I have written before about some of the profound observations of my friend Andy Green. Well, his latest draws on lessons from the Oscar-winning film The Artist. One lesson he highlights is the need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. This is a lesson I press on most of the proto-leaders with whom I work.

Leadership, change, learning – in one sense they are all synonyms and what all of them require is that we get out of our comfort zone. Staying inside that zone delivers neither leadership nor change nor learning by definition. 

Truly effective leaders are prepared to step into the void and find their way as they go. They have an approach to life that goes beyond self-confidence (“I know what I know and I can do what I do”) into the realms of self-esteem (“I know that I don’t know and I believe that I will find a way”). Developing this self-esteem is partly about becoming comfortable being uncomfortable, it’s about taking on those challenges that make you think twice, that bring on the butterflies in the stomach, that others have failed to deliver, that result in you feeling uncomfortable.

I learned this for myself when I took on a project for which I was given three months even though all my experience suggested it ought to take 2 years – we delivered! What are you going to do that is uncomfortable? It’s how you grow.