I had an interesting conversation with a colleague about guys in security department in one of our clients. I ranted that I don’t really understand why the department is almost completely non-functional, despite having about 6 people more than needed (they are 8, currently). What baffled me the most is that I actually hold many of them in quite high respect and I know they are intelligent and hard-working people. But despite this, it is actually almost impossible to get statement on anything from the security department.

Colleague thinks that the problem is that they are afraid to step out of their comfort zones and actually do some thinking - and here’s the catch - unlike for example me, who has very big comfort zone, so we can discuss almost anything with an open mind.

But I think that is wrong. I actually have VERY NARROW comfort zone and my immediate reaction to almost anything is OH SHIT HERE WE GO AGAIN. But as a consultant, I am so used to being out of my comfort zone, that I don’t really care any more.

And maybe that’s the issue? If someone is quite comfortable in their work, I can see why they don’t want to do anything that upsets that comfort. But when I am not comfortable, I constantly look for solutions that makes things less painful for me.

So maybe I am looking at that wrong. I thought that being better at something expands my comfort zone, but what if it’s actually the other way round? The more I know about something, the more I see what I don’t know yet, and the less comfortable I am in that particular topic. Like - I know my Socrates, but up until now I haven’t really understood. It actually makes a lot of sense to me that being in the comfort zone of anything actively blocks the improvement of that thing.

What do you think?