Waveriders

"Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life."

                                                     - Matt Warshaw, Maverick's: The Story of Big-Wave Surfing

Just this past Wednesday I came across a link on Facebook, posted by a friend of mine, of Cory Booker (the spectacular Mayor of New Jersey) and a speech  he did at the American Constitution Society here in DC. As usual, it was nothing short of passionate and powerful. Towards the end of it he spoke about a few books given to him by friends before his trip to the capital. One of them was The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. As soon as he mentioned it, my friend Ishita, immediately came to mind.

Ishita (who I met at Behance's 99% percent conference last year), is Head of Hoopla for Seth Godin (yup...that's her real title) and she publishes an online magazine called Fear.less, which captures the stories of how individuals get into the boxing ring with their fears. So with the Cory Booker video, hot off the press, I emailed her the link and a short message about how his story could be great for her magazine.

She emailed me back immediately (gotta love folks who get right back to you) saying thank you (exact quote - "I'll put him down on our list - brilliant idea homie!" - Ishita is aaawesome. . .). She then asked me if I was interested in volunteering as one of the core group members to help with the DC leg of Seth Godin's Road Trip in July. I said..."coool. . .would love to!" She also gave me the option of asking one other colleague.

With that option on the table, I decided to ask one of my mentor's and good friends, Michelle James - CEO of the Center for Creative Emergence, and see if she was interested. She said yes, but wanted to know more.

As is often the case with Michelle and I, we got heavy into a conversation about business, creativity and leadership. Of course, since it was Seth that was the impetus for our chat, his named was batted around in our discussion. 

Interestingly enough, in our conversation, Michelle used the word waveriding which I've used before when having similar discussions with other friends and colleagues. I actually remember using it for the first time in a blog post I did about a year ago, Ten absolutely, necessary brand considerations. The word centers mainly around the idea of being able to see what others don't (identifying the white space) , getting into position to successfully leverage that, then riding the wave of new opportunity (which can happen in so many different ways). 

As I mentioned in the post, it's one thing to recognize trends, but it's another to know how to utilize them for your brand. I likened it to being out in the ocean with a surfboard and seeing the wave coming, and then trying to figure out how to ride it. Now whether it's a wave of trends in the marketplace or a wave off the Gold Coast in Australia, to do it successfully requires two things: a tenacious comittment and unrelenting practice. 

In either case true waveriders are passionate, dedicated, and fervent zealots about their work and play. So I salute the Ishita Guptas, the Dane Reynolds' and the Michelle James' of the world (oh...yeah, and the Seth Godins as well too...).

Whether you're bobbing in the waters of the North Shore, or building a brand that will change the world. . .there's nothing better than being in your element and striving to be a waverider. . .