Pressure

The inspiring true story of how James Cameron bucked convention to lead a disparate team of free-thinking rebels on a record-breaking expedition to the Challenger Deep.

On March 26, 2012, James Cameron made history when he dove his custom-built submersible to the deepest place on earth, the Challenger Deep. Cameron’s research expedition to explore deep-ocean environments garnered intense international interest, but the inspiring story of how he bucked convention to pull it off has never been told. Until now.

Conceived by Cameron’s fertile imagination, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible started life as a series of sketches for a vertical underwater vehicle that could shoot the Mariana Trench like a rocket. Determined to turn what many saw as a crazy idea into reality, Cameron began to assemble a disparate team of free-thinking rebels—including engineers, movie-prop builders, and high-school dropouts—whose unconventional ideas would not be constrained by academic orthodoxy. Under a veil of absolute secrecy, Cameron led the carefully selected group as they began the difficult process of testing and building the unique vehicle from scratch, applying bleeding-edge ideas to its design and construction. No one involved had ever built a submersible before.

Encountering a number of unforeseen challenges, Cameron was forced to accelerate his timeline, leading his team of rogue thinkers toward an uncertain outcome. Facing tremendous pressure, great personal risk, and unimaginable tragedy, Cameron ultimately triumphed using a principle he calls “group genius”—a belief that no one person on the project had all the skills required to ensure success but that together they were unstoppable.

Told through candid emails accompanied by Cameron’s brutally honest commentary, Pressure is a deeply inspiring lesson in radical innovation, orchestral leadership, and group genius.