The Ripple Effect
How Culture Creators Spot the Next Big Wave.
Last weekend my husband and I had a rare afternoon to ourselves. It was a beautiful spring day in Florida and we decided to hop on our bikes and head to the beach. It was the first ocean dip of the season, except for a New Year’s Day polar plunge. The water was cool and calm; the perfect conditions for back floating, cloud gazing and body surfing.
My husband surfs. It is his first love and lifelong passion. He has cultivated an instinct for the water. He can read currents and wave patterns. He can predict their momentum and velocity. While I simply gaze out at the vastness of the ocean, trying to take in its beauty and power, he is studying the current; the direction and speed of the wind and its influence on the cadence and size of the waves.
I was floating on my back when suddenly he told me to get ready, the third ripple back was the one we were going to catch.
I didn’t see anything that distinguished that ripple from the others ahead o…