Teaching surfing from the beach

Todd Ordal //November 8, 2011//

Teaching surfing from the beach

Todd Ordal //November 8, 2011//

“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is!”
                                                                                                                             -Yogi Berra

I took a surfing lesson years ago in Hawaii with two of my kids. The instructor got out in the water with us to demonstrate how to get up on the board and catch a wave. What if he’d stayed under the thatched roof of the beach bar, sipping on a Corona and just telling us how to surf?! “Imagine you’re a wave!” and “Be the surfboard!” sound cool but provide little guidance.

How about a flight instructor handing you airplane keys and saying, “I’ve never flown one of these things, but I’ve read the manual from cover to cover. Keep the shiny side up, and I’ll give you some feedback after you land.”

Are you listening to advisors who only know how to surf or fly in theory?

Before the economic meltdown, I went to a rubber chicken dinner. The keynote speaker was a “successful” entrepreneur who’d sold his company for a large pile of money. I was extremely surprised by how young he was, but he started speaking and seemed very bright and quick on his feet.

After some dubious answers to questions where he held court on everything from building an organization to motivating employees to investing, someone asked him some specifics about his company. It turns out that he had a revenue stream that wouldn’t pay for a typical trip to Costco and had never been profitable. I stood up and left. This guy was teaching surfing from the beach!

In theory, you should be able to fly an airplane by just reading a book. In practice, you’ll end up in a twisted pile of smoking rubble.
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