When Expertise Doesn’t Apply: Lessons from the Edge

Clarity is comforting. But uncertainty? That’s where growth happens.

There’s something powerful about being in a place where you don’t know the rules, where your expertise doesn’t apply, and your assumptions quietly fall apart.

I’ve seen it again and again with every Insight Immersion I've designed: The strongest teams don’t bond by staying in their lane. They bond by stepping out of it together.

Coca-Cola’s Global Packaging Graphics Team visited NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where rovers are designed for planets we’ve never set foot on. They observed teams making high-stakes decisions with incomplete data, prototyping for environments no one fully understands. For designers used to delivering precision and clarity, it was a masterclass in embracing ambiguity with rigor and imagination. It sparked a new way of thinking about creativity under pressure.

The Lowe's Executive Leadership Team walked through Community First! Village in Austin, a 27-acre neighborhood for people who’ve experienced chronic homelessness. They didn’t go there to “solve” anything. They sat on porches, shared space, and heard stories of recovery and renewal. And in doing so, they found themselves rethinking what home, dignity, and leadership really mean.

Penguin Random House’s Senior Editorial Team experienced Whisperlodge, an immersive ASMR performance space in New York that required participants to slow down and be physically close to strangers. Some were skeptical, some visibly uncomfortable. But in the silence, something shifted. Laughter followed discomfort and stillness turned into reflection. They left more attuned, not just to their own senses, but to each other.

None of these teams knew exactly what they were walking into. And that was the point.

When we leave the comfort of what we know, we make space for something better: Curiosity. Connection. A more human kind of clarity.