MAKING TITANIC MISTAKES

The last ship that anyone dared call ‘unsinkable’ was the Titanic, and we all know what happened to that.  The tragedy around the story of the Titanic is that 1500 people lost their lives, not because an unsinkable ship sank, but because of the thought processes that followed on from that belief.

The Titanic set sail from Southampton with nearly two thousand people on board but only 16 lifeboats.  The original design allowed for 64 but these were reduced to allow more space for luxuries.  After all, why frighten the first class passengers and clutter the desks when the ship was ‘unsinkable’?  Similarly, costs were cut on the quality of the ship’s rivets which popped out like press studs when the iceberg hit. 

Add to this the fact that no evacuation procedures were drilled by the crew; its captain insisted on sailing through a known ice field at full throttle to keep on schedule; and life boats couldn’t be launched or were launched half empty.

All of these were decisions driven by the wrong belief that the ship couldn’t possibly sink.

What really caused the loss of 1500 lives that night wasn’t a ship sinking, it was a series of bad decisions brought about by complacency based on a wrong piece of information. 

Luckily, very few of us are responsible for life and death in our everyday jobs – although some people are, of course.  But whether it’s product faults or bad service, the lessons are the same.  If a particular piece of information is taking you down a specific process, then make sure that information is right!

In my next blog I’ll be discussing the difference between risk and gambling, and what motivates us to do both.

CAN YOU LEAD A RISK-FREE EXISTENCE?

Anyone reading the newspapers and seeing the activity of the health & safety organisations might believe it’s possible to live a risk-free existence.  Well, common sense tells us it isn’t.  Whether you’re crossing a busy road, ordering Sushi, or backing a racehorse, everything in life carries an element of risk. 

You might not always be taking your life in your hands but when it comes to business, risk-taking can have far-reaching consequences on the company’s survival, your own income and your employees’ livelihoods.

That’s not to say that everything you do can always be a success.  With most entrepreneurs who’ve achieved a runaway success story, there are at least two failed projects they would rather forget.  That’s partly because successful business people don’t always rein in their bullish approach to risk management. 

Many executives will have signed off business cases in the past 12 months.  If every one had actually delivered on its promise then your business would probably be turning over $1 billion a year and costing around 24 cents a month to run.  The truth is, we accept that what we are presented with probably won’t come about.  This means we’re making decisions based upon something other than promised rewards.  We’re making them on risk.

In my next blog, I’ll be discussing a Titanic mistake that can lead to a whole series of bad decisions.