Business Lessons from the Titanic

The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on 10th April, 1912. One of the most sought after voyages of the time, with luxurious accomodations for first class, and decent steerage cabins as well. The Titanic was built on a big budget (7.5 million USD in 1912) by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, UK. It sank on its maiden voyage in the plunging depths of the Atlantic.

The wreck site was untouched and undiscovered for almost seven decades after the disaster. Only the bodies of the fatalities were recovered from the ocean, with many thousands who could never be found. 1500 people lost their dear lives that fateful night. Only around 700 could be saved from the sinking. It’s been 109 years since this infamous maritime disaster. It continues to haunt us and grieve at the unfortunate loss of lives that fatal night on the Atlantic. Here are some amazing lessons for us from the disaster-

1. Complacency can kill you -The Titanic was touted the most luxurious ship of all time, engineered and designed to perfection. It was operated by a well known shipping company (White Star Line), which had grand plans for creating history with the Titanic. The ship was grand, luxurious beyond measure, and marketed to be an ‘unsinkable ship’. However, as time would tell, the ship had huge lapses in terms of safety and security. This ultimately caused its premature death. Huge business organizations can face this too. Complacency in terms of business initiative and drive can spell disaster for small and big businesses alike.
2. Attention to detail is important -The binoculars were absent when the lookout Frederick Fleet spotted the iceberg. A seemingly ordinary carelessness proved to be a fatal mistake, and led to the loss of thousands of lives on the ship. Also, the iceberg warnings were taken lightly by the wireless telegraph operator on the ship. This was probably due to overconfidence on being aboard the unsinkable ship. Losing sight of your vision and core goals can prove to be dangerous for businesses.

3. Multiple goals are unwise- Speculation exists on whether or not Bruce Ismay, the MD of White Star Line egged the Captain E.J. Smith on to increase the speed of the ship when it was not properly run in. The Titanic was a ‘luxury’ ship, not the ‘fastest’ ship. Due to its high speed while approaching the iceberg, the crew was unable to veer the ship in the other direction to avoid hitting the iceberg in time. Trying to prove that the Titanic is fast as well spelled doom later for everyone on the ship. Similarly, when a business organization changes goals without a thorough preparation/ market research; it can spell disaster in terms of sales and profit projections.

4. The vitality of practicality- The practically required number of lifeboats was ignored deliberately based on an unreasonable assumption that the RMS Titanic is ‘unsinkable’. It was also later revealed in the post sinking inquest that the Captain of the ship E.J. Smith had cancelled all safety drills scheduled to be imparted to the crew before the ship began its journey from Southampton. When the iceberg struck the ship had less than two hours before it went completely under water, and had one third of the lifeboats required to save everyone. Added to this the crew unfortunately had no training on how to react or the steps to be followed as part of procedure in time of a crisis like this. Chaos ensued all around with people screaming and shouting to be saved, stampeding to get on the too few lifeboats. Class struggles played another sad factor in the loss of most lives of people from second and third class.

Being in touch with the business environment is so vital. Knowing what goes on where, the prevailing laws and regulatory framework and abiding by the same, moves of competitors everything is vital for businesses. Important enough to save their skin!