Discomfort is essential for building better organisations

The Bottom Line PodcastBusinessInnovation
Written By Alexander Spencer

Gus Balbontin, a Director at Neu21. Neu21 is a transformation consultancy, venture studio, and product lab that provides creative ideas and insights to business leaders through times of innovation and growth.

In this episode, Gus shares his insights on how growing up in Argentina and travelling the world taught him the skills he needed to lead an innovative business in Australia. He explains why all businesses need to consider their exit strategy for new systems before implementation even happens and emphasises the need for adaptability, continuous learning and tolerating discomfort as a leader. Gus shares how he applied these principles during Lonely Planet's digital transition in the early aughts, and how he embodies these traits personally and professionally.

Key lessons from the podcast

  • Prioritise Agility and Adaptability Over Predicting the Future

    Balbontin advocates the 80/20 rule: spend 80% of your time doing something to enhance your agility and adaptability, and only 20% trying to predict what's next. He suggests taking action now, even if it's "small, simple, now," to experiment and sharpen your understanding, rather than just speculating or talking about it.

  • Adopt a "Portfolio" Approach to Career and Time Deployment

    Dedicating 40-60 hours a week to a single job for one corporation is akin to putting all your eggs in one basket or investing in one share, which significantly increases the risk of career stagnation or failure. Instead, spreading your time across multiple ventures such as personal businesses, consulting, speaking, or angel investing to diversify opportunities and ensure that if one area doesn't pay off, others might.

  • Actively Cultivate Discomfort and Novelty in Your Life

    This personal investment in increasing your tolerance to change, through engaging in new activities or learning something unfamiliar, helps develop "plasticity". This enhanced personal adaptability and tolerance for change will naturally extend to and benefit your business, making teams more open to new ideas and less rigid in their approach

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