Let’s face it: there’s much talk and hoopla about digital strategy and disruption. And I stand guilty as charged. Yet, according to a study conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Capgemini Consulting, only 38% responded that digital transformation is on their CEO’s agenda and that the number…
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?…
In my previous CXO Weekly article, I discussed the importance of strategy as the primary driving force in digital transformation. Strategy plays a critical role – it has potential to positively impact the three areas of transformation: people, process and technology. In my experience as transformation advisor and…
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…
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…
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…
Most companies have yet to realise the digital delights that the world is talking about, although many are at least aware of the fact that they need to leverage new technologies to transform their business. According to this recent McKinsey article, leadership and talent are among the biggest hurdles…
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…
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…
The topic of Leadership is one that always sparks energised conversation filled with opinions as broad as a barn door. On this occasion, McKinsey’s Leadership Development Practice gathered a group of well-respected experts to answer the question, “is leadership timeless?” and a series of other questions such as,…
Few people reading this post will not have come across people in high authority that who have poor leadership capabilities. Listen to Simon Sinek touch on this topic.
Watching a leader with poor emotional intelligence makes many of us cringe, and watching such a leader operate in a culture other than their own is even worse. Consider this good advice for leaders on the world stage and advice for people who…
While the world is teaming with innovation hype, and many companies talk about their desire to be innovative, we often see them going no further than fixing internal issues by running change (not transformation) programmes and implementing IT systems that are simply pre-requisites for effective operations. Discover…
No CXO would be averse to turning a sleep-inducing leadership summit into a highlight on the annual agenda. If your last summit was a struggle, a better approach will get executive committee members enthusiastic for the next one as they can see what’s in it for them and why the event…
Having lived in the halls of both international sport and international business, I can draw many parallels between the two. Quotes such as “How you win is how you are celebrated, but how you lose is how you are judged” can also be used to highlight the similarities, but not…
Stakeholder Management helps us ensure successful change. It helps managers assess and manage the environment around the planned programme and brings out the interests of the stakeholders and identifies potential conflicts to assign a level of risk or challenges to the programme’s success. It also helps identify existing relationships…