A ship is an unforgiving environment. The ocean doesn’t care about job titles, and if there’s a breach in the hull, water doesn’t pause to ask who’s responsible for maintenance. It pours in, fast and relentless, threatening everyone on board.
The reality of being on a ship creates a shared understanding among every crew member: If you see a problem, you fix it or you escalate it. Period.
Great companies operate in the same way.
There’s no walking past a hole in the hull hoping someone else steps in. You don’t wait around to see if a problem fixes itself. On a ship and in a growing business, there’s no room for bystanders. Everyone is accountable. The success of the mission — and the survival of everyone aboard — depends on shared responsibility.
Great Companies Operate Like Ships
The best companies aren’t held together by rigid job descriptions. They thrive because their people:
- Take ownership: They don’t wait for permission to solve obvious problems or fix what’s clearly broken.
- Think beyond their roles: They understand success is a collective effort.
- Act with urgency: They recognize that small leaks, left unaddressed, don’t stay small for long.
But here’s where so many businesses get it wrong: They’re filled with people waiting for someone else to fix the problem. This ultimately leads to a “not my problem” culture. In my experience, that quickly turns into finger-pointing — and that’s a path to mediocrity, or worse. For instance, a leader sees signs of cultural drift, but they don’t address it because “that’s HR’s job.” The Sales team sees a product issue but doesn’t escalate it because “that’s the Product team’s problem.” This mindset is how performance erodes — not through sudden, dramatic collapse but through a slow accumulation of ignored problems.
And the leaders who allow this mindset to fester? They’re captains ignoring holes in the hull.
Two Critical Responses
On a ship, there’s a simple rule everyone must follow: Fix it if you can, and escalate it if you can’t.
- Fix it if you can: If a deckhand sees a frayed rope, they don’t wait for a superior. They replace it. If a cook notices a fire hazard, they don’t ignore it because “safety isn’t their job.” They handle it. Ownership means taking immediate action when a problem is within your ability to solve.
- Escalate it if you can’t: If that same deckhand sees structural damage to the hull, they don’t need to be an engineer to know it’s serious. They escalate it, sounding the alarm to make sure the right people know before it becomes a disaster.
This simple mindset — succeed or escalate — is what keeps ships in “ship-shape.” And it’s also what keeps great companies thriving.
A Culture of Ownership
The mindset that spans your teams isn’t a product of leadership. It’s a product of your organization’s culture. And I want to be clear that culture isn’t the responsibility of a few — it falls on every one of your team members (that’s why having the right people is so important). To build a truly great company, the succeed or escalate mindset needs to be embraced by everyone across and up and down your organization. People who genuinely care about a company and where it’s headed appreciate that we’re all in this together, mutually dependent upon the seaworthiness of our proverbial ship.
A company that operates like a well-run ship has a culture where:
- No one walks past misalignment, inefficiencies, or cultural drift.
- People either take direct action or escalate issues before the issues escalate themselves.
- There are no passive bystanders.
This doesn’t mean everyone does everything. It means everyone takes ownership of the whole, even if they’re only responsible for a part. It means each team member understands that building a great company isn’t just about excelling in one function — it’s about contributing to shared goals. And it means that when something’s broken or off track, we don’t look the other way just because it falls outside our formal responsibilities. We speak up, we lean in, and we escalate with care, because that’s what great teams do.
The Responsibility of Leaders
So what’s our responsibility as leaders?
It’s not just to set the vision — it’s to set the tone. We should consistently model the succeed or escalate mindset, reinforcing that no one is above fixing problems within their capability, no one is below escalating serious issues, and silence in the face of a problem isn’t an option.
As leaders, we set the standard, we reinforce the mindset, and we eliminate the gray area where bystanders tend to gather.
A ship doesn’t make it across the ocean because of the captain alone. It crosses the ocean because every crew member is all in. They’re bought into the mission and operate with urgency when something is critical.
The same is true for great companies.
Is Your Crew All In?
If your team has developed a “not my problem” mindset — a tendency to walk past issues, brush off problems, or wait for someone else to act — that’s not just a people issue. That’s a cultural issue.
Success isn’t a function of job descriptions. It’s a function of shared responsibility, with people who know how to operate when the waters get rough.
So ask yourself: Is your company moving forward with every crew member aligned and alert to issues? Or are people stepping over problems, hoping someone else will fix them?
If it’s the latter, it’s time to recalibrate. Because the truth is simple: In business, just like at sea, holes in the hull don’t fix themselves.
