"The ones who push the limits
discover the limits sometimes push back."
– Surfer Jay Moriarity in Chasing Mavericks movie (2012)
The quote
I won't give anything away. But in short, this 2012 movie about real-life stand-out surfer Jay Moriarity follows Jay (as acted by Jonny Weston), as he chases the ability to surf Mavericks – especially tough waves in California.
Why it matters to innovators
The movie is good. But this quote is what stood out to me.
It's so easy for others to tell you what you "should just" do. And if they have never done it themselves, they have no idea how hard credible innovation work can be.
But the reality is: If you push the limits, the limits will sometimes push back. And it'll be rough.
Go do!
The trick, then, is to be aware of it and still pursue your vision and solve your users' problems.
In other words, you should (ha!)
- build into your work a "pre-mortem" or some activity that lets you fully acknowledge all the problems you will likely encounter
- find ways to work around as many of those problems as you can
- assume that you will still run into way more and different limits than you thought possible. In fact the ones you don't anticipate are likely to sting more than those for which you prepared diligently.
⚠️
Yes, actually do the pre-mortem!
It's the kind of activity about which lots of teams know ... but that way fewer teams actually do. 😄
It's the kind of activity about which lots of teams know ... but that way fewer teams actually do. 😄
