About Skip Bowman — Organisational Psychologist, Author & Founder of Safe2Great

Over thirty years ago, I was a diving instructor on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. My colleague Brian and I were responsible for a multinational group of ten divers aboard the yacht Sonja at Black Reef, about forty nautical miles from the Queensland coast. Craig, an American in his late twenties, was the most experienced diver on the charter.

For thirty minutes we drifted along the coral face, listening to the sounds of molluscs on the reef and the distant song of humpback whales. We were in about a hundred metres of water, twenty-five metres below the surface, moving in a strong ebbing tide. Everything seemed to be going well.

As we headed back up, we paused for a compression stop at about eight metres. I turned to check on Craig. Gave him the OK hand sign. He didn't return it. Instead, he pointed. I turned my head and found myself face-to-face with a three-metre tiger shark.

The shark swam past. For a split second I forgot about Craig. When I turned, he was gone — panicked, racing for the surface. I ascended steadily, keeping the shark in view. When I reached Craig he had his mask off, gasping for air. The water was choppy, the sun glaring. Brian was five hundred metres away in the tinny, looking the other direction.

Craig was drifting fast. I needed him calm enough to swim across a powerful current to reach the reef — otherwise we'd end up in open water. I couldn't drag him. I had to connect with him. Despite the waves, despite the fear, I managed to establish eye contact. Made him feel safe enough to put his mask back on. Follow my instructions. Focus on our common purpose: getting to the reef without further incident.