Communicate Clearly

At the turn of the 19th Century, Samuel Cunard was one of the most prolific shipbuilders and cruise line managers of his day. His fleet was vast, his cabins luxurious, and his ships fast. Cunard wanted to build the biggest, fastest ship that the world had ever seen, and so he sat down to build this dream boat.
When in design, it was known simply as “Ship #534” and, after completion, weighed in at over 80,000 tons with top speeds of up to 35mph. It was a record-breaker and a boat to be proud of! It was able to get from Southampton, England, to New York in just days.

Legend had it that before it set sail, Cunard wanted to call the ship “Victoria,” after Queen Victoria, considered by many as one of history’s greatest Queens. It had always been his tradition to give ships names ending in “ia.” However, when a Cunard official was dispatched to Buckingham Palace to inform King George V of the choice, the official wasn't clear in his communication. Queen Victoria was King George’s Grandmother.  He told the king that the company had decided to name the imposing new vessel after the "greatest of all English queens.".

"Oh," the delighted monarch exclaimed, "my wife will be so pleased!" - thinking he meant her! The Cunard official didn't have the courage to correct the king's mistake. So, he instead went back to the Cunard offices, explained the situation and the ship was renamed Queen Mary.

The original intention was to christen the ship Queen Victoria, not Queen Mary!
How clearly do you communicate? The clearer the communication, the better the outcome.