the pressure of the ice. Shackleton had the crew transferred to the ice floe, where they built an emergency camp and remained until 1916. When the ice began to melt, they embarked on a long journey in search of rescue that has gone down in history, literally impossible given the conditions and distances covered. No one can accuse him of not being honest when he published his job advertisement. Generally, in complex situations, many managers start putting pressure on their teams and looking for those responsible for failures, which inShackleton's casewould have led to the death of the crew.
So we can already draw some conclusions from this story: not only is a good job advertisement necessary, but a good dose of transparency is also useful. Furthermore, when a work group is focused on its objectives and involved in its mission, when it is essentially overwhelmed by passion for what it does, it will be willing to follow its crew leader (or manager, or company, we could say) to the ends of the earth (literally). This story actually has little to do with 'leadership' (a word that is now overused) and a lot to do with work culture: how involved are we in what we do? What meaning does what we are doing have for us? How involved are we in the organization we work for? In a single question: what role do we play? This issue, which seems completely off the radar in the world of work, is in fact central. All too often, recruiters want to 'sell' us a position that will turn out to be very different from what we will actually be doing, and this is an increasingly counterproductive way of hiring people. Imagine Shackleton promising a fun, exciting expedition that would enrich the participants in his advertisement: the story would most likely have ended differently. Good job design will make selection much easier, but above all, it is important not to create false expectations in interviewees and to leave marketing out of recruitment systems, at least during the interview stage.
It is no coincidence that more and more people are leaving their jobs (and increasingly so among the younger generations) because they perceive them as falling short of their expectations, a sense of distance that becomes more difficult to manage when we were told something different during the recruitment phase. There is nothing wrong with considering one's job a true professional adventure, as an explorer would, and perhaps the time has come to let people experience work with a different spirit, namely with the desire to feel completely invested in what they do. In this regard, however, it is very helpful for companies and management to create the necessary space.