Responsibility Is a Titanic Expectation at Sea or on Land

   Friday was the 110th anniversary of the White Star Line steamship Titanic sinking. That reminded me of the responsibility aspect of leadership, especially in the sense of a leader being “present” in difficult times. In the case of Titanic, a lack of presence probably cost more than 400 lives that night.

   A quick note: Titanic was a real ship that really struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, it wasn’t just a 1997 movie.

   After Titanic hit its iceberg, its master, Capt. Edward Smith, arrived on the bridge seeking situational awareness. His duty officers informed him of what happened and their actions. Smith also had the ship’s chief naval architect aboard, Thomas Andrews. Smith asked Andrews to examine the damage, and Andrews quickly returned the news that the ship was likely to sink in two hours or less. Smith gave orders to launch the lifeboats—First Officer William McMaster Murdoch supervising starboard-side lifeboats, Second Officer Charles Lightoller supervising port-side lifeboats. Smith also invoked the “Birkenhead Drill”—popularly known as “women and children first.” In most testimony—both in the U.S. Senate and the British Wreck Commissioner hearings—that’s pretty much the last anyone hears of Smith until he tells the radio operators that it’s “every man for himself,” minutes before the ship sank.

   Here’s why his absence is important, and likely cost lives: Titanic had 705 to 712 survivors (official counts differ) and it had 1,178 lifeboat seats, which means more than 450 seats went unfilled—and nobody survived swimming for long in freezing water.

   Interpretations of the Birkenhead Drill account for some of that. Lightoller’s interpretation was only women and children (plus a few crew to handle the boat), even if boats left with empty seats. Murdoch’s interpretation was fill the boats with women and children (plus crew) and if no more women and children were present, fill the rest of the seats with men. Of the two, only Murdoch launched one boat above its official capacity (it was a calm night, and the boat suffered no danger).

   Had he been “present” to the unfolding situation, Smith might have stopped sending boats away that were far below capacity, might have rallied the crew to hurry passengers on deck, and might have foreseen the need to prepare two stowed collapsible boats, which ended up launching improperly—one floating off upside-down, the other washed off without its sides raised. Each could have saved 47 people, instead the two saved about 40 total.

   The lesson to take away is that while it’s appropriate to trust your team, it’s also appropriate to supervise them, and make sure information and ideas are flowing accurately between team members.

   While this lesson is based on a long-ago shipwreck, we’ve seen that many of those lessons still apply in a more recent crisis.

   During the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen bad communication that still hampers our recovery. Early statements by officials calling it “the flu” led many people to be dismissive of any further guidance, especially when some officials still hold that position. Early guidance that “masks were useless” fueled objections, and even lawsuits, fighting masking and other public health orders, including laws in some states removing the ability to issue public health orders from medical professionals and putting those decisions in politicians’ hands.

   When leaders embrace responsibility, they need to remain mindful of how their actions could create perceptions that are inaccurate. No leader should want to leave a lifeboat seat empty or unused, because of a misunderstanding, just as they wouldn’t want the deaths from a rampant virus on their hands.

   A decision isn’t the endpoint of leadership. It’s the start. Decide, execute, evaluate, gain insight, and make better decisions. It’s OK to be wrong, just don’t double down on being wrong when and if a better solution arrives.

One last thing: How did Titanic do on its Birkenhead Drill? Despite Lightoller’s no-men rule, First Class men survived at about the same rate as Third Class children (57 of 175 First Class men survived, about 33%, vs. 27 of 79 Third Class children, about 34%).