4 Surfing Lessons for Leading Innovation and Growth 🏄

Some of the best lessons come from the most unexpected places.

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 20, is International Surfing Day – a global celebration of surfing and the coastlines we love, now in its 21st year. I'll come back to the day, and the charity behind it, at the end. But in the spirit of cultivating an outside mindset – of learning from outside our sector – I want to reshare one of our reader favorites: four lessons from the world of surfing that apply directly to leading innovation and growth in our organizations.

Here’s the thing that’s interesting to me about innovation and growth: most of us think we understand it, right up until we get in the water.

What's in a Name?

People sometimes ask why I call this "The Wave Report." Am I a wannabe surfer? Well… yes, aspiring, that is. But that's not the reason.

I grew up in Southern California, and if you grow up a young man in So Cal, surfing is a rite of passage. I tried many times – and spent most of my time falling off the board or getting pounded by the waves.

Getting pounded by the waves, in surfing as in leadership, can be overwhelming. Unending… wave after wave… can't breathe… which way is up… oh no, not another one. 🌊

That is, until I took a surfing lesson and learned I'd been doing it all wrong. 🤦‍♂️

You see, I thought surfing was pretty straightforward. You get in the water, you see a wave coming, you paddle hard, you stand up, you ride. How hard could that be?

Turns out, surfing only looks simple. There's a whole art and science beneath the surface — nuance you don't see from the pier. The same is true of innovation. And growth.

Then I learned four principles for catching waves – and the same four principles apply to leading innovation and growth in your organization.

Principle #1 — Pick Your Waves

Stand on a pier and watch surfers for a while. It's easy to miss, but notice this: they don't try to catch every wave. At first glance, I thought the surfers were being lazy. But over time, I realized that they were watching the waves and the conditions, and deciding which ones were worth catching.

They study each one and ask, " Is this a wave worth catching?

Most waves aren't. The best surfers know it, and they wait for the right one.

It's the same with innovation and growth. Leading innovation isn't about chasing every new tactic, tool, or trend that rolls through. It's about seeing what's coming, discerning whether this one is right for your organization, and only then committing to paddle.

In a sector where there's always a new shiny thing – a new platform, a new channel, a new "best practice" – the discipline to not chase every wave is its own competitive advantage.

💡 Takeaway: Leading innovation isn't about catching every wave. It's about catching the right waves. See them, seek to understand them, then pick the ones worth your energy.

Principle #2 — Paddle at the Right Time

I'd sit on my board, waiting. I'd see a wave coming and think, oh man, this is a good one – and start paddling hard. Paddle, paddle, paddle, trying to match the wave's speed.

Inevitably, I'd tire out – often just before the wave reached me. I'd miss it, worn out and discouraged. 

I didn't understand that you can miss a wave by paddling too early just as easily as by paddling too late.

The same is true of growth. You can pour all your energy into a good idea, but at the wrong moment. You exhaust your team, your budget, and your goodwill in anticipation, and have nothing left when the wave actually arrives. Timing is crucial to innovation – it's the difference between catching the wave and watching it roll past.

💡 Takeaway: Leading innovation is about knowing when to paddle. Read the trends, discern which waves are worth catching, and time your effort so you have the energy to catch the ones that count.

Principle #3 — Go With the Wave

Even once I had the timing down, I still struggled. Then an instructor got in the water with me and pointed out something I'd never noticed: each wave crashes in a slightly different direction.

I'd always assumed every wave broke straight toward shore. But the topography beneath the surface – especially in California – meant each one broke a little differently. Once I learned to point my board in the direction the wave was actually going, everything changed.

When I learned to paddle at the speed of the wave, at the right time, and in the right direction, I started catching them.

Leading innovation works the same way. It's not enough to spot the right trend at the right moment – you have to understand which way it's actually breaking for your organization. The same wave breaks differently depending on your mission, your donors, and your capacity. Go with the wave, not against it.

💡 Takeaway: Leading innovation means understanding which direction the wave is breaking – and aligning with it. My goal with The Wave Report is to point out the coming waves and help you read which way they're crashing.

Principle #4 — Read The Wave Report

Success in surfing starts before the board ever hits the water. The most experienced surfers read the wave report for the day.

You can master every technique, but sometimes conditions just… aren't right. Savvy surfers read the report to know when and where to paddle out.

Leaders do the same. The ones who consistently catch the right waves are the ones paying attention to the conditions – tapping sources outside their own desk, their own org, their own sector. That's the whole idea of an outside mindset: the more you can see what's coming and where it's going, the better equipped you are to choose the right waves and ride them.

Which, of course, is why I write this report.

💡 Takeaway: Just as experienced surfers read the conditions before paddling out, the best leaders read the trends – through sources like The Wave Report – before committing their organizations to the next big effort.

Innovation and growth go far better when you read the conditions first.

International Surfing Day and Sustainable Giving

So, back to International Surfing Day.

It's worth knowing where the day came from. International Surfing Day was started in 2005 by the Surfrider Foundation and partners – a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the world's oceans, waves, and beaches. Twenty-one years later, it's grown into a global celebration with events all over the world.

Here's what I find fitting: the Surfrider Foundation is itself powered by sustainable giving. Members and recurring donors are integral to funding their mission – the day-in, day-out, often-unglamorous work of protecting coastlines doesn't happen on the strength of one-time gifts alone. It happens because people commit to giving again and again.

That's the through-line, isn't it? The thing that lets a mission endure – whether it's protecting the ocean or whatever cause you serve – is a base of people who give sustainably, on an ongoing basis. The waves keep coming. So does the work. Sustainable giving is what keeps you in the water.

So this International Surfing Day, celebrate the waves. And then go build the kind of funding that lets your mission ride them for years to come.

💡 Takeaway: The causes that endure are funded by people who give sustainably – again and again. That's true for the Surfrider Foundation, and it's true for your mission.

Surf's Up! 🌊

Dave