I recently watched the Documentary called "Titan: The OceanGate Disaster".
Now, when this Tragedy first Struck, I was hesitant to write or say anything for a few reasons.
First and Foremost...
It was a Tragedy.
Even the Death of Stockton Rush, the CEO and Co-Founder of OceanGate, who was the Prime Target of Blame in the Documentary, is Tragic.
Secondly Though...
What OceanGate Was, and Still Seems to be Working Toward, is Inherently Dangerous.
The Company "Is" Attempting to Accomplish Something No One has Ever Done, and their Business Model and Decisions have some Validity from a Theoretical Standpoint.
So, until I had watched this Documentary that went into the Details of Events that Led Up to the Event...
I Knew that there was a Possibility that, Simply, this Could Have been the Result of Pushing Into Uncharted Territory.
However, after Watching the Documentary, and Getting a Large Perspective of the Different Parties...
I Can Say Confidently that the Titan Submersible was Doomed Long Before the Tragic Event.
But it is Also Not Fair to Simply Chalk Stockton Rush up as the "Villain".
After watching the Documentary, what I saw was a Man, with Human Flaws, who made Psychophysiological Errors, which sadly, Led to His Death.
Flaws which became Exacerbated based on a Few Different Circumstances...
Some of which were Not Entirely His Fault.
Yes, I Do Believe He Holds a Large Part of the Responsibility...
But there are some Other Factors that are Incredibly Important to Consider.
When I Look at This...
I Believe that Stockton Rush was, Primarily, a Businessman.
His Strengths were in Business.
He had Some Talent in Engineering, as the Documentary Revealed from his Education...
But it was Not his Primary Strength, as was Evidenced by his Grades.
He also had a Deep Desire for Exploration...
But had Not Built the Strength of Deep Sea and Submersible Exploration.
Could He Do These?
Yes.
But Not at an Expert Level.
This will All become Important as We Delve Into things Further.
Now, when we Look at Stockton Rush's Goals...
We See the First Challenge...
Societal Expectations.
His Goal was to be Seen in the Same Light that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are Seen in terms of Space Exploration and Colonization...
But for Deep Sea Exploration and Colonization.
He wanted to make the Oceans Both More Accessible and Open the Oceans to Colonization in the Future.
He was Attempting to Live in the Same Light as Other Businessmen who Society Holds in High Esteem.
Now, from a Sageship Perspective, I believe that Both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have Deeply Flawed Organizations which are Problematic in Many Ways...
But from a Societal Perspective, there is Pressure on Every Businessperson to "Leave A Mark" that is at Such an Incredibly High Level...
And Stockton Rush was Attempting to Live Into that Societal Standard.
Indeed, from the Theoretical Business Perspective, his Plan made a Lot of Sense, and even I Cannot Deny That.
He saw an Opportunity - Deep Sea Exploration and Colonization.
No One has Really "Solved" for that Opportunity to make it a Reality.
It is a Category, with Extreme Potential, that No One has become the King/Queen of Yet.
That is a Perfect Business Opportunity if I have Ever Seen One.
The Idea to Reduce Costs so that it could become More Accessible also Makes Perfect Sense.
Stockton Rush was quoted in the Documentary that 90% of the Costs of Submersibles have to do with "Getting" the Submarines Places.
If Someone Could, Successfully and Reliably, Reduce those Costs?
It would Open Up a Gigantic Age of Exploration and Potentially Colonization...
Plus, it could Even Open Up Other Planets as Potentially Livable if that Technology Existed.
We could, in Theory, Move to Planets that are Solely Water.
So, in order to Reduce Costs, a New Material was Chosen for the Submersible - Carbon Fiber.
"If" this Metal Could be Used Reliably for Submersibles, then New Doors Would Open.
Theoretically, the Business Model is Brilliant...
But the Largest Challenge that We Have to Face is that "Theory" and "Reality" are Sometimes Not Identical.
Which will Become Important Later as well.
There is One More Incredibly Important Aspect that We Must Focus On, though, to See the Largest Flaw that would become Stockton Rush's Undoing...
Stockton Rush saw Himself "As" OceanGate.
He Made His Work Identity His "Primary" Identity.
As I've Explained in My Work Before...
This is Incredibly Dangerous.
Why?
Work Identities are Not Forever.
Positions Change.
Businesses Rise and Fall.
When We Identify "As" Our Work...
We Often Ignore Other Parts of Our Identity...
And When Work "Does" Change...
Which it Always Does...
Then We Tend to Become Lost or Make Poor Decisions.
This was the Truly Fatal Problem that Occurred for Stockton Rush.
Because He Saw Himself "As" OceanGate and "As" His Work...
If Anything Was Questioned or Did Not Go According to Plan...
It Became "Perceived" as a "Personal" Attack...
Even if it Was Not.
This Brings us into the Next Leadership Challenges that OceanGate Faced.
Now, I'm Not an Engineer, so I "Could" be Wrong...
But it Seems that Carbon Fiber was the Only, or Perhaps Simply the Most Likely Known, Metal that Made the Business Feasible.
However, it Came with a Gigantic Challenge...
No One has Created Submersibles with Carbon Fiber Before.
This, mixed with the Fact that Undersea Exploration is Already Inherently Dangerous...
Made the Idea Exponentially More Dangerous.
Now, if You are Wise...
This Means that Someone Should Approach This Challenge with Extreme Caution.
Which Brings Us to Another Problem.
Stockton Rush wanted to be in the same Light as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos...
Both of whom have been Known to "Push" the Boundaries of Regulations and Make Questionable Decisions in Terms of Safety...
Which is the Same Playbook the Stockton Rush used when Approaching his Submersible.
Instead of having 3rd Party Tests Done on His Submersible...
He Elected to Find Workarounds so that he could be "Legally" Compliant, but without the Delays and Costs that are Involved with 3rd Party Testing.
Again, this is a Societal Playbook that he was Utilizing to Accomplish His Goals.
But it was a Decision that Made the Project Significantly Riskier.
These 3rd Party Organizations are Designed for Thorough Testing so that People Do Not Die.
They have Learned from Others' Past Mistakes...
So that the Same Mistakes Do Not Need to Occur Again.
By Circumventing these types of Organizations...
It Put the Responsibility of Accounting for the Dangers on OceanGate and its Engineers Alone...
Forcing them to Recreate the Wheel.
Now, can Regulations become Barriers in Some Industries?
Yes, especially with Advancements in Technology.
However, when You're Looking at Something "This" Dangerous...
It is Nearly Always "Wiser" to Stay on the Side of Caution...
But Caution Takes Time.
Which can Become Problematic when a Company has Investors, who are also Board Members, who Expect a Return on their Investments (More on this Later).
So, Stockton Rush Cut Corners so that He Could Develop and Test the Tech Faster.
This Led to Stockton Pushing to Get Results Faster...
But the Desired Results were Being Pushed Faster than the Company could Create a Safe Technology.
OceanGate had Multiple Key Leaders who Expressed Concerns about Safety...
Both from an Engineering Perspective and from an Exploration Perspective.
What was the Result?
In a Strong Company, the Leader would Defer to the Individuals with the Greatest Strengths in an Area on What to Do and How to Proceed.
Now there are Two Things to Remember Here...
First, Stockton Rush's Strength was in Business...
Not in Engineering or Exploration.
Second, Stockton Rush's Identity was Merged "With" OceanGate.
The Result?
When Key Leaders whose Primary Strengths "Were" in Engineering and Exploration Raised Concerns...
Instead of Deferring to them Based on "Their" Strengths...
Stockton Rush saw their Concerns as a "Personal Attack" on His Identity.
He Saw them as Enemies...
Where No Enemies Existed.
As a Result, the Pattern Became Clear...
Most of the Key Leaders Who Raised a Concern were Either Fired or Left when the Writing Became Clear...
It was Stockton Rush's Way, or the Highway.
What made it Worse was the Stockton Rush, supposedly, had Connections...
Connections that he Claimed could Ruin a Person's Career.
So...
If You Were Someone Who Questioned the Current Safety of the Project...
You had One of Three Options...
Option One - Leave on Bad Terms, and Potentially have a Man with Connections Attempt to Ruin You...
This Appears to be what Happened to Whistleblower David Lochridge, who incurred Massive Financial Losses in Attempting to Sue OceanGate while also being Countersued by OceanGate.
Option Two - Leave on "Good" Terms by Remaining Quiet about the Problems...
Which is the Path that Most of the Leaders who Left Took.
Option Three - Remain, Knowing that Any Voice of Questioning could Lead to Option One...
Which was a Reality that Some Were Forced to Take because there were Many Individuals Hired "Right" Out of College, with Little to No Experience to Move into Other Companies...
And Because some of these Events Happened "During" Covid, where Work was Uncertain for Everyone.
The Result?
A Toxic Workplace...
One Dominated by Fear...
Where No One had the Ability to Question the Leader...
And Where Sychophantic Behavior was Rewarded.
There were Multiple Times where the Company Attempted to Place Remaining Leaders in Positions that they were "Completely" Unqualified for...
With a Promise of Potential Glory and to be the "Face" of OceanGate, "When" it Succeeded...
Because Failure was Not Considered a Potential Possibility...
Because the Voices of Dissent were All Silenced.
This Created Another Problem as Well...
When Actions were Unquestioned...
And "Success" Occurred - Even with Faults and Close-Calls that "Could" have Easily Become Disastrous...
Instead of Being Investigated Further to Make the Submersible Safer...
These Became "Proof" that the Dissenters were Wrong.
The Result?
Ego Driven By Sycophantic Cult-Like Applause.
Now, we have Seen Throughout History that When Leaders are Surrounded by Sycophants...
They Tend to Take Riskier Actions...
Tend to Bend More Rules...
And Tend to Do More Questionable Things.
Which is Exactly what Happened with the Titan Submersible.
OceanGate Switched who Supplied their Carbon Fiber...
To a Company that Had No Experience in Submersibles.
They also had a Scaled Test (Smaller Scale) Fail, but Decided to Proceed to the Full Scale Anyway.
Now, there is Another Issue Here...
With the Majority of High-Level Engineers and Explorers Leaving...
It Primarily Fell on Stockton to Push the Engineering and to Drive the Submersible.
Remember how these were "Not" his Strengths?
The Problem here is that He Knew "Enough" to Believe that He Could Do It...
But was Not "Masterful" Enough if the Situations became Problematic.
We See the Same Issue in Martial Arts.
The "Most Dangerous" Person is Not the Black Belt, because the Black Belt has Enough Wisdom and Self-Control to Prevent Most Disasters...
Rather, the Most Dangerous Individuals tend to be the Red Belts (Essentially a High Intermediate Level)...
Because they Know "Enough" to Do Techniques Well...
But Do Not "Yet" Have Enough Wisdom or Control to Prevent Certain Dangerous Circumstances.
"This" is the Level of Knowledge that Stockton Rush had in Both Engineering and Deep Sea Exploration, and which would become, sadly, Fatal.
Now, there is One More Factor that I Believe Has Not Been Discussed, but which was Highly Likely to have Pushed Everything to the Final Disaster...
And was Extremely Likely to have been at least a Subconscious Reason that Stockton Rush Continued to Push into Riskier Behavior...
Money.
Specifically, Investments and the Influence that the Board of Directors Have...
And in this Case, Some on the Board of Directors Were "Also" Investors.
Now, when Someone Invests in Anything, there Becomes an Expectation...
They Want a Return.
People Rarely Invest with the Expectation to Lose Money.
And OceanGate "Did" have Investors...
Who were Likely Pushing Stockton Rush to get Results.
The Documentary did Not Discuss this at All...
Likely because it Appeared that All Current OceanGate Leaders, Investors, and Board of Directors Seem to have Declined to be a Part of the Documentary...
Which is Understandable.
So, this is Me Extrapolating based on Knowing How Most Organizations Work.
Board of Directors typically have the Ability to Fire CEOs who they Believe are Not Performing.
OceanGate was Founded in 2009.
They Have Not Been a Profitable Company since Inception.
This is Not Unheard Of, and Many Companies are "Floated" by Investors for Long Periods of Time.
Amazon was Unprofitable for 14 Years after its IPO.
But it is Still a Long Time to "Not" See Results, Especially when there was No Real Success in the Goal of Making Exploration More Accessible to the Masses.
The Likely Result?
Pressure being Put on Stockton Rush.
It is also the Role of the CEO to be the Voice between the Company and the Board of Directors.
What happened when Individuals Made "Vocal" Doubts about the Safety of the Project?
The Board of Directors would Likely Hear...
And Put Pressure on Stockton Rush to Give Answers "And" Solutions About these Doubts.
When this is Mixed with Covid, where Companies around the Globe were having Extreme Financial Hardships...
It would Likely Cause Even "More" Pressure to be Put on Stockton to Deliver Results...
Which, when Mixed with Everything Else...
Would have Put Stockton into a "Psychological Survival" Situation.
"If" He Did Not Perform...
He "Could" be Fired...
Which Means that He Would No Longer "Be" OceanGate...
His Ability to Become the Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos of the Ocean would Disappear...
And He Would be Left in a Gigantic Identity Crisis, which frequently occurs when People become Too Attached to their Work Identity.
This Situation then becomes an Existential Threat...
Which can Easily put a Leader into a Deep State of Fight-Or-Flight to Survive this Existential Threat...
And Stockton Rush Does Appear to have Demonstrated "Fight" Survival Behaviors.
This would Cause Extreme Dis-Stress, especially when Maintained over Long Periods of Time.
That Could Cause Burnout at the Worst...
Which, when You Look at Video of Stockton, Appears to have Been Likely...
But Further, when You are in Fight-or-Flight...
You are More Likely to Miss Potential Problems...
You Become Worse at Decision Making...
You are Far More Likely to Accept Riskier Behavior, often Subconsciously, to "Escape" the Survival Situation...
You Fail to See Patterns that Could Become Catastrophic...
You're More Likely to See Enemies...
And You're Far More Likely to Make Mistakes.
All of these are Behaviors that We See Occur in Stockton Rush...
Leading Up to His Tragic Death.
Was Stockton Rush At Fault for the Tragedy of OceanGate?
To a Large Extent, Yes...
But was he "Solely" Responsible?
I Would Say No.
There are some Deep Psychophysiological Factors Here that Indicate that Societal, Investor, and Board of Directors Expectations Played Incredibly Potent Roles in this Outcome.
What is Perhaps Most Sad is that These Leadership Failures "Could" Have All Been Avoided.
It Did Not Need to End Like This.
But Sadly, It Did.
The Only Thing that We Can Do Now...
Is Learn from these Failures so that We Do Not Succumb to them Ourselves in the Future.
My Heart Goes Out to Everyone who was Impacted by these Events...
Including the Family of Stockton Rush...
And The Families who Lost Loved Ones in this Tragedy.
Are You Ready to Go Beyond Leadership?
Tired of Broken Algorithms and AI Slop?
Excited to Dive Deeper into Psychophysiological Mastery?
Want to Change The World?