On Friday evening, January 13th at approximately 10:00 PM CET, Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia strikes a rock of the coast of Isola di Giglio and begins to sink. As the horrific events similar to those in the movie of Titanic begin to unfold, the ship’s captain Francesco Schettino abandons ship leaving thousands on board, many who will die tragically.
This results in justifiably global shock and outrage for the following reasons:
- Schettino’s cowardice.
- Schettino’s selfishness.
- Schettino’s lack of ownership.
- Schettino’s failure to do his job.
- Schettino’s initial incompetence that caused the accident in the first place.
- Schettino’s rejection of the basic core value of a ship captain. You always go down with the ship.
It was interesting where my mind went on Saturday as I watched the footage. I thought back to December, 2010 when a husband I know left his wife and three children to live with another woman.
I was told how the children were begging him not to leave and he did anyway. I remember my reactions at the time:
- His cowardice not to see out a difficult situation and find solutions.
- His selfishness that as long as he was happy and needs met, no one else’s feelings mattered.
- His lack of ownership. He was a husband and father. He had a family he was responsible for.
- His failure to do his job. He was to protect, provide, care for, and love them.
- His incompetence for getting involved with another woman while married.
- His rejection of his core values. You should be willing to die for your family. You always go down with the ship.
I don’t know why my mind went there but it is an interesting comparison of two men who abandoned ship leaving others to fend for themselves.
Schettino will likely spend the majority of his life in prison for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Since walking out on his family, the husband mentioned above has been in prison as well. His prison just does not have bars.
As leaders, how did Schettino’s actions make you think and feel?
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