June 10, 2005

Learning from Shackleton: Leadership Academy hosts first book club

While it may be hard to pinpoint what qualities are needed to make a good leader, members of the MGH Leadership Academy gathered for their first book club discussion June 2 to learn about the leadership qualities of Earnest Shackleton depicted in the book Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition.

The book delves into Shackleton and his team's history-making story of survival on an expedition to the South Pole, comparing their journey with contemporary business decision-making and strategizing. Jim Noga, chief information officer for the MGH and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (above), led the book club discussion with 11 participants from the Leadership Academy.

"The choice of a leadership book based on Shackleton's voyage really caught my interest because I've long been intrigued by everything associated with that expedition," says Daniel Hoch, MD, of MGH Neurology and one of the book club participants. "Most of the lessons learned from those adventures are immediately applicable to our lives at the MGH. And while I didn't know in advance who the other participants in the book club would be, I was very happy to discover others with similar enthusiasm and interest in the topic."

The MGH Leadership Academy is a new program to help managers refine their skills to become even more successful leaders at the hospital. To learn more about the MGH Leadership Academy, visit www.massgeneral.org/leadershipacademy.