As more traditional companies are ‘going digital’, there is high demand for leaders who are able to successfully take organizations through the transformation from traditional to digital. A robust Digital Leadership Philosophy is designed to do exactly that: enable organizations to attract, retain and promote the right type of digital leaders where effectiveness and impact are key.

     Becoming a digital enterprise requires far more profound changes than merely investing in the latest digital technologies. Companies will need to search for new business models, fundamentally rethink their operating models, revamp how they attract and foster digital talent, and consider afresh how they measure the success of their business.

World Economic Forum / Accenture (2016)

We find that the differences between Traditional and Digital leaders go beyond the usual experience and expertise requirements. There appear to be some marked differences in personal traits, tendencies, and drivers that affect newly hired or promoted leaders’ success in new roles and their ability to take the organization through a digital transformation and to the “next level”. Moreover, we have found that a digital experience per se is not always correlated with a successful execution of digital objectives in traditional companies.

In our experience, a lack of rigor or attention to the Digital Leadership Philosophy in an organization is a risky proposition with a range of consequences, such as Digital Leaders derailing in their new role, stalled digital transformation, execution-related challenges, and, ultimately, disruptions to business continuity.

Technology leaders themselves need to be mindful when looking to move into high profile digital roles. Taking the time upfront to understand the situation and to ascertain their chances for success in a new company / role (independent of past success) is a good investment and will pay back aptly in faster on-boarding, successful positioning and buy-in of the digital strategy, and ultimately, execution on the enterprise digital objectives.

Each organization should have its own approach to selecting, promoting and positioning digital leaders, dependent on a unique set of business and human capital variables. Leaders that are looking to step into new Digital Roles also need a clear blueprint for their careers vis-à-vis Digital Leadership.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to re-assess and re-calibrate your Digital Leadership Philosophy. If you don’t have one, then perhaps 2018 is your year to get serious about your success and the success of your business.