Wisdom from the Ocean: Leadership Lessons From Surfing

Leadership today feels a lot like paddling into unpredictable surf — shifting conditions, sudden dumps, and long periods of trying to stay afloat. In a recent conversation with author Robert Kenn, we explored how his book Wisdom from the Ocean draws surprising and powerful leadership lessons from surfing. What emerged was a grounded guide to leading with more clarity, calm, and courage.

Kenn interviewed surfers from across Australia and discovered universal patterns in how they face uncertainty, fear, failure, and flow. Those insights translate remarkably well to the modern workplace — especially for leaders navigating constant change.

Below are the leadership lessons from surfing and what they mean for leaders looking to shift from surviving to thriving.

1. When You’re in a Rip, Pause and Reassess

One of Robert’s most striking metaphors was the “leadership rip.” When a surfer is caught in a rip, fighting harder only exhausts them. The safest action is to pause, breathe, reassess, and decide on a more intelligent direction.

Leaders often fall into the trap of battling circumstances, projects, or decisions long after the evidence says it’s time to step sideways. Instead of knee-jerk reactions to bad numbers or unexpected resistance, Kenn recommends taking a beat to evaluate what’s really happening. The pause is not weakness — it’s strategy.

This mirrors Lean and Six Sigma methods: slow down just enough to solve the right problem.

2. Don’t Drown Battling: Persistence Isn’t Always Leadership

Surfers know that battling a rip guarantees exhaustion, not escape. In business, leaders often keep pushing a failing project because they’re emotionally or financially invested.

Recognising that “I picked the wrong wave” is not failure — it’s wisdom. Leaders build credibility when they can say:

“I might be wrong. Let’s rethink this.”

This creates a culture where:

course-corrections are normal
team input is valued
mistakes aren’t career-limiting

Trust is built not by perfection, but by honesty.

3. Fear Is Real — But Mastery Comes From Owning It

Leaders often feel they must pretend they aren’t afraid. Surfers show the opposite. Even elite surfers put their hands up when they’re in trouble and need a tow.

Kenn makes a powerful observation: when pro surfers call for help, they gain respect. They’re modelling awareness, humility, and self-preservation — the same qualities we desperately need in organisations.

Leaders need trusted peers and safe spaces where they can speak openly about challenges without destabilising their teams. Executive loneliness is real, and connection is the antidote.

4. Ask for Help: True Collaboration Builds Psychological Safety

Surf culture is classless. In a wetsuit, everyone is equal. Experience matters, but ego doesn’t.

In organisations, asking for help is too often coded as weakness. Kenn challenges this directly. When people feel safe to say “I don’t know” or “I need support,” a healthier culture emerges — and performance improves.

Leaders set the tone. When they ask questions, admit gaps, and role-model help-seeking, they invite everyone else to do the same.

5. When You Get Dumped, Remember It’s Not Personal

Waves don’t dump surfers because they’re bad people. Careers aren’t derailed because someone isn’t worthy.

Being “dumped” — whether through restructuring, project failure, or shifting strategy — is part of the natural cycle of organisational life. The next opportunity may be a better fit, a better beach, or a far better wave.

Kenn’s own story of merging himself out of a job illustrates that endings create openings we can’t see yet.

6. Flow State Is the Surfer’s Superpower — and Leaders Can Learn It

The conversation highlighted research showing that surfing can help people with PTSD access flow states more easily than traditional therapy. Flow sharpens focus, reduces reactivity, and reconnects people with their bodies.

Surfers are fully present on a wave — they can’t multitask, plan dinner, or draft emails. Leaders often fool themselves into thinking multitasking is efficient, but as Kenn says:

“Multi-tasking might be productive, but it isn’t the best productivity.”

Presence allows leaders to:

hear what isn’t being said
spot tone and emotional cues
make cleaner, smarter decisions

Flow begins with single-tasking and attention discipline.

7. Purpose Over Passion

One of the biggest misconceptions in leadership is that passion alone sustains performance. Surfers show otherwise: it’s purpose that gets you into the water each day.

Leaders need a personal and organisational purpose that everyone can connect to. Passion shifts. Purpose guides.

A clear purpose keeps people engaged through the mundane, the messy, and the repetitive.

8. Intuition Matters: Learn to Listen to Your Gut

Surfing is deeply embodied. Surfers feel their environment — they don’t simply think through it.

Kenn argues that intuition often signals missing information rather than mystical foresight. When something “feels off,” leaders should treat it as a prompt to investigate further, not as proof of a decision.

Intuition is data — subtle, subconscious data — and it deserves consideration.

9. Recovery Is Not Optional

Athletes recover. Musicians recover. Actors recover.
Leaders? Many go from deadline to deadline without ever pausing.

Kenn highlights that even elite sports teams rest after performance. Leaders need:

decompression time
real holidays
moments away from noise

Without recovery, joy disappears. With recovery, energy and perspective return.

10. Trust Your Team and Get Out of Their Way

Surfing relies on mutual trust — surfers assume others will not collide with them, will read the wave, and will move when needed. Organisations often struggle with that level of trust.

Kenn encourages leaders to build teams around capability and then let them do what they’re good at. Micromanagement only creates bottlenecks. Trust unlocks creativity.

11. The Future of Work Is Already Changing (And Gen Alpha Is Watching)

The next generation of workers expects:

flat structures
flexible hours
autonomy
remote work
direct access to leaders

Companies clinging to hierarchy and presenteeism may feel stable now, but Kenn compares them to water receding before a tsunami.

Those who don’t adapt will lose people to competitors who already have.

Bringing Ocean Wisdom Into Leadership

Robert Kenn’s insights remind us that leadership is not a battle against the tides. It is a practice of:

awareness
presence
purpose
humility
strategic pausing
and courage in uncertainty

If organisational life reflected surf culture, we would see more authenticity, more trust, less hierarchy, and far better collaboration.

And perhaps, as Kenn suggests, we’d see leaders thriving rather than just staying afloat.

Want to Explore the Book?

You can find Wisdom from the Ocean here and connect with Robert Kenn via Angelina Forstmann <angelina@dmcpr.com.au>

For leaders seeking richer conversations, new mental models, and more grounded wellbeing, these leadership lessons from surfing are a powerful place to begin.

Book a chat with Ros.