Unsinkable Leadership Lessons from The Titanic

The world was shocked when the Titanic sank. The "unsinkable" ship Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, losing at least 1,517 lives, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. The sinking of the Titanic shattered the faith of age and each generation.

Few things which revealed in investigations that followed

Early Warning

Titanic received a series of?warnings from other ships?of drifting ice in the area of the?Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but Captain Edward Smith of Titanic chose to ignore them. One of the ships to warn Titanic was the?Atlantic Line's?Mesaba.??“The Californian”?had warned Titanic by radio of the pack ice (that was the reason Californian had stopped for the night) but was rebuked by Titanic's senior wireless operator, and Titanic continued to steam at full speed.?

Titanic ship's band?

As passengers waited to enter lifeboats, they were entertained by the Titanic’s musicians, who initially played in the first-class lounge before eventually moving to the ship’s deck. Sources differ on how long they performed, some reporting that it was until shortly before the ship sank.?Speculation?also surrounded the last song they performed—likely either “Autumn or Nearer My God to Thee”. None of the musicians survived the sinking.

Safety & Compliance

Titanic had 16 wooden?lifeboats?and four collapsible would be carried, which could accommodate 1,178 people, only one-third of?Titanic's total capacity which is considered legally compliant. White Star Line actually provided more lifeboat accommodation than was legally required. At the time, lifeboats were intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship—not keep afloat the whole population or power them to shore.

?Was it 2 or 3 ships ?

When the Titanic was hit hard & started sinking it began sending out distress signals. Two ships reportedly got the signals and tried to interact -?“SS Californian” & “RMS Carpathia”. There?are disputed reports of also a mystery ship – the Norwegian?sealer?Samson, in the vicinity of the Titanic when she sank.

Samson

?“Samson”?was probably closest to the Titanic, the white flares signaling danger, but because the crew had been hunting seals illegally, and didn’t want to be caught, they turned back and went the opposite direction away from the Titanic.?

The SS Californian

?“SS Californian”, which had been only a few miles from Titanic but had not picked up her distress calls or responded to her signal rockets.??

The crew spent time convincing themselves that nothing was happening. Titanic was as far from the Californian as Captain?Stanley?Lord claimed, then he knew, or should have known, that Morse signals would not be visible. A reasonable and prudent course of action would have been to awaken the wireless operator and instruct him to attempt to contact him, which they ignored. Californian eventually responded. At around 5:30 am

?The RMS Carpathia

“RMS Carpathia's”?wireless operator,?Harold Cottam, had missed previous messages from the Titanic, as he was on the bridge at the time. After his shift ended at midnight, he continued listening to the transmitter before bed, and received messages from Cape Cod, they had private traffic for the Titanic. He thought he would be helpful, and at 12:11 a.m. sent a message to the Titanic, stating that Cape Cod had traffic for them. In reply he received the Titanic's distress signal, stating that they had struck an iceberg and needed immediate and urgent assistance.

RMS Carpathia's?Captain?Arthur Henry Rostron, immediately sprang into action and gave the order to turn the ship around, confirmed with Harold Cottam, and then immediately set a course for the Titanic, at all possible speed. Cottam, meanwhile, messaged the Titanic that the Carpathia was coming & refrained from sending more signals keeping the network clear for the Titanic's distress signals. The distance to the Titanic was 58.22 nmi (67.00 mi; 107.82 km), and it took the Carpathia three and a half hours to arrive at the Titanic's location, by which time she had already sunk an hour and a half back claiming more than 1,500 lives. For the next four and a half hours, the ship took on the 705 survivors of the disaster from the Titanic's 20 lifeboats.

Source: Facts and details of investigation from Wikipedia

The Unsinkable Leadership Lessons

Leadership Learning starts with self. The stimulus is never in your control, but how we respond to the situation is a Choice.

Although the captain of Titanic experienced controlled speed is considered one of the reasons which could have avoided the incident. By the time he tried to change course after seeing the iceberg, it was too late and high a speed to avoid the collision.??Many times as we gain experience we are conditioned to believe that we know it all and resort to ad-hoc tweaks to processes. Follow the process, irrespective of your Experience. A process change to a routine is also a Process, follow it.?

Active Listening

The Titanic captain – got multiple signals about drifting ice in the area and to slow down or stop.?“Mesaba”?& “SS Californian”,?but it chose not to listen and continued at top speed. Listening is a virtue we are born with but seldom use effectively – it’s a learned ability. It could have saved 1500+ lives. We speak from what we know, when we listen, its all about possibilities.

?Safety & Compliance

When it comes to safety and compliance we mostly tend to do the bare minimum.?Leaders need to visit their processes/rules to ensure if the same risks apply to the process at hand or take the decision to improvise or update. Success is relative to actions taken considering the dynamic risks.

?Passion

Titanic Band?- When faced with eventual disaster and end –?passionate leaders will continue to chase their unfulfilled desire, irrespective of situation and time. Passion is the deep driving desire of an individual which fuels the energy/motivation from within and it may have nothing to do with capability and timing.

?Choice is always there

Captain Lord of?SS Californian?instructed the crew to continue to signal the other vessel with the Morse lamp, and went back to sleep The inquiries found that the ship seen by?The Californian?previous night with flares was in fact Titanic and that it would have been possible for Californian to come to her rescue; therefore, Captain Lord had acted improperly in failing to do so.?Many a time we choose to ignore problems until it hits our doorstep. We fail to question it and rather walk away from the issue. In such a scenario we end up being part of the problem and not the solution. If you see a problem Choose to action - “Now” else the choice that many make is merely an excuse.

?Always complete all steps as per design

Cottam from RMS Carpathia just decided to?listen to the transmitter before hitting the bed. It was only an intent to relay some other message to Titanic when he received the distress signal and the rest is history. Even if you miss some of your tasks due to other engagements?complete your process and never ignore any activity – possibilities are always there – we choose not to see them.

Extra-Ordinary Leaders do things differently?

RMS Carpathia?arrived on the scene in response to Titanic's distress calls and rescued 705 survivors out of the 2,228 passengers and crew onboard Titanic, and they were conveyed by Carpathia to New York, Titanic's original destination.??RMS Carpathia’s?captain and her crew got maximum appreciation from all authorities and people whom they saved and many others alike. Their efforts were recognized with the highest awards in UK & US.??Leaders with the learned ability to think deeply, plan and make an all-out effort with an objective beyond their own goals, will achieve the extraordinary, maybe beyond what even they have not dreamt. The rewards were not the reason to save lives, but other aspects like empathy, perseverance, compassion, and indomitable will to not give-up. They helped achieve one of the most heroic and perilous rescue efforts.

Make a beginning..

Speaking of the risk taken by running through dense ice at speed at night RMS Carpathia’s captain said "I can only conclude another hand than mine was on the helm".??

When you attempt with all might and commit yourself to action, then providence moves too….