ARTICLE 01 / RIDE THE WAVE
You Cannot Control the Waves. You Can Decide How You Meet Them.
I was five years old when my dad started teaching me about waves. We would go boogie boarding, and I learned quickly that I could not tell the ocean what to do. I could watch, prepare, paddle, and decide how to meet what was coming. Some waves carried me beautifully. Others knocked me sideways.
That lesson has stayed with me, especially in rooms where boards and leadership teams are trying to navigate change. A new strategic plan, a shift in funding, a leadership transition, or an unexpected challenge can feel like a wave that arrived before anyone was ready.
We often respond by trying to control more: another meeting, another approval, another layer of reporting. Sometimes those things help. But control is not the same as readiness. An organization can have a full calendar and still lack a shared understanding of what matters most.
What makes the difference is the work we do before the wave arrives. Do board members understand where governance ends and management begins? Do leaders know who owns the decision? Are priorities clear enough that people can act when the circumstances change?
When those foundations are in place, the organization can respond rather than simply react. People can adapt without abandoning their purpose. They can make a decision, learn from it, and keep moving.
Ride the Wave is a place for practical conversations about that kind of leadership: governance that works, strategies that turn into action, people systems that support the mission, and the courage to address what is getting in the way.
The waves will keep coming. Our work is to build organizations that know how to meet them.
REFLECTION Where is your organization trying to control a wave when it could be building the capacity to navigate it?
I was five years old when my dad started teaching me about waves. We would go boogie boarding, and I learned quickly that I could not tell the ocean what to do. I could watch, prepare, paddle, and decide how to meet what was coming. Some waves carried me beautifully. Others knocked me sideways.
That lesson has stayed with me, especially in rooms where boards and leadership teams are trying to navigate change. A new strategic plan, a shift in funding, a leadership transition, or an unexpected challenge can feel like a wave that arrived before anyone was ready.
We often respond by trying to control more: another meeting, another approval, another layer of reporting. Sometimes those things help. But control is not the same as readiness. An organization can have a full calendar and still lack a shared understanding of what matters most.
What makes the difference is the work we do before the wave arrives. Do board members understand where governance ends and management begins? Do leaders know who owns the decision? Are priorities clear enough that people can act when the circumstances change?
When those foundations are in place, the organization can respond rather than simply react. People can adapt without abandoning their purpose. They can make a decision, learn from it, and keep moving.
Ride the Wave is a place for practical conversations about that kind of leadership: governance that works, strategies that turn into action, people systems that support the mission, and the courage to address what is getting in the way.
The waves will keep coming. Our work is to build organizations that know how to meet them.
REFLECTION Where is your organization trying to control a wave when it could be building the capacity to navigate it?