Roald Amundsen & the South Pole: Planning to win

A lot of the biographies and accounts written about the Norwegian explorers and their expeditions have very little foundation in first hand source material, and when they do, the source material is abused to fit the case of the writer.

As an example, in the last four decades it has been common in Norway to portray Roald Amundsen as bad, ruthless and vain leader that was only able to focus on himself and his goal.

One respected Norwegian writer even concludes that Amundsen is by far the worst leader among the famous polar explorers Ernest Shackleton, Robert F. Scott, Fridtjof Nansen and Amundsen.

Studying the expedition diaries, letters and other documents from Roald Amundsen and his crew members show that Amundsen was not only a creative, efficient and patient project planner, but also a complete project manager and a modern leader.

In an era where expedition leaders could hide behind navy ranks and threats, Amundsen was one of the boys, at the same time as it was never any doubt who was the boss.

Geir o’Klover at #AirbusMFP

Geir O’Klover will talk about Amundsen´s detailed preparations and management of his South Pole Expedition (1910-12), including the experiences he made during the first wintering in Antarctica (1898-99) and the first traverse of the elusive Northwest Passage (1903-06).

Some comparisons with Robert F. Scott´s expedition will be made The talk will be illustrated by Roald Amundsen´s own hand coloured lantern slides, used in his lecture tours 100 years ago.

Geir has been interested in polar history since he was a kid, so when the director position at the Fram Museum (The Norwegian Polar Museum) became available in 2005 it did not take long to decide that it was time to turn his hobby into a full time job.

One of the first projects Geir initiated at the Fram Museum was to make available all previously unavailable hand written diaries, relevant reports and letters from the Norwegian polar explorers to the broader public. So far he has published 16 of these diaries, with 60 more to come in the next 10-15 years.

In the recent years Geir has been leading the work to completely modernize the Fram Museum and building a new museum building, doubling the exhibition space at the museum. The Fram Museum is the number one museum in Oslo on Tripadvisor for the third year running and received the International Award at the British Museum + Heritage Awards 2013.

Geir has been working on smaller and larger projects since his student days. From 1997 to 2005 he worked as Project Director for a Norwegian human rights NGO, providing communication, media and project support to Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

Making Projects Fly #AirbusMPF

After 19 years the best UK Project Control and Earned Value event goes international with AIRBUS in Toulouse on 23rd and 24th October 2014. Best speakers. Best presentations. Best personal development.

Two packed days of networking, education and conversation with a great dinner and music too! And a VIP visit to see the AIRBUS in construction.