A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu

Make Your Own Waves: The Surfer’s Rules for Innovators and Entrepreneurs

By Louis Patler

Copyright 2016 Amacom

Price $21.95

Pages: 179 with Index

Using an exciting sport as a metaphor for going for it in business

Even if you don’t know anything about surfing. If you don’t know a Maverick wave from a normal one do not pass this book up. It is one of the most insightful books on innovation that I have read in a long time.

First of all it’s amazing how many business people are surfers staring with GoPro Founder and Nick Woodman to Bob McKnight founder of Quicksilver Active wear. There must be something in the proverbial salt water that makes these surfing risk-takers do the same in business.

Author Louis Patler a longtime surfer takes us into the exciting world of surfing while drawing analogies with the world of business.

In his book Mr. Patler takes us through the steps of business innovation along with the steps for becoming a great surfer.

These steps from the basics in the chapter called Learning to Swim to the final Never Turn Your Back on the Ocean where he warns to keep your eye on the prize and to advises how to keep focused in why you got into the business in the first place he holds the readers’ attention with his stories of surfing serving as a blueprint to being innovative in your business life.

Think about it for a minute, picture the ocean then picture a fast moving wave in that ocean and then picture trying to ride that wave, to not tame it but ride it, being flexible enough to go with it, to stay afloat and to stay on top of it taking advantage of that waves momentum to move you along…not think of business and all of its ins and outs and unpredictable undulations and you’ll get what the author means by comparing surfing to business. If you want to have some interesting and invigorating fun while learning then this is the book for you. Read it now…surfs up