Booklife Review

In this comprehensive, step-by-step guide, Hoque (LIFT: Fostering the Leader in You Amid Revolutionary Global Change) shares hard-won advice for forward-looking business leaders in a time of change, especially those managing digital transformations. These, Hoque notes, have “no fixed end point,” as technology is in constant flux. “Rather, [transformation] is very much a journey, one characterized by constant reinvention, change, and, happily, opportunity.” To help guide that journey, Hoque presents the L.I.F.T.S. system (Learn, Investigate, Formulate, Take Off, and Study) as a tool to drive digital transformations with clear eyes, predictable outcomes, full understanding of the metrics and business uses of new technologies like AI, and an absence of waste.

Reinvent sets itself apart by recognizing that the present moment is already passing, as the present moment always does—and that the pace of change will only accelerate. Hoque urges readers and their businesses to be fast and flexible but also to implement strategies that ensure that adaptation isn’t reckless. He calls for leaders to be aware of the inevitable and constant changes in the way consumers engage with companies and purchase products, to “recraft” the employee experience for the remote-work present and future, to prioritize digital security, and to explore and embrace the possibilities of AI and machine learning in a host of innovative ways, for efficiency and calculating complex analytics, but also as security boon and a “pinch” hitter for missing staffers.

This well-organized, easy-to-follow guide is upbeat and informative, with clear take-aways after each chapter, specific nuts-and-bolts advice and tools for creating business value metrics and measuring the financial impact of new technologies on the bottom line, plus up-to-date forecasts of what’s coming next. As in previous books, Hoque’s an inviting writer, one quick to acknowledge the burdens on business leaders and offer adaptable suggestions for trying to facilitate change in potentially hidebound institutions.

Takeaway: Illuminating guide to digital transformation for business leaders.

Comparable Titles: Tony Saldanha’s Why Digital Transformations Fail, Isaac Sacolick’s Digital Trailblazer.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A