Thursday, June 16, 2016

How to Survive in the Digital Age



Companies with leadership that is determined to do business the way it’s been done for the last several decades and focus only on selling more products to customers may be destined to fail. That’s because the traditional focus doesn’t take into account the new way that value now is being created – through networks of customers, employees and business partners.
That’s the assertion of a new book, “The Network Imperative: How to Survive and Grow in the Age of Digital Business Models.”
One of the problems in the failure of companies to make this transition is “that there’s a pretty significant skills gap among leadership teams, “says Megan Beck, co-author with Barry Libert and Jerry Wind.
“These leaders  are often older and have a really strong skill set, but in a completely different place. They may not be savvy with the right technology, they may not be following the very bleeding edge of their industry. And then there’s the mental piece – there’s just sort of a gap in observation,” Beck says.
Unfortunately for some companies, that lack of awareness of the critical importance of digital is a blind spot that may not be easily remedied.
“I don’t think it’s fear that’s holding some leaders back from making the transition – I think it’s a bit of overconfidence,” Beck says. “These are leaders who have been very successful in the past, and it’s hard for people to believe that the skill sets they’ve had for the last 20 years” are not going to provide the results they need.
“There’s a lack of savvy,” she says. “They think that it (digital) is a flash in the pan.”
Beck says that because of those mindsets and the fact that digital transformations are a big undertaking, many companies will fail as a result.
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try,” she says. “For many companies, it means refocusing (read more here)

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