Part 1: How Simulation Can Accelerate Your Digital Transformation. Around the mahogany tables of corporate boardrooms and the plywood workbenches of garage-based startups, one topic has threatened to monopolize business discussions for years: digital transformation. Part 2: The New Elements of Digital Transformation Since 2014, when our article “The Nine Elements of Digital Transformation” appeared in these pages, executive awareness of the powerful and ever-evolving ways in which...

Part 1: Five Creative Ways To Lead A Digital Transformation. Expert commentary on global affairs for leaders everywhere Various experiences with digital transformation (DX) projects, including the failures and success stories in organizations, have taught us one thing: digital transformation is about people and not about technology. This argument is now widely accepted as organizations have moved away from focusing on only the technology and off-the-shelf technological solutions to...

Part 1: Keeping up With Digital Transformation. Whether or not you have seen The Office (US) (and know that Gabe is annoyed that Andy’s answers are correct because he dislikes him), you probably know that critical thinking questions are used to evaluate a candidate’s thinking process. In fact, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) The Future of Jobs Report 2020 states that critical thinking is among the top skills employers see as rising in prominence in the lead-up to 2025, along with...

Part 1: 5 Reasons Your Employees Don’t Understand Your Company’s Vision. Leadership teams often spend hours wordsmithing their business’ vision, mission, and strategy, only to hear employees complain, “We don’t have a north star. ” Executives are often surprised by this feedback of a lack of an aspirational vision and immediately spend more time trying to craft the perfect statement. This mistaken approach makes scant progress in clarifying their people’s perception of a clear path...

Part 1: The Future of Digital Work Depends On More Than Tech Skills. Software skills may be essential for much of the work of the 21st century, but candidates also need softer skills to be reliable employees. Part 2: Informal Leadership Comes at a Cost. As an informal leader on my team, I’m often responsible not just for meeting my own goals, but also for managing and making decisions on team tasks. Even though these tasks are not mine to complete, I have to put in extra work...

Workforce Ecosystems. A New Strategic Approach to the Future of Work. The latest MIT SMR-Deloitte survey on the future of the workforce finds that most managers consider employees and external workers — including contractors, service providers, app developers, and gig workers — to be part of their workforce. This calls for an integrated approach to workforce management and has led some executives to the idea of a workforce ecosystem. This report discusses the benefits and challenges...

Part 1: Strategy as a Way of Life. Businesses must root strategy in moral purpose to thrive in a complex, rapidly changing world. Part 2: Why So Many Data Science Projects Fail to Deliver Organizations can gain more business value from advanced analytics by recognizing and overcoming five common obstacles.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/maifors/support

Part 1: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life. In my research and coaching work over the past two decades, I have met many people who feel unfulfilled, overwhelmed, or stagnant because they are forsaking performance in one or more aspects of their lives. They aren’t bringing their leadership abilities to bear in all of life’s domains—work, home, community, and self (mind, body, and spirit). Of course, there will always be some tension among the different roles we play. But, contrary to...

Part 1: Struggling to Solve a Problem? Try Reframing It.  Experts in problem-solving emphasize the importance of deeply understanding the problem before implementing countermeasures. And many cite Charles Kettering’s maxim that “A problem well-framed is a problem half-solved.” But what, precisely, is a “well-framed” problem? I’ve written before about some of the obvious errors to avoid — couching a solution in the form of a problem, and relying on generalities instead of specifics. Part 2:...

Part 1: Data: The Fuel That Drives Digital Transformation The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on many companies globally. They had to rethink the way they work, how they acquire customers, and how they keep those customers satisfied. Enter: Digital Transformation - the strategy that enabled many of them to do this.  Part 2: How Humans and AI Are Working Together in 1,500 Companies. Artificial intelligence is becoming good at many  “human” jobs—diagnosing disease, translating...

Part 1: Overcoming common mistakes in DevOps, agile, and app modernization. Steeped as we are in corporate DevOps and agile transformation efforts, one of the common questions we get is, “What have other companies struggled with within their transformation attempts and how can we learn from their mistakes?” Part 2: 7 Best Practices for Working Remotely to Follow in 2021. Remote working today is well-defined, and it has become a norm for many organizations to manage remote teams and for...

Part 1: 5 ways to start earning money with the skills you already have.                                                                                                      The CEO of AIrtasker USA says that taking advantage of flexible work allows you to keep an income while you experiment and determine the path you want to take with your career. Part 2: 7 Best Practices for Working Remotely to Follow in 2021. Remote working today is well-defined, and it has become a norm for many...

Part 1: Agile Teams and Waterfall Mindset Management.  The decisions made for the agile teams are always with the help of a confidence vote. The decision made by managers may not be always gain their confidence, which in turn may prohibit the member's full potential. Addressing customer needs or any potential gaps is required to run the agile train most smoothly. A team must know how their actions affect the company's business. If there are any sets of issues arising, team actions should be...

Part 1: Toward a Racially Just Workplace   “Happy elephant success is to be measured  not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which [one] has overcome while trying to succeed.” “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which [one] has overcome while trying to succeed.” Part 2:  Thus we turn to the moral case. Many in the U.S. business community have begun to push for more purpose-driven...

Part 1: 10 principles of workforce transformation There is a gap between the digital skills people have and those needed to live, learn, and work in the digital world. The need to upskill — to bridge this gap — is a complex problem that will require government administrators, educators, and business leaders to come together. To learn more about upskilling your own workforce, go to Upskill my workforce for the digital world. Part 2: Why Pivoting People Is a Strategic Priority To best...

Part 1: Leadership Lessons From Your Inner Child Future of Leadership in the Digital Economy              When I turned five, I got a new bike. I didn’t know how to ride it, but I took it to a nearby hill anyway, a willing warrior, ready to ride. Was I prepared? Would I be brave enough to overcome the anxiety of facing the unknown? The truth is those questions never occurred to me at the time. Reflecting on this experience decades later, I realized I wasn’t just a willing warrior — I was an...

Part 1: SAFe is a marketing framework, not an Agile scaling framework SAFe sells the illusion you can radically change without leaving your comfort zone Let’s try to make a list of all the reputable names who support Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Think about it. Does anyone come to mind? Part 2: Why Good Arguments Make Better Strategy Strategy is hard — really hard — to do well. Many leaders will admit this privately: In an anonymous 2019 survey conducted by Strategyand, 37% of 6,000...

Part 1: Companies That Obsess Over Velocity Are Clueless About Scrum Most companies using Scrum spend a lot of time discussing velocity and devising ways to increase it. Velocity becomes a magical, almost mythical number that developers must chase in every Sprint. Part 2: How to lead a digital transformation — ethically The fact that COVID-19 accelerated the need for digital transformation across virtually all sectors is old news. What companies are doing to propel success under the...

Part 1: 13 Industry Experts Share Reasons Companies Fail At Digital Transformation While the goal of digital transformation may be to simplify and streamline a company’s workflow, the process itself can be far from easy. A 2020 study by Boston Consulting Group found that a staggering 70% of digital transformation projects fall short of their goals — even when leadership is aligned. Part 2: Digitizing Isn’t the Same as Digital Transformation  If your organization is busier than ever...

Part 1: Now is the Time to Reassess Digital Transformation Strategy Around 70% of manufacturing organizations in the U.S. and Europe have adopted a digital transformation (DX) strategy (according to the IDC research). These strategies vary widely in terms of quality and focus. Some companies (but not enough) understand that DX should cover both vertical and horizontal perspectives. Transformation should go beyond factory walls and impact the supply chain, the product and services portfolio,...

Part 1: Building a Mature Data Infrastructure to Accelerate Data Usability Modern technologies are being used to power data infrastructure with the perfect tools Data is the major factor that drives strategic decisions in businesses, economies, and sometimes, even countries. Henceforth, delivering the right data in the right form plays a pivotal role in every sector. This has accelerated the need for data infrastructure that provides valuable information and insightful data for digital...

Part 1: Digital Transformation: Implementing Big Data Analytics Big Data Analytics could be a game-changer in your digital transformation journey Today’s world is driven entirely by data. It has become the most valuable asset and one could not strive to succeed in the modern crowded market without the data. As it can be a differentiating factor for business growth, companies need to utilize their data effectively. This requires the successful implementation of data analytics in business...

Part 1: Automation is a must to provide effective digital transformation Imagine a scenario in which you could share enterprise information across departments and guarantee that everybody has timely access to information. Also, consider the possibility that specific occasions in a single department automatically set off work streams in another. Indeed, you can. This should be possible with process automation and digital transformation. Part 2: We Need Digital Ethics For Responsible...

Part 1: Technological Innovation will Digitally Transform Global Industries Innovation and transformation are two factors driving change in any industry. They help companies remain competitive in the market. However, often, these two terms are used interchangeably or synonymously. Indeed, both are enablers of digital transformation, but it is also essential to identify when an enterprise needs either of them or both. Part 2: Digital Transformation: How to build a successful roadmap for a...