Titanic. The name could have been synonymous with top-notch management protocols. At first, its owners, architects, and builders made a very wise decision. The Titanic was one of three ships that Bruce Ismay’s White Star Line commissioned the firm of Harland and Wolff to build. Ismay realized that the trans-Atlantic luxury liner route was highly competitive and it would be very difficult to have the ships he envisioned be the fastest ones to cross the Atlantic. Thus, he decided to build the most luxurious ships possible. Titanic’s primary market would accordingly be first-class passenger travel. He would provide passengers with every possible convenience and luxury modern technology would allow, ranging from Turkish baths to wireless telegraph services.
However, as Titanic was being built certain decisions had to be made. To provide the most luxury, the number of lifeboats had to be decreased because storing the amount recommended by the architects would obscure the ocean view from the promenade deck. Likewise, to allow for a grand staircase, watertight compartments were limited to the lower decks. But these tradeoffs of safety for luxury were justified because Ismay and the other stakeholders firmly believed that the Titanic, and her sister ship Olympic (which was built first), were nearly unsinkable. They also believed that the lifeboats would most likely be used to ferry passengers from other vessels in distress to the Titanic and not the other way around. (It should be noted that even the decreased number of lifeboats still exceeded the legal requirement at the time.)
While we know that the ship was not as unsinkable as Ismay believed, tragedy could still have been avoided had Ismay stuck to his original vision and goal. But mid-voyage Ismay lost focus. The Olympic had already demonstrated what luxury could be on the seas. The Titanic, Ismay now felt, could be pushed to go faster, to demonstrate to the world that luxury could be combined with speed. This despite the multiple ice warnings that had been received.
The ship being unsinkable was a mindset that became an unchallenged filter through which all information was processed and all decisions made. Thus while prudence should have dictated slowing down, the Titanic continued to steam full-speed ahead. On the night of April 14, 1912 the Titanic became the victim of Ismay veering from his original goal and being prisoner to a faulty mindset.
Leaders must heed the tragic lessons of the Titanic and stay true to their goals – or adjust them only after careful and intentional analysis. They must also always question their mindsets and biases to determine whether they are negatively affecting their decisions. We learn from this week’s parsha that this is easier said than done.
Although Hashem informed Moshe Rabbeinu of the ultimate goal of bringing Bnei Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael, He wanted Moshe to talk to the people about the immediate goal of becoming free people and leaving Egypt. Moshe, however, according to the Meshech Chochma’s understanding (6:9), stressed to Bnei Yisrael the ultimate goal of conquering and settling the land of Israel. The Meshech Chochma explains that Bnei Yisrael couldn’t absorb what he was saying due to their stressful situation. They could barely think about the next day let alone about some future Utopia. In pasuk 14 Hashem instructs Moshe to focus on the Exodus. Hashem had informed Moshe of the ultimate goal for Moshe’s sake and had not intended for Moshe to inform Bnei Yisrael. Hashem knew they were not ready for such a lofty and distant goal.