Comfortable with discomfort? Tell me more.

Comfortable with discomfort? Tell me more. 

A while back I wrote about how leadership requires being comfortable with discomfort and this wasn’t the first time it has been brought up. When Steve Jobs said “ Stay hungry stay foolish” he meant exactly that. 

So here I was, pondering over what kind of discomforts really? In the modern world, corporate culture with cut throat competition and ever changing landscape of technologies,  the definitions of discomfort have changed quite a bit. Do we have some true formula of barriers we need to break to become true fearless leaders?

I referred back to all my gurus on leadership such as Brene Brown, Malcolm Gladwell, Ramcharan and Adam Grant. Below are the top three which I narrowed down to be non-negotiable discomforts that a leader needs to be constantly challenging and move beyond.

Being Wrong : This was my top one. How many times, do we freeze and wonder if the decision we are going to take is the right one? What happens if we are wrong? There is so much at stake, but then this feels the most right at this moment. This is a crippling and deeply uncomfortable feeling. The discomfort of potentially being wrong can be the toughest one to overcome but there is no way a leader can lead unless they get comfortable with “being wrong”, rather knowing to take the best decision in the present moment and putting your all in.

Being Alone : Yes, it gets lonely many times when you are leading, have an opinion and are on the top. Knowing there is a reason you are positioned to take control, be in charge and march along by yourself is essential. It is not easy and can be unsettling if not managed well, so breaking this barrier of being “enough” is a must have for success for any leader. 

Being Disruptive: Oh yes. Being the odd one out and asking questions because you want to eventually change course of action, you have to be ok with being disruptive. Being disruptive can be very uncomfortable if you are navigating the unknown yet challenging the status quo. To balance out, it requires a lot of practice on being empathetic, narrating the objective well and listening attentively to everything said or unsaid. 

On that note, I plan to wrap my sunday and kick off the work week with a complete awareness of anything that makes me uncomfortable and rise with it.