No amount of technical subject matter expertise will make up for a lack of leadership political intelligence in a transformation environment. Learn more about the five facets of the PQ model: Futurity, Power, Empathy with Purpose, Trust, and Versatility. Watch the full webinar Listen to…
The health of many struggling transformation initiatives could be improved, by focusing on the four fundamental elements that many companies struggle with. Four elements that are so simple, and yet grossly underestimated by many, which are Focus, Accountability, Simplicity, and Transparency. This is FAST. To distill the transformation…
Company culture is a critical success factor in digital transformation initiatives, and digital transformation impacts three areas of opportunities, in their order of importance: people, process and technology. Unfortunately, between IT organizations and their respective consulting partners, the focus has almost always been the last – technology. Why?…
No amount of technical or functional capability will make up for a lack of leadership political intelligence (PQ) in a transformation environment, and many transformations run into trouble for this reason. Despite strategic decisions to launch new initiatives, with the latest digital solutions involved, the reality in most large…
Leading digital business transformation is something that has to be learned by many executives. We hear a lot about the need for companies to transform themselves digitally to remain relevant and competitive, but we hear much less about the personal transformation that leaders need to undergo, before they can lead…
In an exponential digital age, many of us need to refine our way of thinking to avoid becoming hung up on antiquated business models and more irrelevant to the future as each day goes by. While citing the Ubers of the world is easy, we all need to question ourselves about…
At this year’s Thinkers50 awards, Andrew Kakabadse accompanies five distinguished thinkers who join Charles Handy, Tom Peters, Philip Kotler and Henry Mintzberg in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. They are outstanding individuals who have all made a lasting and vital impact on how organisations are led and managed – they are the giants upon whose shoulders managers and…
The topic of digital transformation governance is far from the technical topics of social media, mobile, analytics, embedded devices, etc, but without the right governance, even the finest teams of technical talent and healthy budgets are likely to suffer similar pains to those experienced by the BBC digital transformation we wrote…
While companies and consultancies learn what it takes to surf the digital wave, one fundamental prerequisite for business success is still leadership at the top. While CEOs need to be champions of digital and involved at a strategic level, they also need to consider the outstanding value their stakeholders are…
In previous issues of CXO Weekly, we shared the details of two forthcoming online events addressing digital transformation governance and leadership. Both provide transformation leaders with the opportunity to harness the latest thought leadership to enhance their transformation leadership capability, and both take place this week: 6 October 2015: Digital Transformation Leadership Run…
In The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool we read how strategic storytelling has been enlisted to change attitudes and behaviours. But how can CIOs, CDOs and other transformation leaders of big data and other digital transformation initiatives become more effective through storytelling? In this 7-page…
While innovative digital business transformation can do wonders for an organisation, the behaviour of everyone involved from ground-floor team members to the CEO, can and does make or break any hopes of success. There is no greater current example of improper behaviour than that of Volkswagen’s former CEO, who resigned last…
As we keep stating like a broken record, “digital transformation is about business – not new technologies”, and those companies that are fortunate to have leaders who share this mindset, are far more likely to enjoy a brighter future than those that are too focused on technology. Digital Transformation Management Course…
PwC conducted 1,322 interviews with CEOs in 77 countries and published the results in the 18th Annual Global CEO Survey. The report gives a rich insight to a broad base of CEOs revealing dozens of key findings, but more than anything, the CEOs stressed the ‘soft’ skills of leadership. Michael…
Technology is responsible for much of the hierarchical structure changes we are witnessing in forward-thinking organisations, and as this article explains, the technology revolution has changed organisational life. The World Economic Forum recently asked; how is leadership changing in this complex and connected world? In…
Ego, fear of failure and a reluctance to admit ignorance can hamper an executive’s digital education and their firm’s business transformation. Many CEOs have been successful in their traditional industries where technology was simply something that kept the lights, and was seen to by the CIO. But the world…
Born in Florence, Italy in1389, Cosimo de’ Medici used multivocal leadership to get people to work together and bring out their strengths; and the best leaders still do that today. In this Harvard Business Review article Brian Uzzi suggests that those aspiring to becoming a multivocal leader…
Some people suffer a miserable existence inside their organisation for far too long. Many complain but do nothing; while most high performers will endeavour to change things but won’t suffer fools for too long and move on to a happier place. Good people have a choice between the best…
Often unspoken about but still widespread is the behaviour of corrupt individuals who get away with leadership titles for years before the law catches up with them. As leadership expert Professor Andrew Kakabadse wrote last week; “If we continue to avoid shining a light on the dark side of…
Many new CEOs are now expected to lead the transformation of their new ship whether that involves a profound change in strategy, business model, organisation, culture, people, or processes. Small Change is no longer enough to survive. While there’s more than one way to transform a company, this…