Here is the titanic story, so let me take you into the thick of the plot and scenes that unfold the event just after the iceberg impact. So the iceberg impact occurs.
A handful of people witness the impact as it happens. Most passengers felt the impact and knew something happened, but they looked around, and it didn’t look too bad and chose to carry on as if it is business as usual. Some crew members who had direct knowledge of the impact, including the captain, know that it could be potentially serious, but no one is sure of the extent of the damage. Shortly after the impact, you see the ship’s chief designer, Thomas Andrews( Victor Garber), pacing down the passageway with scrolls of drawings tucked under his arm. Shortly afterward that is the scene of the meeting between Thomas and other senior crew members. He describes where the ship is impacted. He is able to logically then analyze and predict the consequence of the impact. He reveals the bad news to the men around him, and he is able to predict how long the ship can hold up. He probably might have been able to identify what could be done to delay the inevitable. And rewind just a few minutes, and it is a scene of utter confusion. The captain and crew were just as confused and clueless as everyone else around them on what is about to eventuate, and therefore lacked a straightforward course of action to move forward. After the meeting, though,the architect’s knowledge of how the ship is built and his ability to arrive at a logical prognosis might eventuate. Next empowers the captain with sufficient insights to make some good decisions and take the right course of action. And we know from the movie and documented historical facts that these actions by the captain and the crew led to hundreds of lives being saved.
To tie the story back to our context, an organization is like a large ship and is operated by people who understand how to operate and navigate it but don’t necessarily understand how it is put together. Business leadership fulfills the role of the architect in our analogy by creating and maintaining multiple perspectives and viewpoints of the enterprise that hold the insight and understanding of how everything hangs together.
Businesses regularly encounter iceberg events in the course of its operation, and business leaders often need the insights and knowledge of how their organization will be impacted by these events and the actions they need to take to adapt and emerge successful when it uncovers an opportunity or where it faces a problem or crisis. Leadership as a competency is an essential tool in the arsenal of a business leader to obtain the clarity and insights necessary to help them decide the next course of action.
credit - Joseph Anthony.