Leaders need surfer mentality

What I love about surfers is that every time one gets bitten by a shark they're always quoted by media as saying "I can't wait to get back on the water." Additionally, they almost never blame the shark.

Just this week a teenage surfer was bit off New Smyrna, capital of shark bites and he's ready to get back in the water as soon as his foot heals.

It is a rare gene that allows a person to be so willing to go back into a potentially hostile environment, when their experience has told them it could turn out bad. I think often our leaders meaning our politicians, CEOs, managers and coaches are unwilling to try something if they have ever related anything negative to it. It's easy to give up and say "we tried doing that and it doesn't work." Perhaps you didn't try long enough? Perhaps you had the wrong people doing it? Perhaps it just wasn't the right time?

The next step once something has gone wrong is to blame the advertising agency, blame the research, blame the people on the front line. The thing is a surfer never says, "it's my fault the shark bit me," no it is "I was in their environment, wrong place, wrong time."

Surfers are always willing to get back in the water. Are you?