As a veteran of the financial services industry, Margot Morrell has seen and experienced leadership styles ranging from pure genius and inspiration to mediocre-but-fun to you-can’t-be-serious. She began her 20+ years in corporate America as a research analyst at Benton & Bowles Advertising, moved on to Heidrick & Struggles executive recruiting and capped that phase of her career by placing herself in financial services in the mid 80’s where, for 15 years she worked in sales, primarily at Fidelity Heart and a master’s degree in art history from Newton College of the Sacred Heart and a masters degree in library science from Simmons College, which, as any liberal art major knows, makes you an excellent candidate for anything but your chosen field of study.
Ms. Morrell’s driving passion is leadership – particularly the life, exploits and leadership example of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton was the legendary explorer shipwrecked from the aptly named Endurance, stranded for 2 years with 27 men in the icy clutches of Antarctica…. and who, against all odds, brought every man home alive.
Her fascination with Shackleton’s leadership was sparked by a book casually picked up at the Boston Public Library in 1984, and led her to embark on a research journey that has spanned five continents and countless hours, and to transcribe diaries from Shackleton’s Endurance expedition in a quest for first-hand accounts of his leadership practices. These transcriptions are the basis for Ms. Morrell’s international bestseller, Shackleton’s Way, Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer.
Her interests and activities have been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Globe and Mail. As an expert on Shackleton, she has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, CNBC’s Power Lunch and A&E Biography, and has been interviewed on radio programs all over the world.
Ms. Morrell has spoken to corporate and community groups at business conferences, museums and universities across the United States on Shackleton’s fabled leadership skills. She is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the James Caird Society, headquartered at Shackleton’s old school, Dulwich College in London.
