Get out of your comfort zone (print production)

I just finished watching Jeff Hayzlett give the keynote speech at SES San Francisco (Search Engine Strategies). I used to work for Jeff in the late 90’s, he sure has gotten funnier and I can’t believe it – more bold, more assertive, and more outspoken. Cracked me up!

I laugh every time Jeff says his job is to create tension, I remember being on the other end of that tension.

What’s the opposite of tension? I think its comfort. Jeff’s advice is to be the initiator of tension, as he said, move people from the middle of the table to the edge.

The comfort zone is a hard thing to confront even in the face of ultimate demise. We build up rational excuses to stay in our comfort zone (the middle of the table). We surround ourselves with people who agree with us and mirror back our ideas so we feel more confident in our comfort zone.

Our collective comfort zone in the print industry is on the production floor. We love to talk about speeds and feeds (not just the vendors). The edge of the table is on the web, ecommerce, social media, digital based marketing campaigns (e-mail, pURLS, etc…).