Office Lineup – Better Decisions. Better Waves.

Every surfer learns the same lesson. Not every wave is yours. Beginners think surfing is about standing up. Experienced surfers know it’s mostly about waiting. Watching. Positioning. Reading the ocean before committing.

The lineup rewards patience far more than activity. The office isn’t very different. Wherever people come together, the currents are surprisingly predictable. Every organisation has its own lineup. Projects. Politics. Processes. Celebrations. Conflicts. New technologies. Leadership opportunities.

Not every wave deserves your energy. Some look impressive before they break. Others pull everyone into the wrong direction. The hardest decision isn’t choosing what to ride. It’s recognising what isn’t yours. But, once you’ve committed to a wave, hesitation becomes expensive. Paddling halfway rarely works. Standing up too early doesn’t either. Timing matters more than force. Conviction allows you to meet the wave’s energy.

Yet, conviction alone isn’t enough. Without mastering the fundamentals, every wave eventually exposes you with a wipeout. Every surfer collects them. Some spectacular. Some embarrassing. None avoidable. The ocean doesn’t care how many waves you caught yesterday. Neither does leadership. I believe, humility is one of the most underrated leadership skills. Markets change. Strategies change. Structures change. Yesterday’s successful playbook quickly becomes today’s ceiling.

Coaches matter, too. Some teach you how to stand up before your holiday ends. Others teach you how to surf long after they’re gone. Those are very different goals. The best coach isn’t the one who gets you standing fastest. It’s the one who makes themselves unnecessary. Many instructors optimise for today’s lesson. The best ones optimise for the surfer you’ll become years from now.

And in the end—

You paddle back out.

You learn.

You read the ocean. Again.

Perhaps that’s why I keep returning to surfing. It reminds me that performance isn’t about catching every wave. It’s about recognising the few that can actually take you somewhere. Because careers, like oceans, don’t reward movement.

They reward good judgment.