Getting Your Digital House in Order

However today, this level of expertise alone is inadequate to drive optimal digital innovation. A truly digital transformation on the corporate front will take leadership to instill change throughout the organization.

Motivated by this kind of thinking, many companies are bringing in digital executive leaders and board members to guide their transitions toward greater digital competency. Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Berkshire Hathaway, and FedEx all recently made such moves.¹

“A token digital director is no longer sufficient,“¹ writes Jeffrey F. Rayport and Tuck Rickards in their Harvard Business Review article,  “Do You Have a Digital Director?

If you have been thinking about this, here are three points from Jeffrey and Tuck’s article for getting your digital house in order:

• Recruit at least one digital director to your board or executive leadership team.
• Ensure this candidate is aligned with the types of digital opportunities and challenges your company faces.
• Ensure your candidate’s capabilities are aligned with the functions that will have the greatest impact across your organization.¹

Then of course, there’s also the rest of your staff to consider.

“Unless you were born in the 1990s, you are most likely a digital immigrant—someone whose ability to use a smartphone, tablet and interact via social media networks does not come as naturally as it does for digital natives,” writes Forbes staff, Eric Savitz. “But as with any immigrant in a foreign culture, there are new languages, attitudes, and mind-sets that can be learned, helping ease your transition into this new environment.”