“The ship is unsinkable”
From which film do you think this line may originate?
OK full disclosure, I am not sure if this was actually said in the movie of this seafaring tragedy, however these were words uttered by Captain Edward Smith of The Titanic at some point in history.
I can’t help thinking and feeling that this same mindset, one I assert of ego, bravado and ‘this will never happen to us’ is what is driving so much of our current paralysis and even complacency around perpetuating ‘business a usual’ here in 2022, but admittedly with a load more well-intended certification and focus on #netzero2050 etc”
In fact B Lorraine Smith shared a powerful blog recently HERE and it was something they pointed to joining the recent Community Campfire around ‘Embracing the messiness of weaving possible futures’ exploration with Sahana and I which can be found below:
The frame
Just a note up-front, the following blog seeks to weave a blend of culture, leadership, curiosity, vulnerability, injustice, inequity, re-imagining and more and it is intended to be provocative, curious, inviting and expansive.
I invite you to check in with your body, your feelings, your thinking as you go through at regular intervals.
Also the key invitation is to stay curious around which culture patterns or patterns of behaviour show up within you and those around you from time to time.
How may these patterns that we have all been trained in be perpetuating your own belief that the ship is unsinkable, if indeed any element of this feels true for you in this moment.
Also what questions and inquiries may you feel moved to investigate or ask of your work organisations, your local communities, of one another.
The context
On 19th March 2022 my wife Jackie and I attended the interactive Titanic exhibition in London’s docklands and I must say it was a very moving, clever mix of history, technology and immersion.
What did I learn?
This blog is a mix of sharing what I learned at this exhibition and the application or relevance of that insight to our so-called modern work and life.
Prioritising those with extreme power and privilege
In our modern workplaces and at this time in our civilisational history, it is so crystal clear to see that this above mindset still persists, “The ship is unsinkable,” and to the extreme.
I wrote about the wild profits being made by utility and oil companies currently at a time of extreme hardship for the masses, yet how this colonial mindset showed up on the Titanic was that the shipbuilders decided that “the number of lifeboats was to be reduced to widen the walkways.”
The reason they were widened was to make more space and comfort for the rich and wealthy on the upper decks.
The metaphor for me today in how this this translates is that the space, capacity and accessibility to finance, lobbying, influence, raw materials etc is all so much easier for those who already have lots of finance, lobbying, influence an raw materials already!
Also of note and curiosity to me was that there were “many more deaths in lower classes than in higher classes” i.e. those lower down in the boat.
If we look at our cost of living crisis today, it is not an unfair parallel to draw that those with the least ability to afford their energy costs and food right now are more willing to be sacrificed by those who are amassing fortunes at this time.
Your thoughts?
Lessons from the so-called under-developed world!
Firstly let’s abolish this phrase ‘developed world’ for the parts of the world who actually have far more wisdom, insight and connectedness to the knowledge, insight and ways of living in line with nature that could turn our current trajectory with an existential iceberg around!
A couple of days ago I attended and witnessed a very powerful and moving event 𝐈𝐧𝐭’𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 from The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) where indigenous peoples from all around the world, Africa, India, Canada, West Papua, The Philippines and more shared there struggles for self-determination.
Some example quotes and statements that were shared by these inspiring, humble and determined peoples include:
- “Our solutions are nature based”
- “We are the solution. Listen to us. Work with us. For biodiversity. For peace. Please learn from us and work with us. Our problems are your problems, our solutions are your solutions too”
- “I hope to see more ingenious people, women and youth in local and international decision making”
- “It’s a form of re-slavery, they (indigenous peoples) are taken from their roots and have to find another way survive”
Time and time again, no matter where in the world they were based, they shared similar stories of being forced off their lands, that multi-national corporations and their operations have negative influence on their cultures, that their local materials and ways of life are being destroyed and/or extracted through a mix of exploitation, mining, deforestation and other means.
I remain curious, how much understanding, honestly and deeply, do CEOs and boards of international mining, chemicals, energy, food and pharma companies have of these deep interconnections and oppressive external impacts of their and our business models?
Who really had power and influence with regards The Titanic?
By some coincidence (or not) it is interesting to note that the key people involved in the imagining, design, building and financing of The Titanic were all white men with significant social standing:
- Lord Perry
- Bruce Ismay
- JP Morgan (yes that JP Morgan)
- Thomas Andrews
- Captain Smith
In and of itself that shouldn’t matter, but we are all, or should be, increasingly aware of the negative impact of supremacy culture patterns and the aforementioned culture patterns that we have ALL been trained in since birth including myself and in this case the deeply tragic impacts of group-think (we are the only ones culture pattern), ego-driven (I am the only one culture pattern) decision making and fear (culture pattern).
This is why intentionally designed, just and inclusive ways of doing and being are so critical as we re-imagine new worlds but inclusive at the extreme i.e centering those most harmed by our current, outdated systems.
I have learned so much about this from the Possible Futures crew, do check them out.
What was happening with The Titanic is just another 20th century example of what has been happening to these indigenous peoples for over 500 years now.
Are we ready to get more curious about these interconnected parallels alongside doing our respective world work?
“The ship is unsinkable”
If we shift the image from The Titanic “being unsinkable” to our globalised economy being pushed and promoted as if “GDP and profit growth is unstoppable and therefore unsinkable,” it is fair to say we are starting to see similar risks, inequity and fear starting to kick in as our colonial ways/mindset are starting to flip our world into nose-dive toward the bottom of the sea.
For more on this I invite you to check out Jason Hickel’s book Less is More, it is an incredibly well researched, connected and pragmatic overview of where we are at this time and some ideas how we can change our course way from the iceberg ahead.
When observing pictures and the model of the remains of the Titanic that were located and in part recovered in the 1980s (as below), the wood and regenerative matter from the ship had all ‘gone back to to nature’ whereas the unnatural stuff hadn’t and was left rotting e.g Steel.
Such a powerful reminder as to the importance of moving to TRULY connected and generative ways that center those most harmed today so that we try and avoid a repeat of The Titanic in every area of life going forward.
The Titanic, I feel, is almost the perfect metaphor for where we are RIGHT NOW.
COVID-19 was a massive rupture in our collective sleepwalking through life in the West, but now the water and consciousness is increasingly being let in, the fiddlers on the now sinking ship i.e big finance, politics, big oil, etc are continuing to play their tune without a true willingness to imagine anew.
Belief systems and indeed an acceptance that just a select few with resource and positional power can control and dictate the direction of the majority of humanity and all life more widely are collapsing and at the same time most systems are also collapsing I.e global supply chains, food systems, water systems, political systems, workplace systems, yet the same core groups hold on with clenched fists, but for how long?
“This is something you can only feel.”
This above statement was one that really moved me towards the end of the exhibition as it is so clear to me, so clear, that the widespread inability / suppression of FEELING over past generations is one of the root cause reasons for so much dis-connection at home, in our workplaces and in society at large.
What do you think, do you agree, disagree or something else?
I should know! I was well trained by society, parents and indeed the workplace not to show emotion, to not feel, so much so that I lived with over 20 years of internal mind games and external dysfunction as I know so many of us have. I have spoken on many platforms about this in case helpful to you or those around you.
The narrator shared that they “created the exhibition this way to honour those lives lost” followed by “It is not the story of the boat, it is the story of the people travelling on it.”
“It carried the hopes and dreams of more than 2200 people, the most valuable luggage.”
I loved these images brought to mind yet so rarely, if ever, do we learn in our Western education nor on our news channels about the regular and persistent abuse, oppression and worse of indigenous peoples and those seeking to live their life on their terms as they seek to defend all of life for themselves and for US!
This is my final ask and request from this blog, to get curious beyond your own immediate context.
Home and local is critical but there is an AND I feel and that is to understand how do our organisations and our own choices perpetuate harm thousands of miles away and how can we name and call this out, more often, individually and collectively.
This blog is one way I am practicing to do that more and I hope you receive this with the care, constructive challenge and connected intention that is offered :)
Closing out
In summary, what I took away from this exhibition was the still too often deadly trend of a small group of people with power and resource making decisions about ‘others’ aka human beings and non-human life as expendable and disposable.
In an organisational setting, surely beyond making money, I ask, is your organisation not also housing the hopes and dreams of every employee?
Yet if we can allow ourselves to FEEL, to CONNECT, to LISTEN, to be CURIOUS about the patterns of systems and behaviour that surround us like water, maybe we can change our own world view and the impact on the wider world too in community?
Curious what lands, what you may constructive challenge or any other additions you may wish to make.
PS — if you are looking for a group that is deeply connected as you an find, do check out Cornell Thomas’s Positivity Summit:
or The Human Development Spaces that Jo Hompstead and I co-facilitate, we are ready to welcome you for some emergent exploration, the next open group being on 5th-6th July 2023 with tickets available HERE :)
Shall we connect?
I am an:
- International business development and authentic relationship building human working within and across a Euro 3bn + corporation
- International speaker on topics around human-centered design, vulnerability and change is an inside job
- Support senior leaders and mission driven soloprenuers as a Thinking Partner
- Facilitator of people-centered workshops and organisational design
- The co-creator with Jo Hompstead of Human Development Space in-person gatherings which are an emergent and co-creative space for both in-corporate and open groups
Digital Business Card — https://link.v1ce.co.uk/GarryTurner
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/garryturnerthinkingpartner
Linktree — https://linktr.ee/HexoChangeGarryTurner
