One of the recurring themes in catastrophic risk failures is HUBRIS. The story of OceanGate and the Titan submarine is a timely reminder of this risk. Let’s look at the definition and some red flags!
Hubris is excessive pride, arrogance, or self-confidence, often leading to defiance of moral or natural limits, resulting in downfall or punishment. In ancient Greek literature, it described overstepping boundaries, especially challenging the gods, leading to nemesis (retribution). In modern contexts, it refers to overconfidence or arrogance that blinds someone to risks or consequences, often in leadership or decision-making.
Example: A CEO who ignores market trends, believing their company is invincible, exhibits hubris, potentially leading to business failure. Check out these links to the many documentaries on this submarine disaster.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81712178
The Red Flags of Hubris
Distilling many examples of risk failure over the years (and we’ll revisit in other posts) here are some key themes that link to hubris
- Taking pride in being an industry disruptor or a renegade.
- Complaining that regulation wasn’t designed to keep up with your level of innovation
- Circumventing regulations or finding regulatory loopholes
- Ignoring key warning signs and those who raise concerns
- Ego over-rides safety
Titan Sub
Here’s quick summary of these lessons applied to the Titan Submersible
Disruptor and Renegade: OceanGate and CEO Stockton believed that they were disrupting the industry with their carbon fiber submarine. Whereas ‘Titanic Depth’ submerisibles are typically made of titanium and spherical in shape, due to the immense pressures, OceanGate’s design was radically different.
Their design was for a carbon fiber tube in between the 2 halves of the titanium sphere. This allowed for more passengers to ride in the submarine and to reduce weight and cost. This was not only an example of ‘never been done’ – but in hindsight ‘never should have been done’.
Regulation lacks innovation: In parts of the video Stockton clearly sees himself as an innovator for submersible tourism – but he is critical of the standards that these regulations enforce – seeing them as lacking his pace of innovation.
Circumventing Regulations: Even though passengers paid $250k for the privilege of the adventure, they were nominally given jobs to turn their status into ‘mission specialists’ – effectively crew members. This lead to confusion in the status of these individuals (are they passengers or crew) and hence which type of regulation applies.
The Titan Sub was not registered or flagged in any country, including the US. It was registered as an Uninspected Passenger Vehicle (UPV) – thereby removing it from regulatory scope and external inspections.
Ignoring Warning Signs: The TV documentaries provide examples of both failure to heed warning signs and marginalizing those who raise concerns.
A great example of this are the recordings from the microphones that were set up to monitor the sounds of the carbon fiber cracking under load (check the Netflix Documentary). Ironically, Stockton confidently describes this as their key safety mechanism, the ability to record the sounds of cracking to determine if they need to resurface.
In reality he was deluded in the efficacy of that control since the dive down to Titanic level took at least 90 minutes. Hearing cracking sounds at those depths gave no safe option to abort the mission.
Also in the documentary are key examples of engineers who did not sign off on key tests, or individuals who were marginalized for raising concerns.
CEO Stockton says of David Lochridge (former director of marine operations) that Lochridge ‘didn’t have the explorer mindset’.
Ego Over-rides Safety: Being seen as the pioneering company to offer Titanic Tourism clearly fueled the ego of Stockton. The final dive, #89 on June 18th 2023, resulted in catastrophic failure and the death of all 5 people on board.
Warning signs were clear almost one year earlier when on July 15th 2022 dive #80 recorded a ‘loud acoustic event’. The coast guard investigation later concluded this was the carbon fiber failing.
What did OceanGate do between July 2022 and June 2023? It stored the submarine outdoors, in winter, in Newfoundland Canada against the advice of experts. This was a low cost option deliberately chosen to reduce cost.
Conclusion
Hubris is one of the oldest risks in the book. Its so old, it has an origin in Greek mythology. Here’s one pertinent example,
Icarus, exhilarated by the ability to fly, ignored his father’s advice. Driven by overconfidence and a desire to soar higher, he flew too close to the sun. The sun melted the wax in his wings, causing Icarus to plummet into the sea (now called the Icarian Sea), where he drowned. His hubris—excessive pride and disregard for limits—led directly to his death.
Risk Management is a passion of mine, there is always something to learn from risk failures – even those in completely different industries.
A key lesson learned here is to prioritize a CULTURE OF SAFETY (or Culture of Risk) and encourage people to raise concerns. Unfortunately, this documentary shows that creating a culture of safety is especially difficult in small organizations (OceanGate had fewer than 100 employees) where the CEO/ owner has ultimate authority.
What do you take away from the Titan Sub disaster?
Watch out for more posts from me on this topic, including how to mitigate the risks of hubris. Subscribe or follow me for more or share your thoughts on this article.
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