What scuba diving taught me about leading through chaos

I never thought I’d say this, but a year ago, I found myself 18 metres underwater, floating through the wreck of a German warship off the coast of Malta.

It was only my eighth dive. Just a couple years ago, I couldn’t swim, and the ocean terrified me.

The fear wasn’t just about drowning. It was about the unknown. And yet here I was, squeezing through the rusted corridors of a sunken warship and somehow feeling safe.

I’ve spent more than a decade in tech communications, working across global startups, venture funds, and tech companies. I’ve led launches, handled crisis comms, built founder narratives, and navigated impossible deadlines with fragmented teams and zero margin for error. Today, I lead PR at Humanoid, a London-based robotics company creating some of the world’s leading, commercially scalable, and safe humanoid robots.

The pace is fast, the stakes are high, and even with experience, things don’t always go as planned. Which is probably why diving, with its built-in discipline and unpredictability, felt oddly familiar. What started as a personal challenge quickly became something else – a reminder that the same rules apply underwater and in PR.

Here are the ones that stuck with me.

1. Stay calm, or things go sideways fast

Underwater, panic can be deadly. You breathe too fast. You lose focus. You forget what to do next. It can get dangerous very quickly. The rule is simple: stay calm, or things can go very wrong.

In PR, the stakes are not life or death, but the pace and pressure can feel close. Whether it’s a crisis headline, a breaking news leak, or an executive who’s about to go off-script, the first instinct might be to act fast. But clarity always beats speed. A rushed email, an emotional post on X, or a reactive quote can spiral quickly. Panic leads to sloppy responses and missed signals. Worse, it can turn a small issue into a big one. The calmest person in the room usually has the best chance of protecting the brand.

Example: when a tech product breaks right before launch and media embargoes are already in place, the pressure to react instantly can be overwhelming. Instead of rushing a fix or pulling the story, gathering the leadership team to align on one clear update. Even a placeholder like “We’re investigating and will share more at 2pm” buys time and shows control. Clarity beats speed.

2. Focus is everything

Diving forces full presence. You’re tracking your depth, air supply, your gear, your surroundings, and your buddy. You don’t get to think about your to-do list or that email you forgot to send.

PR works the same way in high-pressure moments. When noise comes from all directions, including clients, leadership, press, and social media, the job isn’t just to stay focused individually. It’s to keep the whole team aligned on what matters: what needs to be said, who needs to hear it, and when. If even one part of the team veers off-message, the entire response can drift.

Example: mid-crisis, a product glitch affects thousands of users. The CEO wants to apologise, legal wants to say as little as possible, and support is drowning in tickets. Everyone’s talking at once. Without a clear message anchor – for example, “our priority is restoring service and owning the issue” – updates get messy, social posts contradict each other, and trust erodes fast. Cutting through the noise with one aligned story is what keeps a response coherent.

3. Never dive without a buddy check

Before each dive, you and your partner check each other’s gear. It doesn’t matter how many dives you’ve done. It is non-negotiable. One oversight can cost you.

In PR, alignment before action is just as critical. Before a major announcement or a reactive statement, make sure the team is aligned on messaging, approvals, legal, and executive sign-off. If one person thinks you’re in draft mode while another is ready to publish, you risk going live with something unready or even damaging. It’s not just about trust. It is about responsibility.

Example: right before sending a press release on a merger, someone spots a decimal error in the deal value. The release had already cleared execs, legal, and partners, but a last-minute buddy check saved the company from announcing a billion-dollar mistake. No matter how senior the team, always do a final pass in pairs.

4. Stop. Breathe. Think. Act.

This is the first thing divers are taught. If something goes wrong, you don’t react. You pause, inhale, and think. Even at the end of a smooth dive, there’s a mandatory safety stop. You hang suspended a few meters below the surface, letting your body adjust before surfacing. Then you move.

That exact pattern maps to every tough situation I’ve faced in PR. Whether it’s a high-stakes interview, a tense panel appearance, or a client call that goes sideways, the worst thing you can do is react without thinking. Teams need space to think clearly under pressure. This mental checklist has saved me more than once.

Example: a founder goes off-script during a live interview, sharing details that hadn’t been cleared. Instead of immediately correcting them on-air or rushing a public statement, the comms lead gives it a beat. They regroup backstage, agree on what needs clarification, and follow up with the host and audience later with a calm, factual note. The moment passes without escalation, and the founder walks away supported, not silenced.

5. Expect the unexpected

Ocean currents change. Visibility drops. Equipment fails. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan. Same with reputation. You can do everything right and still get hit by a headline you didn’t see coming. But the more you train for unpredictability, the less it rattles you.

PR is no different. You can prepare Q&As, run media training, pre-clear statements, and still end up dealing with a quote taken out of context or a post that blows up unexpectedly. The goal isn’t to control every variable. It’s to build the muscle of resilience and quick thinking so that when things change, you’re already moving.

Example: you plan a global product launch. The embargo is set, press kits are prepped, and interviews are booked. Then one outlet leaks the news 12 hours early. Because you had a dark launch plan (a fallback strategy for early leaks), the team activates a pre-cleared blog post and social assets within 30 minutes and avoids the panic scramble.

6. Surface slowly

In diving, you can’t shoot up to the surface, no matter how badly you want to. You ascend in stages to let your body adjust and avoid decompression sickness.

In communications, too much speed can backfire. Yes, timing matters, but thoughtful timing matters more than knee-jerk reactions. Sometimes, especially in a crisis, the best thing you can do is give the team space to align properly, or delay a reactive comment until there’s a clear strategy. Speed without structure can cause just as much damage as silence.

Example: after a major outage, a company publishes a simple update on its status page: “We’re investigating.” An hour later comes a technical overview, and only after systems are restored does the CEO post a full message. That pacing builds credibility. Rushing to explain everything up front, without details, often backfires.

7. Control what you can, accept what you can’t

Diving trains you to separate what’s in your control – your breath, your gear, your response – from what isn’t. You can’t control the current. You can’t control the fish. But you can be prepared.

In PR, that lesson is grounding. You collaborate with the media. You don’t control how your audience will interpret a message. What you can control is your preparation, your tone, and your response. Letting go of everything else helps conserve energy and avoid overreaching when things feel unstable.

Example: a founder’s comment is taken out of context during a live panel. The headline that follows is off, but not malicious. You can’t ask the reporter to rewrite the story, but you can share the full quote, follow up with context, and offer a conversation if needed. Not everything is fixable, but how you show up after matters just as much as what was said.

8. You don’t have to love the pressure, but you do have to respect it

Every time I dive, I feel a bit of fear. That’s healthy. Fear keeps you alert. It makes you double-check your gear.

Practice on calm days. Run quick drills, rotate spokespersons, and use a simple pre brief ritual, two breaths, check the first line, read it aloud. Familiarity makes pressure easier to carry.

Example: during a funding crunch, the comms team has to decide whether to pitch proactively or keep a low profile. Instead of going quiet or spinning, they gather input from legal, investors, and HR, draft multiple scenarios, and agree on what’s off limits. The prep doesn’t remove the pressure, but it makes it manageable.

9. Say more with less

Divers can’t speak underwater, so every message is delivered with a gesture: one clear signal at a time. It has to be simple, visible, and understood instantly.

Use a nine word headline and a one screen statement. Prefer verbs and numbers over adjectives. When a single visual can do the job, let it. If a message cannot be read and repeated in ten seconds, it needs trimming.

Example: ahead of a major conference, the comms team builds a one-line positioning statement for spokespeople, signage, and press materials. It becomes a consistent thread across interviews, panel intros, and media write-ups.

10. Don’t wait until you’re out of air to make a plan

Most dive instructors teach the rule of thirds: use the first third of your oxygen to go out, the second to return, and the final third as a safety buffer.

PR is no different. The launch, the keynote, and the big reveal are only one part of the cycle. The real traction often happens after the headline, in the follow-up: interviews, investor calls, long-tail coverage. Planning for that second and third phase means your story travels further and your team doesn’t burn out halfway through.

Example: you plan a product launch with strong interest, but forget to assign someone to handle follow-up questions from the regional press. By the time coverage starts rolling in, the inbox is swamped, and no one’s on it. Now it’s firefighting. Having a plan for launch day and the 72 hours after would’ve changed the game.

It’s hard to look cool in fins, and that’s a good thing

Diving is humbling. You’re wearing a neoprene suit, spitting into your mask to keep it from fogging, waddling backward in heavy gear. There’s no such thing as a glamorous exit from a boat in fins.

But the moment your head goes under, the world shifts. Coral, shipwrecks, schools of colourful fish hurrying past you – it’s magical. Like stepping into a Disney movie, only it’s real. And you get to be there..

PR is similar once you learn to enjoy the chaos. Because when it clicks – when the story lands, or the audience lights up – the rest fades. You remember why you signed up for it in the first place.

This isn’t a story about crisis management. It’s about perspective. About staying grounded in unpredictable environments, learning to work with tension, and knowing when to let the moment speak for itself.

P.S. Dive nine is already on the calendar.