Arthur Ainsberg Author | Speaker | Financial Executive

The ship Endurance set sail from South Georgia bound for the Antarctic on December 5, 1914 under the leadership of intrepid British explorer Ernest Shackleton. On January 18, 1915, just one day short of reaching their planned landing site at Vahsel Bay, the Endurance became frozen solid in the ice of the Weddell Sea. The ship was miles from land and cut off from all human contact. It should have been a death sentence for all 28 men aboard.

But every person on the expedition survived until rescue came in August of 1916 — solely because of the leadership skills of Ernest Shackleton.

Arthur Ainsberg is a recognized leader in the financial services sector. How leaders succeed—and fail—is a something he has thought about for many years. He has served in senior management roles at Oppenheimer & Co., Brahman Partners and Bessent Capital. He was the founding CFO of Odyssey Partners, one of the largest and most successful hedge funds in history. Ainsberg was also a manager at the CPA firm of Spicer & Oppenheim—and later in his career, was a partner at the CPA firm of Eisner, LLP. He served as COO for the Lehman Brothers Inc., In Liquidation Bankruptcy, the largest and most complex bankruptcy in American history. In 2003 Ainsberg was appointed the Independent Research Consultant for Morgan Stanley & Co. He has served on the board of directors of Nomura Securities, Inc., Medley Capital Corporation and AG Mortgage Investment Trust. He is a widely recognized financial and securities expert witness, and is a nationally recognized lecturer on matters involving both the accounting and financial services industries.

Shackleton’s expedition presented a new lens through which through which Ainsberg could understand leadership. He describes his introduction to Shackleton. “I was reading a story about a forthcoming exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City about this explorer Shackleton and his adventures in Antarctica.

“I was exactly 51 years old and a pretty well-read guy and I had never heard of Shackleton. The story mentioned the books written about him and the Endurance expedition. I ordered the books cited in the article and read them all. Since then, now going on more than 20 years, I have been obsessed by Shackleton and his leadership ability, the whole story.”

The obsession led to a close study of what Shackleton did on that ill-fated journey to save his crew. Eventually Ainsberg derived seven leadership lessons from Shackleton’s actions. He shares those lessons with business and community leaders through presentations that thousands have attended.

“Shackleton’s ability to overcome extraordinary obstacles and safely bring his crewmen home alive is a testament to the power of human strength and endurance. It is proof that anyone can be a great leader, no matter how difficult or unique their circumstance,” Ainsberg says.

Has the project met his expectations? “I wanted to give the world a book where people can learn from a great leader, and I’ve done that,” he says.