Dear Patrons,
Overseeing Oversight!!!…
David Blair was a British seaman working with in White Star Line (WSL). WSL was one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world in early 20th century. David had opportunity to work on the largest ship in the world at that time, the RMS Titanic.
He was chosen as the ship’s Second Officer during her maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York City. On April 10, 1912, when the ship was ready for departure, the shipping line decided to make a change. They decided to replace David Blair with Henry Wilde, the Chief Officer of Titanic’s sister ship RMS Olympic. Because henry had more experience than David and better skills at running large ships.
Due to this last-minute change, Blair had to pick up his stuff, execute the handover process and leave the ship in a hurry. Being in a rush, David did everything he had to, but forgot to handover a key to one of the cabinets to Officer Wilde. That key was the only key to the locked cabinet that held the binoculars on the ship. By the time David and the rest of the crew realized the mistake, the ship had sailed on the night of April 14, 1912, and Titanic hit a large iceberg. The ship, that was considered ‘unsinkable’, has descended to the bottom of the ocean. Fred Fleet, the seaman who was assigned the duty of lookout on that fateful night, survived, and said in an investigation, that if he had a pair of binoculars with him, he would have been able to spot the iceberg from far. This would have given the Ship’s command bridge more time to steer away and possibly avoid the disaster.
To Investors – Everyone make mistakes… QUITE OFTEN…
Such errors are due to ineptitude: This happens when we have knowledge but fail to apply it correctly. It is quite painful and frustrating. No one can completely mitigate it. However the solution lies in a simple tool called the “Checklist”. It reduces failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention.
At Shalibhadra, we have our own investment checklist on ‘To Do’ and ‘Not to do’ during Mutual Fund investment. It brings discipline and helps reduce mistakes. It also acts as an intellectual net to catch our own biases. This checklist keeps us reminding on ‘What not to do’ during Mutual Funds and which does major work.
Nishit Siddharth Shah