By EMILY BERRY
Anderson Independent-Mail
February 17, 2005

Gov. Mark Sanford defined leadership during his address at Thursday’s Pointing the Way Leadership Awards luncheon through the example of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s journey on the HMS Endurance, as chronicled in the book of the same name.

The Endurance was crushed in ice during a 1914 British expedition to Antarctica, and in a show of extraordinary courage and persistence, Sir Shackleton ensured that all 27 men on board the ship made it home.

"Not one of these 27 men plus Shackleton should have made it, but ultimately they all do," the governor said. "They all do really because of what y’all are celebrating here today with this award, and that is the notion of leadership.

"I would argue that the reason that these men happened to survive is the reason that Anderson will do well in the future," he said.

But leadership is more than courage or great acts, the first-term governor told the audience of more than 350 at the Civic Center of Anderson for the Anderson Independent-Mail’s sixth annual leadership awards luncheon.

"What strikes me about that story is the way Shackleton understood the vital intersection between leadership and service and community," Gov. Sanford said. "I would argue each one of the honorees here at the table and the folks you’re about to honor are just as real a hero as Shackleton.

"What he understood more than anything else was there was no way out alone," he said. "Either we survive together, either we make it together, or we don’t make it."

The responsibility he took for the fate of his crew — the drive to serve — is worth emulating, he said.

The governor encouraged everyone present at the ceremony to act on the things they can do to improve the community.

Turning to the movie "Rudy," which chronicles one young man’s dream to play football for Notre Dame, Gov. Sanford called for audience members to step up to be the next leaders by hanging onto a dream and carrying out a vision.

"One thing I would ask of every one of you all as we’re about to honor folks in the community is that we think of ways we might honor them by going out and doing things ourselves," he said.

Emily Berry can be reached at (800) 859-6397, Ext. 326 or by e-mail at huigensee@IndependentMail.com.

Copyright 2005, Anderson Independent Mail. All Rights Reserved.