Sailing and Skiing Antarctica: Leading Yourself When There Is Nowhere to Hide

By day, Jean Hausser leads a research lab at Karolinska Institute (Sweden). By night, the call of polar adventure and the frozen beauty of Antarctica pull at his dreams. From learning to ski from scratch to taming his fear of heights through a hundred skydives, five years of preparation culminate in a month-long skiing and sailing expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. Leaving the shore of South America, he embarks on the adventure of crossing the dreaded waters of the Drake Passage on a 20-meter sailboat and skiing high glaciers riddled with crevasses. But sharing a confined boat with eleven others - with survival depending on every one of them - also surfaces the emotional patterns that Antarctica's vast emptiness leaves nowhere to hide.What happens when a scientist brings the same discipline to his own patterns that he applies to research, noticing them in real time, choosing a deliberate response, repairing when he gets it wrong? From a tense breakfast debate to a helm correction in the Drake, from the decision to abort a summit in poor visibility to the quiet competence that keeps an expedition uneventful, he traces the kind of leadership that prevents the crisis rather than starring in one.For anyone who works alongside others under pressure — a research lab pursuing breakthroughs, a startup navigating uncertainty, or an expedition in extreme conditions — and suspects that the most consequential person to lead is themselves.Praise for Skiing and Sailing Antarctica"This wonderful book is a genuine, personal account of an astounding journey to the bottom of the world and the center of the self. On first glance, the story is beyond the experience of most of us, but as the reader digs deeper, it is clear that this journey is the story about all of us. The book is a deeply inspiring read that will touch you, inspire you, and make you wonder about the hero within you." — Brian Germain, world-champion skydiver, psychologist, author of Transcending Fear"What begins as an Antarctic skiing adventure becomes a powerful exploration of leadership, purpose, and personal transformation. A compelling reminder that the greatest journeys pay dividends long after we've returned home." — David Giltner, PhD, author of It's a Game, Not a Formula and founder of TurningScience"Some principles resonate from the dawn of time: being present, working with rather than against whatever (or whoever) is in front of us, confronting challenges rather than running away. This book brings these age-old principles in two different clothings — adventure in a truly extreme environment, and the day-to-day life of a lab — offering the chance to witness the experiences of others, and possibilities we might otherwise take far longer to recognize." — Mihaela Zavolan, PhD, Professor of Computational & Systems Biology Read more