Leading on the Edge: Extraordinary Stories and Leadership Insights from The World's Most Extreme Workplace

Chapter 30      

Watch out for three-quarter time — keep your energy up

Our final weeks in Antarctica went by in a blur. The energy that returned to the station was unbelievable and we went from stagnant to staccato almost overnight. Everyone wanted to maximise their last few weeks so I spent a lot of time organising offsite excursions, filling rosters and keeping up with the demands of head office.

Where to next?

One of the biggest demands was the final report. I had been working on this on-and-off for a good six months already, filling in pieces as and when they happened, but the report needed an overriding narrative. I was very happy with our expedition and the report reflected that.

Thursday 18th August

A really productive day. I finally finished writing the Operations Report. It has taken so long but it's worth it. I hope it doesn't upset too many people, but hey, it's my report and I've written it to say what needs to be said. In my opinion.

I also wrote the monthly report and the latest version of our newsletter for distribution to the families back home. I feel quite happy and relaxed now.

Flat Darcy arrived from the Balranald Primary School. They faxed down a drawing of a person based on the children's book Flat Stanley. We cut him out and stuck him on cardboard to be photographed around station for their school project. We set him up and took pictures of him drilling ice, ...