COVER STORY

Turning friction into fuel: The most successful teams embrace healthy tension to drive progress, think deeper and find better solutions

By Shane Zutz, VP Human Resources and Finance, DigiKey

The electronics components industry is experiencing a rapid transformation. Tariffs are rewriting supply chain playbooks faster than we can adapt them. AI is changing how engineers design and validate components. Meanwhile, customers want everything faster, more customized and at a lower price point. Oh, and they want it yesterday.

Welcome to the electronics components industry in 2026. It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable. And honestly? It’s exactly where innovation lives.

And here’s what I’ve learned: the companies that are going to win aren’t the ones chasing comfort — they’re the ones turning friction into fuel. They embrace complexity, adapt fast and build momentum from the chaos.

Before I got into business leadership, I was a teacher, a principal and a high school baseball coach. In every single one of those roles, the same truth showed up: growth happens when you lean into discomfort. When you have the hard conversation. When you challenge the status quo. When you reach for something just outside your grasp. And in today’s fast-moving world, that lesson is more relevant now than ever.

What healthy tension really is

Healthy tension isn’t drama. It’s not about making people miserable or creating a pressure-cooker environment. It’s what happens when passionate, talented people care enough about the work to push each other toward something better.

Here’s what I mean: • Your procurement team recommends a supplier shift because of tariffs, and engineering is concerned about consistency. That’s tension. • Someone speaks up and questions whether the AI tool everyone’s excited about is solving the right problem. That’s tension. • A cross-functional team debates whether to ship now or invest two more weeks into making the solution more robust. That’s tension.

These moments are uncomfortable. And most organizations rush to smooth them over. Find the quick compromise. Defer to whoever has the loudest voice or highest title. But here’s the thing: that instinct to eliminate tension? That’s exactly what kills innovation.

Tension isn’t the enemy—it’s the spark. When handled with intention, it drives deeper thinking, better solutions and real progress.

The tension at DigiKey was real in late 2023 as our new distribution center came online. We were running two systems in parallel to minimize customer disruption, and many were apprehensive about a full cutover because of the unknown. The stakes were high—no company wants to risk impacting customers.

There were spirited meetings, deep data reviews and honestly, a lot of tension. Running two systems wasn’t sustainable, and our teams were stretched thin. Instead of rushing, we slowed down, relied on data, built contingency plans and communicated our path forward to every team member. Leaning into that discomfort created clarity in the moment—and ultimately allowed us to move a legacy project forward successfully.

Why this matters now

The pace of change in our industry is accelerating. Component lifecycles are shrinking. Customer specifications are evolving constantly. New technologies— particularly AI—are opening possibilities we’re still wrapping our heads around. And geopolitical factors like tariffs are creating supply chain challenges that require creative, fast-moving solutions.

In this environment, adaptability isn’t optional, it’s essential. You must create urgency on purpose. You must build teams that thrive in an environment where they are comfortable being uncomfortable.

Think about it: every major breakthrough in electronics—from advanced packaging that shrinks chips and integrates more functionality, to new materials that improve performance while reducing costs— came from environments where people challenged the norm. Where teams pushed back on, “That’s how we’ve always done it.” Where someone was willing to say “I think there’s a better way” even when it made the room uncomfortable.

We’re at the peak of the AI hype cycle. However, AI is challenging every assumption about how we deliver value to customers. From automation to decision-making to internal processes, this isn’t “AI vs. the people.” It’s about leveraging the best of both. That mindset shapes everything: inventory management, pricing models, customer support and how we prepare our teams for what’s next.

School lessons

One of the best examples I’ve ever been part of in my career was during my time as a high school principal. In the 2012–2013 school year, our district was considering a move to 1:1 technology. At the start of those discussions, my mindset was, “Let’s wait one more year. We’re already dealing with the big change of moving into a new building.” I was excited about the technology—but not the timing.

But the school district’s technology coordinator at the time didn’t let it go. He kept asking questions, exploring possibilities and helping me understand how we could manage the devices and creatively train staff. It took multiple conversations and meetings, but he kept pushing me to lead the initiative and rethink our approach.

The easy button would have been to wait, assuming there’s always a better time. The reality? Most of the time, the best time is now.

Once I agreed to be the “tip of the spear” for this effort, my focus shifted. I knew the same tension I felt would show up with staff and parents, and I needed to help them understand why 1:1 technology was critical for our students’ growth.

After I committed, my perspective changed. I started seeing the possibilities and opportunities for staff and students, which helped me lead those conversations with confidence. At the time, few schools had 1:1 programs, but we quickly became leaders in Minnesota for using technology effectively in classroom instruction and student learning.

We had many productive conversations, made space for tension and discomfort and shared what we learned with other schools.

That same principle applies in business. When people care enough to push back, advocate for what they believe is right and have the hard conversations—that’s when you know you’ve got something real. That’s when breakthrough thinking happens.

Engineering the right kind of tension

The most innovative organizations don’t wait for market forces to create urgency. They manufacture it. Intentionally. They create conditions where teams must think differently, push harder and challenge assumptions before a crisis forces them to.

Here’s how that shows up in practice:

• Set stretch goals that feel uncomfortable. Not impossible, but just beyond what feels easily achievable. When you challenge a team to reduce costs by 20 percent while improving quality, you force them to question every assumption about how the work gets done. They can’t just trim around the edges—they must rethink the entire process.
• Put different perspectives in the same room. Pair your cost-focused procurement specialists with your performance-driven engineers. Yes, they’ll disagree. That’s the point. When competing priorities collide, you get solutions that neither group would have arrived at alone.
• Create aggressive timelines. Not to burn people out, but to unlock more creative thinking. When the clock is ticking, overthinking fades. Teams shift from cautious to creative fast.

At DigiKey, we choose to intentionally create tension and urgency around how we work. DigiKey is in a rural area in northern Minnesota and while this creates many advantages for our company, there are constraints as well. One of those constraints is access to talent. We have traditionally solved problems through working harder or adding more people. Recently we have told our leaders that people won’t solve those constraints, but a continuous improvement mindset can.

We have asked leaders to get closer to the work, recognize what is working well (and can be replicated), find leverage points and improve the system. This initially wasn’t met with a standing ovation but created a sense of urgency when we said hiring would not be our first solution.

We have seen a tremendous number of new ways of thinking, process reimagination and work we could just actually stop because it was not providing value to our customers and was too internally focused. This has allowed us to scale differently, and the momentum shift here is recognizable.

The key is intentionality. You’re not creating chaos—you’re creating productive discomfort within a framework where people feel safe to take risks. There’s a big difference between manufactured tension and crisis-driven panic. One strengthens teams. The other breaks them.

Your role: Be the thermostat

Here’s where leadership matters most. Your job is not to eliminate tension. It’s to regulate it. Think of yourself as a thermostat. You’re constantly making micro-adjustments to keep the environment warm enough for trust and psychological safety, but cool enough to maintain urgency and productive discomfort. Get that balance right, and magic happens. Get it wrong, and you either end up with burnout or complacency.

You’ll know you’re in the sweet spot when: Teams debate ideas openly without it getting personal. People are energized by the work, not drained by it. Disagreements lead to better decisions, not damaged relationships. Innovation becomes a team effort, not something that happens in spite of the team.

And when things start tipping the wrong way—when tension becomes toxic or people start avoiding challenges altogether—that’s your signal to step in. Reset the tone. Remind people why the discomfort matters. Clarify what’s actually at stake.

Your role isn’t to solve every problem or make every decision. It’s to create the conditions where teams can navigate tension on their own. That takes courage to let uncomfortable conversations happen. And it takes wisdom to know when to intervene and when to let teams work through it themselves.

The payoff

When teams learn to embrace healthy tension, the benefits go way beyond better ideas. It changes everything.

— You build deeper trust. This may sound counterintuitive, but teams that challenge each other respectfully develop stronger relationships than teams that avoid conflict. When people know they can disagree without damaging the relationship, they trust each other more, not less.

— You accelerate innovation. Breakthrough thinking happens when diverse perspectives collide. When your mechanical engineer’s durability concerns clash with your electrical engineer’s performance goals, and they work through that tension together, innovation happens.

— You solve problems faster. Teams that are comfortable with tension don’t tiptoe around issues. They name the problem, debate the solutions and move forward quickly. That speed matters in an industry where product cycles are measured in months, not years.

— You retain your best people. High performers don’t leave because the work is too hard, they leave when it’s not hard enough. Talented engineers, supply chain strategists and technical experts crave complexity. They want their ideas tested, refined and solving problems that matter. If you’re not providing that environment, someone else will.

In the electronics components industry specifically, this translates to faster time-to-market, more robust product development cycles, better problem-solving when supply chains shift and teams that can adapt when new technologies or regulations emerge.

Three principles to live by

If you’re serious about building an organization that thrives on innovation, here’s what matters most:

1. Discomfort is a signal, not a problem. When tension shows up, pay attention to it. Don’t rush to resolve it. Ask: What is this tension telling us? What assumption is being challenged? What opportunity might we miss if we smooth this over too quickly?

2. Balance challenge with safety. People need to feel safe enough to take risks and challenge ideas. But they also need to feel the urgency and expectation that drives excellence. Your job as a leader is to maintain that balance constantly.

3. Celebrate the sparks. Acknowledge when ideas collide and something better emerges. Recognize when someone challenges the status quo, and it leads to a breakthrough. You get more of what you celebrate. If you want a culture that embraces healthy tension, make sure people know that productive conflict isn’t just tolerated, it’s deeply valued.

Here’s the reality: tension is inevitable. Market forces, customer demands, new technologies and geopolitical shifts will all create it.

The question isn’t whether tension will exist; it’s how you will respond. Will you harness it, or let it control you? Embracing healthy tension is like a blacksmith forging metal. The intense heat, hammering and sparks flying are not signs of destruction, but the forces shaping raw material into strong, resilient tools. It’s transformation.

The same is true for organizations. The friction of diverse ideas, the pressure of bold goals, the discomfort of tough conversations—when managed well—become the forces that forge innovation, resilience and growth that wouldn’t happen any other way.

The sparks are already flying. Market changes, team dynamics, competing priorities — they’re the raw material of innovation. The only question is: are you ready to strike the hammer?

About the author

Shane Zutz is the vice president of human resources and finance for DigiKey. DigiKey is both the leader and continuous innovator in the high service distribution of electronic components and automation products worldwide, providing more than 17 million components from nearly 3,000 quality name-brand manufacturers.