Surfing the Wave of One's Time

All the people I admire, overturned the status quo of their time. They were brilliant and showed the world a different way of doing things. However, I would also note that these people surfed a wave of change that was looming in the present. With Leonardo Da Vinci, it was the Renaissance and humanistic thinking. With Martin Luther, the invention of the printing press and growing resentment against the church. With Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, the transistor, widespread use of computers in large institutions and a hacker culture in computing. All of them surfed a wave to propel themselves to the glory they have. What's the wave? Then surf it to the end.