OK, now you have my attention. What
is “surfing history”?
This is first and foremost a metaphor.
Think of the pictures you have
seen of surfers riding the waves. They
seem to have a special sense of when
is the exact right moment to jump on
their board and start the ride; too soon
and they can be washed under, and too
late they flub. They find balance points
between giant waves and ride them
through narrow openings between the
turbulence of the peaks and valleys. It
takes a lot of practice and research on
waves to develop the sense of how to
do it. And surfers are always thinking
about the waves and looking for new
ways to ride them. They learn how the
shape of the shoreline and the rocks
hidden in the deep affect the movements
of the waves and adjust their approach
to match. It is a beauty to watch.
In innovation, the waves represent
movements of possibilities. Some
possibilities develop a momentum
and a form as they gather believers
and followers. There are many waves
of possibilities moving toward the horizon
we call the future. Sometimes
they clash and cancel, sometimes they
reinforce. Like the surfer, the innovator
develops a feel for the movements
of these possibility waves, a sense of
how to ride their balance points, and a
sense of when it is too early or too late
to join a wave.
Reality is more complicated.
Ocean surfers ride waves but do not
alter them. The history surfer worries
not only how to ride existing possibilities
but to generate new ones to ride
after that.