Episode 65: Houston, We Hope There Are No More Problems

In this episode, we launch into one of the greatest near-disasters in space history—Apollo 13—and what it teaches us about high-stakes leadership, trust under pressure, and why mission clarity changes everything.

Professor G is joined by Brian Leahy and Kevinnovation for a deep dive into how Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell, and the NASA crew led with calm, conviction, and emotional intelligence in the face of chaos. From shutting down the fuel cell to refusing the media circus on her lawn, even Marilyn Lovell had a leadership moment.

And yes, we talk about the guy from Grumman who just wanted to keep his job.

Released in 1995, the film features Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton.

Quotable Moments From The Podcast

• "I think the irony is that I screwed this up, and we're fifteen minutes later than we're supposed to be because of technical difficulties, which is one of the themes we're gonna talk about in this."

• "It's a very top-down agenda in some parts, but Gene Krantz, as Ed Harris plays it, gets to those points by being so open and so willing to let his guys argue it out in the room."

• "You know, it's also great leadership further down the chain. John's doing what he's paid to do. No one's telling him, hey, go do this necessarily. He's like, hey, this is my swim lane, and I gotta’ know everything I can about the realities of what this situation means."

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