Big Idea 2014: Discomfort Is the New Comfort Zone

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers pick one big idea that will shape 2014. See all the ideas here.

We all know what a comfort zone is: it’s a place where we feel secure and where risk is contained. It’s also a place where our performance is not severely tested.

In business, the comfort zone has never been a good place to be. Companies that get too comfortable risk becoming irrelevant, obsolete—and extinct. This is particularly true in today’s business world where the forces of globalization; new social, mobile, analytical and cloud technologies; and fast-changing customer, employee and partner demands encroach on our comfort zones daily—making discomfort the new comfort zone.

Business leaders need to recognize that this perpetual assault on their comfort zone can create opportunities—to challenge established practices and win against complacent competition. Forget the common advice to “extend your comfort zone” (which always sounds to me like merely dipping a toe in the water). Winning enterprises must seek to perpetually live in their “discomfort zone”—by continually questioning conventional wisdom, reinventing work, and welcoming disruptive innovation.

My own experience taught me to value the discomfort zone early on. Our family accompanied my father, an officer in India’s Foreign Service, to Kenya, Ethiopia, Zaire, New York City, Trinidad, Hong Kong and Panama. Our parents almost always enrolled us in local schools, not the international schools that diplomats often prefer. Being immersed in a new country, language and culture every three years, one learns to be flexible, to challenge assumptions, and embrace new ideas and surroundings. We also discovered a lot of fun and excitement in the times of greatest discomfort—opportunities to learn, make new friends and explore new lands and distant places.

So, how do organizations and individuals function in a perpetual discomfort zone? I believe the answer is to think fast and think forward. Thinking fast means abandoning prolonged strategic debates in favor of rapid, real-time, data-driven decisions. Don’t become mired in discomfort, be agile in responding to it. Thinking forward means creating new business models, processes and workplace environments that enable us to ride the next wave of innovation—intentionally establishing new areas of discomfort.

As someone who has navigated the discomfort zone, here are some suggestions for enterprises, partner ecosystems and employees who are about to embark on their own journey. In future posts, I will detail the implications for each of these areas.

Enterprises

Compete on code and manage on meaning. To compete in the discomfort zone, enterprises must decode the rising volume of data surrounding customers, markets and products. They also must realize that data analytics and advanced algorithms are indispensable assets in interpreting the meaning and implications of that data for your business—thus enabling decision makers to smartly move from insights to foresights.

Agility is the killer behavior. There is a new definition of business agility, embodied in what I call the dual mandate. That is, enterprises must be able to drive greater effectiveness and efficiency on one hand, and invest in growth-enabling innovation on the other hand. Businesses that are ambidextrous in mastering both parts of this mandate will have the agility to maneuver through a perpetual discomfort zone—competing more effectively and delivering increasing value.

Ecosystems

Banish “not invented here” and embrace “invented there”. The best ideas for success in the discomfort zone may come from outside the four walls of the enterprise. Because inspiration and innovation may come from customer insights, employee-led solutions or partner relationships, companies must establish new partner ecosystems to co-create new products and services that fuel growth.

Erase boundaries between core and context. For years, companies were advised to invest in “core competencies” and shift “context” activities to specialist partners. Today, the core versus context distinction is less clear cut and highly fluid. We must recognize that what is core today may be context tomorrow, and vice versa.

Employees

Challenge your personal comfort zone. For employees to thrive in reformulated enterprises and ecosystems, they must escape conventional norms by taking on professional challenges beyond their personal comfort zones. It also means collaborating (often virtually) with new peer groups—inside and outside traditional silos— to find and apply new solutions to critical work challenges, thereby advancing personal and professional growth. It also helps to be aware of the “blind spots” that keep us from seeing an opportunity for change or the value of constructive criticism.

Never stop learning. Employees also need to make continuous learning a permanent part of their job description. In the perpetual discomfort zone, it’s not what you know today that counts—it’s how you acquire, refine and apply new knowledge for tomorrow.

Find Opportunity in Your Discomfort Zone

It’s time for businesses and individuals to get more comfortable with their discomfort zones and power through the obstacles that prevent them from seizing new opportunities and achieving their potential. I always believe that if I wake up in the morning feeling comfortable, I’m probably not pushing myself or my company hard enough. By recognizing that we live in a perpetual discomfort zone—and thinking and acting accordingly—we can transform businesses, blaze new competitive trails, expand our capabilities, and continuously drive outstanding performance and value.

Graphic: Cognizant