We first spoke to David way back in Season 3, when he was kind enough to dial in from Antarctica and talk about his experiences as an Australian Antarctic Division Station Leader. At the time of that episode, David’s team’s trip had already been extended due to COVID, however at that point, he didn’t realise just how long he would be on the ice for, nor what sorts of challenges his trip would present him with. Turns out, the total deployment time was 537 Days, which ended up being the name of his outstanding new book.
In this episode, we catch up with David to talk about how the remainder of his time on the ice panned out and what leadership challenges he faced while deployed – including right up until the very last minute! In the process, we’ll ask him about the specific leadership challenges he faced, how to deal with an extreme medical emergency in such austere conditions and the significance of the midwinter celebration for expeditioners. Along the way, we'll also explore how he found the writing process and find out what was the first thing he did when he got back to Australia.
5:00 Picking up where we left off (from our last chat with David, Season 3 Episode 3)
6:02 On the writing process – what was it like collating his experiences into his book
10:10 How did David break the news to his team that they wouldn’t be going home when they expected to?
17:50 How do you galvanise the team after such disappointing news?
24:00 The importance of affiliative leadership in the AAD environment – plus the other leadership styles David found himself using
26:30 How can you achieve work-life boundaries when you are living at work?
28:30 The medical capability that David’s team had – and how they used this during an emergency
31:00 The very real threat of a COVID outbreak on station
34:06 After 537 days on the ice, surely nothing else could go wrong?! Incorrect – Dave talks about the fire on the vessel during his return journey
43:05 The significance of midwinter for expeditioners
46:30 What makes a good Antarctic expeditioner?
48:00 What are David’s most memorable ‘#Antarctica’ moments?
50:40 What was the first thing David did when he got back to Australia?
56:50 What’s next for David?
www.unforgiving60.com
Email us at debrief@unforgiving60.com
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External Links
David’s website
Signed copies of David’s book
Media and reviews on David’s book at these links: here, here and here.
Hear David’s story at your next corporate function – click here for speaking engagements
Music
The Externals – available on Spotify
Ben Frichot - available on Spotify
S4E17 – Life in Bloom: Sam and Cam Bloom on Life, Adversity, Growth and Love
S4E15 – Beau Miles. Our Famous Backyard Adventurer
S4E14 – Dr Michael Mumford: Pioneering Medical Marijuana
S4E13 – How to be Indistractable with Nir Eyal
S4E12 - Mark Wales: Survivor Redux
S4E11 – Cam & Sharn Watts: Foxhole Buddies In the Fight Against PTSD
S4E10– Meet Liv Robinson v2.0- Beating Anorexia and Dominating Life through Art Therapy
S4E9–Cleared Hot! Shannon Huffman Polson on flying Apache Gunships, bagging big peaks and being a badass
S4E8– Olympian Melissa Wu is Diving Into Life!
S4E7– Brian Firth – Breathing – you’re doing it wrong!
S4E6– Mick Neven is Fair Dinkum
S4E5B– Kev Toonen – Training SpecOps, Sports Stars and Celebrities: Part B
S4E5A– Kev Toonen – Training SpecOps, Sports Stars and Celebrities: Part A
S4E4 – Be All There to Enjoy the Moments of Magic with Psychologist Ali Hill
S4E3 – Dean Fechner: Sharing hard-won lessons on resilience
S4E2 – Tom Moore- How ‘WithYouWithMe’ is Disrupting Normal
S4E1 - Harry Garside: Fighting the good fight – inside and outside the ring
@RV28 – Season 3 Finale ….. Reflections & into the Future
S3E20 –Standout Life with Ali Hill
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