The Titanic

 That Titanic sank in the North Atlantic more than 110 years ago in 1914.

Do ponder which contemporary entity, corporate, government, institution or so called leader may or surely flounder for the very same reasons the Titanic sank, after hitting the side of an iceberg.

1.   Touted as Unsinkable.
The over sensationalisation of an idea, product, agenda and promise should ring alarm bells like a canary in a coal mine.
Advertisements that shout,  social media clips that insists what we need to have and promises of remarkable returns on your money need to be treated with more than a grain of salt and reminder to protect our integrity and use our own confident intelligence.


2.    Speeding Irregardless of Risks in order to achieve a subjective important goal.
It has been said the tragic Titanic was on a secret agenda to arrive in New York a day earlier than scheduled, in a surprise move to impress and awe.  This over riding plan, hidden from passengers and crew, was an obsession with the powerful controlling individuals who were willing to do anything and take risks to achieve a rather unshared objective.

Have you encountered situations where any costs are to be expended just to attain one overriding purpose, whether as personally experienced or read in the annals of history?

Suicide missions by brainwashed individuals.   Customers treated as disposable numbers in the push to achieve pushy sales.  Financial claims to be minimised while collected premiums are maximised.    Prices to spike when customers are desperate.  Priorities to maximise share price and earnings at a specific time of reporting to the Board and key shareholders.


3.    Quality had not been maintained or ensured in the weakest spots.
The strength of anything, man made or in Nature, is truly in the weakest joints.
The Titanic had poorer quality iron in the parts that critically held its bottom.
It is not clear if this was due to a rush in its construction or because the funding was running out and corners had to be practicallly cut.

What are the obvious and hidden risks of a used business process?
Is government running on outsourced and expensively paid contracts, rather than on building a long lasting store of key experience and knowledge?
Is society's progress hindered by too much politicking rather than viable investment and steady implementation?
Is personal health hijacked by addictions, over commercialisation and dubious medication?
Are critical assets of a nation owned by foreigners?


4.      Burning fires within the hold was already happening, even if no iceberg was crashed into.
Were there already inherent problems brewing for some time within an entity before its inevitable collapse?
Is the product sold subject to temporary demand trends, a passing fad or on the basis of unsustainable logic?
Is the sentiment for a following dependent on other factors rather than on a solid reasoning or philosophy?
Is the market for a service built on fear, fool's logic or sheer fantasy?


5.    Tilting of the structure was so quick.
The Titanic did not take long to go under the ocean after it scrapped past a giant iceberg.   The cosmetics of the large cruising behemoth thoroughly hid the high dangers of collapse and breakage in an unexpected tragedy, as there was much smoke, glitter and hype on mostly unimportant diversions to paying passengers.

Would a pyramid like business structure hasten its collapse in a tragic economic event?
Is a political party carved out of a lack of relevant leadership long due to fall like a illusionary house of meaningless cards?
Is a construction company depending on too much debt, decreasing cash flows and falling ability to complete promised projects on time?

6.   The threat of the iceberg that broke the Titanic was not clearly seen in a possible mirage to the ship's crew.
A black swan event that breaks the so called camel's back is a risk scenario agreed upon as highly unlikely to happen, but when it eventuates in reality, no one is prepared to salvage from the disaster.
Unexpected cut off from supplies, dependent labour and breakout of trade wars all ravage anyone's capacity and ability to carry out viable operations.
A once in a hundred years of a climate disaster, a loss of a huge market due to unexpected geopolitical quakes and a war that was normally thought to not ever likely to occur.
A serious health issue that makes other problems not significant.


#yongkevthoughts