Governance Impact Chain™- Preview

Governance Impact Chain VISIONARY LEADERSHIP BRIEFING

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Key words: Governance Impact Chain™> risk> risk prevention> disaster prevention> actors in a chain> communication> law of assumption> law

of prevention> culture> emotional intelligence> emotional capability> ability to foresee> vision

2 GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL white paper: governance impact chain

What is a Governance Impact Chain ? ™

1. Lobbyist: a person who tries to influence government to vote for or against certain laws.

2. Subsidies: a benefit given by the government to groups or individuals. The subsidy is usually given to remove some type of burden and is often considered to be in the interest of the public.

A Governance Impact Chain™ is a model that composes all of the actors, known and unknown, and the events that tie them together to culminate in an outcome.

There can be many actors in a process and it can be difficult to identify them all and many are often not aware of their impact on the chain.

The issue for responsible governance is to be aware of the many, often invisible, actors and events that affect the outcomes that they are working to achieve.

An event can produce the links between actors that might not have been easily foreseen. This is often the case in disasters when the temptation to place blame on a component of the decision-making process is most powerful.

ExampleThe timber market can offer an example of actors in a process. It begins with a surveyor who determines a location for cutting the appropriate trees. A government permit is issued allowing the logging to take place. The logging crew comes to cut down the trees. A transport unit brings the lumber to a plant that cuts the trees down to the appropriate size and shape for market. A company decides to

transport the lumber to their

need and the consumer makes

that affect the final outcome;

purchase this lumber from the

retail outlets. The clerk in the

the purchase. From production

in total, this example listed

producer to sell in their stores.

store assists customers in

to consumption, there are a

ten known actors from start

They arrange for truckers to

finding the material that they

multitude of actors in place

to finish.

Example Given the above example, a disease in a particular type of tree will seriously affect that tree’s timber in the market. This could be manifested in the timber rotting quickly when it is installed in private homes and possibly causing injury to those there. An invisible actor could be a lobbyist1 calling for subsidies2 for the timber industry, which will have an impact on the price of the good when it reaches the market and the policies of politicians in areas that support the timber industry.

3 GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL white paper: governance impact chain Example The Titanic disaster called into question the actors in

the rooms to capacity anticipating4 a smooth journey. The ship’s

place that allowed the ship to sink in such a calamitous fashion,

supplier did not place enough lifeboats on the deck because of

costing more than 1,500 lives.

the certainty that the ship would not sink and the deck was more

attractive unencumbered. The government did not regulate5

A sailor called David Blair forgot to leave behind a key as

the Titanic set off on its maiden voyage. Without it, his shipmates

safety precautions as stringently at the time. The ship was also

were unable to open a locker in the crow’s nest containing a pair

going too fast in an area that was known to have many icebergs

of binoculars for the designated lookout. The binoculars were

and was therefore more dangerous than other routes even after

to look out for dangers in the distance including signs of bad

the Captain had been warned of the icebergs. A nearby ship was

weather - and icebergs. Lookout Fred Fleet, who survived the

unreachable and thought that the boat was celebrating when

disaster, later told an official inquiry that if they had binoculars

it noticed the flares set off. Safety precautions were not fully

they would have seen the iceberg sooner. When asked by a US

enforced and many lifeboats were set into the water under

senator how much sooner it might have been spotted, Mr Fleet

capacity. The emergency response systems were too slow to

replied: “Enough to get out of the way.”

reach survivors in the water not being on alert to the dangers

After the impact with the iceberg, an unforeseen3 event,

the ship was in.

the water level rising above the dividing cells forced people to question the system. The designer did not plan for such an

“It is the key that had the

event, believing it would not happen. The ship’s directors filled

potential to save the Titanic.”

The key would have opened a locker where the crows nest’s binoculars were kept.

RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. On the night of 14 April 1912, during

3. Unforeseen: not felt or realized beforehand; unexpected.

4. Anticipating: having given advance thought to or having dealt with in advance.

5. Regulate: To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.

her maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912. At the time she was the largest passenger steamship in the world. The Titanic used some of the most advanced technology available at the time and was, after the sinking, popularly believed to have been described as “unsinkable”.