The ocean is a masterful teacher. One afternoon, I watched as a mother guided her three young children onto the beach, their laughter carried on the salty breeze. The two older children ran straight for the water — no life vests, no floaties — just brown bodies meeting wave after wave.
Their mother, steady and composed, laid out her blanket before lifting her youngest — a wide-eyed two-year-old — onto her hip and wading into the sea. As the waves crashed, she instinctively turned her back, absorbing their force with ease learned over time. She did not fight the water. She oriented herself to it.
Farther out, the older children clung to a boogie board, floating and waiting. They passed on wave after wave, eyes fixed on the horizon. And then, without a word between them, they knew. Together they paddled hard. The wave carried them effortlessly to shore — a perfect ride born from patience, instinct, and trust in the rhythm of the sea.
The Meaning
Ease with power comes from experience. The mother did not resist the waves — she read them. Leadership often works the same way. Strength is not always found in force, but in knowing how to move with momentum rather than against it.
The children on the board understood something equally important: not every wave is worth taking. Discernment matters. The right moment arrives when readiness, skill, and the natural pull of circumstances converge. Waiting for that moment is not passivity — it is wisdom.
The Integration
› Where in your leadership are you expending energy resisting forces you could learn to work with?
› What signals help you recognize when it’s time to wait — and when it’s time to paddle with everything you have?
› Who in your organization is quietly modeling ease with power? What might you learn from watching them?
Leadership at sea level asks for presence, patience, and trust in timing. The wave that carries you to shore is not the one you force — it is the one you read.
Reveal what’s been hidden. Step into your edge.
✦ GOING DEEPER
Achieving Growth: Putting Leadership Mindsets and Behaviors Into Action · McKinsey & Company, January 2025
Draws on a 2024 survey of 500+ global leaders to show how the best distinguish between forcing momentum and reading it — and why timing, not just effort, determines who leads.
Natasha is the founder of Reveal Global, LLC — an executive coaching and consulting practice working with leaders at the edge of what is known and what is possible. Drawing on more than 30 years in healthcare, education, and organizational development, she coaches the whole person: not just the leader you are, but the one you are becoming.
natasha@revealglobalcoaching.com
