Being Comfortably Uncomfortable in 2025: The Catalyst for Transformative Growth

The comfort zone has become a paradox in today's rapid-fire world – what once felt like shelter now risks becoming a cage. This reality is hitting leaders particularly hard. A global survey by HR consulting firm DDI reveals a troubling trend: nearly 75% of leaders report increased stress since stepping into their current roles, with 40% of those under pressure contemplating stepping away from leadership entirely to preserve their wellbeing.

As we move through 2025, the message is unmistakable: stagnation is regression. If you’re not reimagining and challenging your status quo, you’re already falling behind. At Fractional Insights, co-founded by Shonna Waters and Erin Eatough, and RADICL, co-founded by Dan Riley, we believe that being comfortably uncomfortable isn’t just a mindset, it’s the lifeblood of growth.

Why Choose Discomfort?

For Shonna, now CEO of the startup Fractional Insights, embracing discomfort is what has defined success in her career. As she tells it:

“It was the first experience at a startup, still figuring out what that really meant while sitting in a San Francisco conference room for onboarding. There was an animatronic therapy seal named Paro and a robot that could be controlled by colleagues to virtually sit at the table, enhancing their participation in meetings. It was definitely a new experience, a big shift from the boardrooms and government facilities that had become familiar.

One phrase that has stuck through the years is: "Your number one job is to learn." It was a bit surprising at first, as the assumption was that the main job was to perform—to do the work that had led to being hired. Of course, learning was part of it, but the expectation had always been to come in ready to deliver. However, the CEO explained that in a startup, your job isn’t just your job. The startup journey is full of uncertainty, and the strongest advantage is how quickly you can learn. Focusing solely on the tasks needed for the current role won’t lead to long-term success because it’s likely that the role itself will change in a matter of months. Startups evolve that fast, and if you’re not learning and growing at the same pace, you risk falling behind.

In the long run, the only sustainable source of competitive advantage is your organization's ability to learn faster than your competition. - Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

Discomfort isn’t a threat; it’s an invitation. It signals that you’re operating at the edge of your current capabilities, where real transformation happens. In fact, that startup Shonna referenced had a high impact behavior called “stay on your edge.”  It might not be a coincidence that it grew to be a unicorn startup with a $4.7B valuation. The businesses and individuals thriving today are those who’ve turned discomfort into opportunity. Those who understand that growth requires bold moves into uncharted territory. 

In 2025, adaptability isn’t optional; it’s the currency of relevance.

Consider this: the rapid evolution of AI, remote work, and market demands have redefined what it means to innovate. Every company essentially needs to think like a start-up. To have agility, curiosity, and a growth mindset to keep learning. Leaders can no longer afford to rely on yesterday’s strategies to solve tomorrow’s challenges. Discomfort in the form of change, uncertainty, and reinvention is where the seeds of success are planted and with the rapid pace of technological change disrupting even long held assumptions of how work gets done, getting comfortable with discomfort is the meta job to be done.

How to get Comfortably Uncomfortable

We champion a simple framework that can be reduced to a single memorable acronym for facing change: ACK! Here is how to embrace discomfort as a strategic advantage:

Agility – More than just flexibility, agility is the ability to quickly pivot and adapt in an ever-changing environment. It means embracing uncertainty, taking bold experiments, and transforming setbacks into stepping stones for innovation and progress.

Curiosity – Ask questions. Discomfort often signals the unknown - lean into it with a hunger to learn and explore new possibilities.

Keep Learning – Reframe challenges as opportunities. Rather than seeing obstacles as roadblocks, view them as essential parts of your journey toward growth.

With ACK, you can navigate uncertainty with confidence and turn change into opportunity.

Transforming Growth through Strategic Discomfort

Our research and work has shown us time and again that sustainable business growth stems from uncomfortable, intentional choices. For people leaders who want to grow their companies even in the face of ambiguity and change, this means you should:

• Be curious about alternatives to the way things have always been done. For example, traditional leadership models can be supplemented with fractional leadership models. Diverse voices from fractional executives bring fresh perspectives, challenging internal norms and sparking innovative solutions.

• Make data your ally not your enemy. Data can often make people feel protective or defensive. But embracing data simply as information can help you run experiments, make more confident decisions, and guide you. It doesn’t have to be definitive or constraining. Even if data reveals uncomfortable truths, we can use it as one input - even if not the whole input - to better business decision making to ensure businesses don’t just survive but thrive.

• Get really purposeful and intentional about energetic spend: Growth isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what matters most. Scaling without burning people out requires being deliberate and strategic.

What Does “Comfortably Uncomfortable” Look Like in Practice?

Being comfortably uncomfortable means making choices that stretch you:

• Leaders: Embrace not knowing, cultivate experimentation, delegate boldly, disrupt your routines, invite healthy and productive disagreement, and foster a culture where constructive discomfort is celebrated.

• Teams: Collaborate across silos, ask tough questions, and embrace ambiguity as you innovate.

• Individuals: Pursue skills that feel just out of reach, network beyond your industry, and seek mentorship that challenges your thinking.

A Call to Action for 2025

Organizational leaders: now is the time you and your people need to double down on learning and expansion - of new ideas, ways of work, and challenges to the status quo. We need to release old stories that hold us to some specific version of what we do or how we do it. We need to get comfortable saying out loud or just to ourselves “I need to learn that!”. It’s time for us all to reimagine what our best possible selves look like in a world of work where change and evolution is happening faster all the time. When something seems scary or foreign, use ACK!.

And in moments of reflection, ask yourself: Where can you push yourself to creep a little bit closer to the edge? So close that you feel like you’re at risk of falling? When was the last time you had that feeling in the pit of your stomach? When you wanted to retreat back to safety but chose to stay in discomfort?

As you forge into the year ahead, ask yourself: Am I willing to trade comfort for growth? If growth - either as a business, in your career, or as an individual - is a part of your goals, the answer should be an unequivocal yes. If you are a founder, executive, or people leader, the ability to be comfortable in discomfort and guide your people through the same is the path to transformative success. That is because embracing the uncomfortable moments as opportunities for growth is not just what challenges us, but ultimately what defines us.

At Fractional Insights and RADICL, we’re here to guide you through this journey. Let’s navigate the discomfort together and unlock the growth that’s waiting just beyond your comfort zone.

2025 isn’t just a new year - it’s your opportunity to redefine what’s possible. Are you ready to get comfortably uncomfortable?

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Fractional Insights helps organizations design people-related strategies and initiatives using data, science, and technology. We help design, measure, and link people solutions to business outcomes resulting in more confident decisions and higher business returns on your people investments.

RADICL is an AI platform that accelerates work impact for people, teams and organizations. RADICL makes real work impact possible, and accelerates work impact for everyone.

As companies navigate the integration of AI, modernize their L&D strategies, and reimagine their workplace cultures, one critical question emerges: How do we connect people initiatives to measurable business outcomes? 

Together, Fractional Insights and RADICL guide organizations through transformative change by putting people at the center of every strategy. We understand that your workforce is the lynchpin to success in the digital age. Our combined expertise helps you build the business case for people-focused initiatives, design programs that drive measurable results, and create a culture where innovation thrives.

Transform your organization's approach to change, learning, and growth with insights that connect people to performance. Partner with us to unlock the full potential of your workforce and drive sustainable business success.