It was 100 years ago on May 5, 1912 when the famous RMS Titanic vessel sank while on its maiden voyage to America. To many people, it was an ordeal remembered today, only for the 1,517 lives that were lost in the tragedy.
But from a business point of view, there are many lessons for business leaders to learn from the Titanic saga especially, as we all know that an ocean liner is a floating business. Maintaining a culture of disciplined execution of clearly defined strategies can make a huge impact in the results we produce in business. The Titanic experience is similar to a modern day business in very many respects; for example…
It cost $7.5 million to build; that would be an estimated $400 million in today’s value. The construction of the ship took three years to complete, and on completion, RMS Titanic measured 882ft.9ins (about 269 meters) long. It was 92ft.6ins (approx. 28 meters) wide, and 175ft (53 meters) high. The investment in RMS Titanic was massive and met the expectation of a long-term focused investor of our time.
So, what is the one lesson that businesses can learn from the Titanic experience, especially with regards to strategy and execution?
Maintaining a Crystal Clear Vision is the number 1 business objective and without doubt an essential component in building a sustainable, successful business.
The Titanic was built to be “unsinkable." It had built-in 16 watertight compartments that were masterfully made to ensure that this objective was met. Unfortunately as the ship hit the iceberg, six of the “watertight” compartments were so badly damaged that its water resistant capability was exposed, and the ship began to sink.
Similar to business execution, nothing should be taken for granted for any reason. As the crew of your business or organisation, if your vision of where you're taking your organisation is not clearly defined, you may run the risk of striking the “iceberg,” and your business might sink.
Maintaining a vivid vision in business, and a discipline of execution cannot be compromised as it represents the compass that determines how well you navigate, and how successful you will be in business. A crystal clear vision is the compelling picture of the results you and everyone in your organisation are trying to create together, not only for your customers, but the entire community of stakeholders. To succeed at this, you must develop disciplined commitment to execute simple strategic actions every single day until the results appear. This is a culture that every successful organisation lives by.
Your vision doesn’t have to be a prize-winning masterpiece. It simply has to be something that everyone understands and is passionately excited to pursue.
For your vision to be effectively accomplished, you must over-communicate it. This is where many leaders fail. They make it look good on paper, but do nothing in telling the world what it is, and how it guides them to serve them.
The image that was painted of the Titanic was that of a masterpiece built to weather storms. This is the same type of promotion many businesses make of their organisations. But in order to maintain a crystal clear vision, business leaders should never think of themselves as being invulnerable.
Every successful business regardless of industry has a compelling focus on its plans, and an excellent culture of commitment, execution and accountability that produce the desired results.
You too must gain crystal clear vision of the direction of your business and build on this culture of disciplined execution to grow your business successfully.
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