On December 2, 2003, the AquaDom was opened in the Radisson Collection Hotel in Berlin, Germany at the cost of 12.8 million euros. Located in the hotel’s lobby, it was an architectural marvel. The AquaDom was an 82-feet acrylic glass aquarium with approximately 1,500 fish representing over 1,000 species. Furthermore, it contained an inside transparent elevator allowing hotel guests to enjoy the over 1,000 species of fish. The AquaDom held the Guinness World Record as the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium.
You may have noticed in the previous paragraph I frequently used terms like “was” and “held.”
The reason is because at 5:45 AM on Friday, December 16th, the aquarium burst spilling 264,172 gallons of water and its marine life across the building’s lobby and into the streets outside. Few if any fish are expected to survive. All 350 of hotel guests had to be evacuated. More than 100 firefighters were dispatched to the hotel and seismographs picked up the catastrophe. The reason for the aquarium’s collapse is being investigated. A video of the aftermath is shown above.
Whether it is the Titanic, the Roman Empire, Enron, or the AquaDom, when something which seems indestructible collapses it should be a reminder for leaders to revisit Jim Collins’s classic book How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. Collins’s research revealed the following five-step process of decline:
- Step 1 – Hubris Born of Success
- Step 2 – Undisciplined Pursuit of More
- Step 3 – Denial of Risk and Peril
- Step 4 – Grasping for Salvation
- Step 5 – Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
Analyzing this incident from a leadership perspective would lead you to talk about things like how a crisis can happen at a moment’s notice or how a person can be suddenly overwhelmed with problems in their life and leadership. While those may be true, I think it is a simplistic analysis of what we can learn from the AquaDom.
I think the bigger lesson is while you may be personally or corporately setting records, feeling bulletproof, and think you are insulated from failure, this feeling of control you have is a mirage.
The AquaDom is a reminder for leaders to stay humble, remain diligent, keep working hard, and remember the behaviors and practices that got you where you are. No matter what level of success you may be experiencing, stay true to your core values.
Because if you don’t, when you least expect it, at 5:45 AM while you are asleep, your leadership or organization could unexpectedly collapse just like the AquaDom.
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