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The interest in and inspiration for this book was derived from the author’s background experience and knowledge of adventure expeditions. This valuable experience can be detected within the text of this work but its’ attractiveness is derived from the observation of other experienced members of expedition teams around the world. The challenge of adventure expeditions are part of the reason why expedition leaders and team members choose to face unfamiliar situations such as difficult weather or terrain, changes in travel plans or using new equipment and adventurous pursuit in a strange or unknown place. The problems to be faced can of course never be fully predicted. The challenge of this uncertainty is one of the reasons why people become involved in expeditions but it is also the source of conflict and danger. It is the management of these diverse and changing factors that are the concern of the leader, a complex and dynamic process. It can be implied that adventurous expeditions are demanding experiences full of opportunities and potential problems. This later proposition can be justified as a result of previous bad practice and unsavoury incidents within the sphere of outdoor adventure. The indications are that expedition leaders need to share good practice and should possess the required leadership qualities. They need to consider developing suitable guidelines that could give an outline of the roles and responsibilities of an expedition leader. There appears to be a need to identify the desired qualities of expedition leaders in order to develop the essential professional training programmes and safe expeditions that use good practice. This work aims to uncover these qualities, define why expedition leaders believe that these qualities are important, and suggest ways in which leaders can develop their own leadership competencies in order to provide the most effective and efficient teams. It will highlight positive developmental features and will provide recommendations on how to improve expedition leadership or management training and group development courses. In particular, it could be proposed that this book is likely to be of interest to expedition leaders and outdoor activity organisations that may wish to update and modernise leadership approaches. It may also be useful to managers in the corporate sector who may want to improve their teams’ performance. Since the luckless canoeing tragedy at Lyme Bay in 1993 there has been an increasing need for leaders to introduce new safety procedures, licensing controls and guidelines for expedition activities. There has been some deliberation concerning whether this is necessary or not. Expedition leaders seem to be worried that outdoor activity’s and adventurous expeditions will become inaccessible to many people as a result. This book aims to identify and analyse the key qualities of expedition leaders and attempts to discover what experts in the field have to say in regard to this. It could be intimated that this could lead to a need for a greater understanding of the key qualities of the expedition leader in order to provide recommendations for guidelines relating to future adventurous expeditions.The contributors to this book consisted of expedition leaders and military personnel chosen for their high leadership proficiency. They were particularly requested to be involved as a result of their apparent possession of leadership qualities and their capability to adapt to many and varying situations to an extremely high level. They were people who had been involved with extreme physical and mental challenges and represented a cross-section of the population who are recognised as experts in their chosen field. They specifically include Expedition Organisers, Canoeing Instructors, a Wilderness Explorer and Military Leaders, including an exclusive discussion with a member of Britain’s elite Special Air Service Regiment (SASR).
