The Tiny Secret to Effortlessly Turn a 65,000-ton Ship Cruising at Top Speed

The Trim Tab Effect: Leadership Lessons from the Queen Elizabeth II Ocean Liner

Launched in 1967, the Queen Elizabeth II is one of the largest ocean liners ever built. Over 960 feet long, the ship has nine diesel engines to propel its colossal bulk of more than 65,000 tons across the open sea.

With this kind of heft, steering the ship is a herculean task, which is shouldered by a rudder made of 80 tons of steel. But imagine the force required to move a 80-ton rudder to turn a 65,000-ton ship cruising at a speed of 30 plus knots in water. The force required would be astronomical, and the ship’s helmsman would not be able to do this without the help of a small device on the rudder called a trim tab.

Trim tabs are smaller mechanisms attached to larger control surfaces like a rudder, effectively acting as the rudder’s rudder. The helmsman now only needs to move the smaller trim tab, which leads the larger rudder to automatically follow.

In a 1972 interview, American architect, inventor and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller explains:

“Think of the Queen Elizabeth again: The whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing on the edge of the rudder called a trim tab. It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving that little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the [larger] rudder around. It takes almost no effort at all.”

Fuller used the trim tab metaphor to apply to larger issues like societal problems, or even how to move big institutions and organizations in new directions. Fuller continues:

“The truth is that you get the low pressure to do things, rather than getting on the other side and trying to push the bow of the ship around. And you build that low pressure by getting rid of a little nonsense, getting rid of things that don’t work and aren’t true until you start to get that trim-tab motion. It works every time. That’s the grand strategy you’re going for. So I’m positive that what you do with yourself, just the little things you do yourself, these are the things that count. To be a real trim tab, you’ve got to start with yourself, and soon you’ll feel that low pressure, and suddenly things begin to work in a beautiful way.”

Fuller, who died in 1983, was such a believer in the trim tab metaphor that his gravestone has the words, “CALL ME TRIMTAB” emblazoned upon it.

Insight and Application
Small actions can have a big impact: Just as a small trim tab can steer a massive ship, seemingly minor decisions or actions by leaders can create significant changes in organizations or society as a whole. The trim tab metaphor highlights the importance of understanding how to use influence rather than brute force. Leaders should focus on creating the right conditions or environment for change, rather than trying to push or force change directly.

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