The Discomfort Zone summary

Eric Underwood is one of this century’s most successful dancers. He’s performed with the American Ballet Theatre and was the first black soloist at London’s Royal Ballet. Underwood’s talent is even more impressive, given that he didn’t start dancing until he was 14. That’s almost a decade later than in the case of most professionals. And it wasn’t a love of Swan Lake that inspired his artistic goals. It was his desire to escape the rough Washington, DC neighborhood he grew up in. 

Dancing wasn’t even his first choice. When the local performing arts school put out a call for new students, Underwood secured an acting audition. But on audition day, Underwood choked midway through. While this may have been devastating for some, he was still determined to land a place at the school.  

On July 7, 2005, Sajda Mughal was running late for work. To make matters worse, her local subway station in North London was closed. She hurried to the next station, only to find the platform packed with commuters. For the past two years, she had traveled in the front subway cars every morning. But today, she let the crowd carry her into a middle car.

About ten minutes later, there was a huge bang. The lights went out, and thick smoke filled the train. Mughal thought it had derailed and was convinced she was going to die. Later, she found out that 26 people on her train had been killed by a suicide bomber. Most of them were in the front car.

Social pressure. Most of us experience it regularly. Whether we’re about to sing at karaoke, tell someone how we feel, or apply for a competitive job – we all long to impress. We can’t help it! The desire to be liked is hardwired into us. It helped us survive back when we lived in tribes and relied on each other for basic needs. But now, social pressure cripples us.

We either exhaust ourselves trying to be an unrealistic ideal that we’re fed culturally and through social media. Or we simply don’t try anything new because we’re too scared to be less than perfect. This means we never discover the full extent of our capabilities.

In 2010, Patrick Doyle faced a crisis. He had just become CEO of Domino’s. The company was still delivering pizzas as fast as ever. But they tasted awful! To save the business, Doyle came up with a radical plan.

In a campaign called the “Pizza Turnaround,” Doyle’s team recorded customers’ scathing reviews – and aired them on national TV! Then, with new recipes in place, Doyle broadcast the same customers sampling their new pizzas. It was a risky strategy, but he was confident that he could successfully implement customer feedback. And he was right! The customers loved the new pizzas and gave them rave reviews. Within three months, Domino’s sales and share prices had skyrocketed.   

Even movie giants have it tough at times. During the filming of Jaws, Steven Spielberg hit an obstacle. His mechanical shark malfunctioned, and repairing it would take weeks! The 25-year-old director couldn’t afford to wait, so he came up with another solution. That solution went on to become one of the best-known scenes in the history of film.

A baited tire tied to a pier speeds through the water. The pier cracks, and a fisherman falls in. Driftwood from the pier is dragged toward him from beneath the ocean’s surface. His friend yells at him to swim. The increasing tempo of the two-note score sets our hearts racing...

The next time you’re at a department store, head over to the cosmetics counter. Check out some of the big brands. At least one will have a “limited edition” product on display, complete with a gold foil label to make it look extra special.

Limited edition perfumes may seem exclusive, but they’re actually market tests. Companies use them to decide whether or not they should launch a product permanently. This is what Tom Ford did with his fragrance, Soleil Blanc. If it hadn’t sold well during its test run, it would have quietly disappeared.

Steve Jobs was renowned for his hustling. As an eighth grader, he called Hewlett-Packard to request spare parts and landed himself a summer internship. Throughout his career, he encouraged people to call their own shots. Since most people don’t ask for what they want, he saw this as the defining difference.

Such an empowered attitude toward hustling is all well and good if you’re a proactive genius like Jobs. But for most of us, hustling can be incredibly uncomfortable. We worry about what others will think if we ask them for something and offer nothing in return.