Beyond the Case
A podcast where global leaders from the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management (OPM) community join in a personal capacity and share the real decisions, failures, and mental models behind building enduring companies.
This podcast is independent and not affiliated with Harvard Business School.
Beyond the Case
Jeff Cronkshaw on Scuba Diving and Leading When Panic Isn’t an Option
Jeff Cronkshaw doesn’t talk about leadership in theory — he talks about it 40 meters underwater, in zero visibility, when failure isn’t abstract and panic kills.
Across this conversation, Jeff draws a powerful parallel between scuba diving and entrepreneurship: both place you in inherently risky environments where control is an illusion, preparation is everything, and calm is a leadership obligation. You don’t discover your limits by staying safe. You only find the boundary by approaching it - sometimes stepping just beyond it.
Jeff explains why his defining leadership move, whether in business crises or the Mount Everest simulation at OPM, is deceptively simple: slow it down. When chaos accelerates, leaders must do the opposite - reduce tempo, create space, and transmit calm. People don’t follow instructions under pressure; they follow nervous systems.
From building Lancia Consult to 110+ across continents, to failed expansions, Jeff shares the hard-earned truth that progress isn't linear. Two steps back often create five steps forward — if you don’t panic. Careers aren’t races, businesses can’t eliminate risk, and leadership is about knowing when to push limits and when to breathe.
Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:
- You don’t find limits by playing safe. Boundaries only reveal themselves when you approach them.
- Slow it down. When everything speeds up, leadership means deliberately reducing tempo.
- Create space or lose judgment. Time and distance are tools — use them before deciding.
- Calm is a leadership signal. Under pressure, teams mirror the leader’s emotional state, not their words.
- Risk can’t be eliminated — only prepared for. Training, repetition, and readiness matter more than optimism.
- Panic is more dangerous than the problem. In diving and in business, panic is what actually kills outcomes.
- Progress is not linear. Two steps back often enable five forward — if you stay composed.
- It’s not a race. Careers and companies compound over decades, not sprints.
- Failure teaches boundaries. Expansion missteps clarified where adjacencies truly existed.
- Reality is cash-flow honest. It’s not a business until the invoice is sent — and paid.
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