Digital Master refers to those high-performing, highly innovative and high-mature (less than 15%) digital organizations; they have both clear digital vision and well-crafted digital strategy; they are courageous to be in the vanguard of digital transformation with a quantum lead. But they also proactively develop more advanced and unique digital capabilities step-by-step and build a digital premium into their very foundation of business, such as digital thinking, culture, agility, intelligence, and structure, and they achieve high performing results through strong digital governance discipline and reach its zenith as the digital world continues to expand and diversify. At the individual level, Digital Masters are those cross-generational digital professionals who are equipped with the advanced digital minds and build a unique set of digital capabilities, climb to the top of Maslow’s Pyramid 2.0.
The purpose of Digital Master is to envision the multidimensional impact that digital philosophy, technology, and methodology will have on the future of business and human society. In today's overly complex, hyperconnected, and interdependent business dynamic, Digital Masters - the highly mature organizations - not only apply the most advanced digital technology into their business management disciplines but, more importantly, they orchestrate the harmonized digital symphony across all key business arenas, from shaping the digital mindset to building the high-performing organization.
Digital Vision: Digitalization is a constant game changer for the organization. It is the age of customer; empathy is the core foundation in customer-centricity. The organizations of the future are increasingly exhibiting digital characteristics in various shades and intensity.
Digital mindset: The mindset is far more important than talent. Talent can always be developed by those with an open and right mindset. Leaders and talent with the digital transformational mind are in higher demand, as transformational leadership is all about change.
Digital strategy: The whole is superior to the sum of pieces. A strategic vision for how digital will transform the business, understand the whole before you build out the pieces, and create a roadmap for implementing such transformation.
Digital culture - The right culture is a prerequisite for implementing a digital strategy. A great culture can support a weak strategy, but a weak culture cannot support a great strategy. A strong digital culture promotes inclusiveness, empathy, creativity, and agility.
Digital Capability – Have an in-depth understanding of the “recombinant” nature of digital capabilities. The maturity of a business capability would be based on the ability to deliver on customer needs; or to achieve the desired capability outcome, catalyze organizational maturity and business competitiveness.
Digital Innovation – Make a relentless commitment to innovation with an expanded scope. Innovation is more often composed with the full spectrum of light, focus on not only the “hard” innovation such as products or services revolution but also the “soft” innovation such as culture or communication evolution.
Digital Intelligence – Intelligence is nothing but the ability to solve problems. A hallmark of the digital age is the proliferation of data being generated. As businesses are moving slowly into an era where Big Data is the starting point - not the end. Digital Transformation concentrates on defining a comprehensive scope of change and then figuring out how to execute it with intelligence and speed.
Digital Workforce – The “work is what you do, not where you go” shift is unstoppable. And businesses must be alert to the dynamic digital environment, adapt their workforce planning and development strategies to ensure alignment with future skill requirements.
Digital Maturity – The purpose of such radical digitalization is to make a significant difference in the overall levels of customer delight. Digital makes a profound impact from the specific function to business as a whole, the truth is that both the digital world and the physical one are indispensable parts of the business. The real digital transformation taking place today isn’t the replacement of the one by the other, but harmonizing the hybrid nature of digitalization and making the good combinations that create wholly new sources of value and achieve high-level digital maturity.
The Digital transformation, like the computer technology revolution itself, is a long journey. The outlines of the fully digitalized world have long been sketched, now the phenomenon of digital is reaching the inflection point, yet we are now entering an even more rapid and extensive period of change. As this notion of “digitization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from innovation within and around business ecosystem to customer engagement, to business models and processes – and no industry is exempt. Hence, most companies naturally aim to move into a more advanced stage of digital deployment by tailoring their own unique strength and business maturity. They hope to outstrip competitors and eventually become the digital masters.
The digital culture is fast, it's furious, and it's unforgiving; especially to those who lag behind: and by 'lag' I mean by as little as months.
It holds great potentials and great cautions, it holds the potential to create a fairer, more equal global community, and it requires of its users (especially those involved in business) a strategic vision that demands innovation and flexibility.
Digital Master is a business guide that takes this culture and its requirements and applies them in a manner different from most linear assessments of either culture or business pursuits, blending the two perspectives to consider not just the changing environments and rapidity of digital pursuits, but how new strategic vision and problem-solving capabilities may evolve from a digital emphasis on traditional processes.
It's almost a makeover of the business environment, is based not on one person's assessments but on numerous professional digital debates and crowd-sourced input, and is designed to appeal not just to managers (too many business titles focus just on this audience when addressing strategic change) but to the business organization as a whole, digital professionals, and others who would take digital mindsets and use them as self-improvement tools.
From what traits constitute a high-performance culture in the digital business world to the impact of big data and social media on business communities, chapters discuss such diverse topics as 'knowledge management' approaches, how audiences perceive value, how to consider cause and effect over traditional prioritizing, and more.
At each step of the discussion, contrast is made between traditional approaches and new business models, offering the opportunity to not just contrast and analyze digital approaches, but construct new short- and long-term avenues for digital success using the unique power of the digital environment.
The primary attribute of Digital Master is its ability to appeal to all level of business reader. Most such books on the topic narrow the focus to a specific segment of business pursuit (commonly, marketing or branding) or a specific audience (typically managers or entrepreneurs). It's rare to see a book that seeks and promotes inclusion at all business levels and is directed not just to leaders, but to workers.
The digital culture is fast, it's furious, and it's unforgiving - and part of this unforgiving nature lies in a tendency to direct information to certain audiences while leaving others in the dark. I found Digital Master to be accessible to any interested in innovative approaches, business models, and collaborative ventures - and in a culture and time when business can be exclusive and self-limiting, this is a unique approach, indeed.
D. Donovan
Pearl Zhu is an innovative “Corporate Global Executive” with more than twenty-one years of technical and business working experience in strategic planning, Information Technology, software development, e-commerce and international trading, etc.
Pearl Zhu is the author of “Digital Master” book series (8+Books), which include: Digital Master –Debunk the Myth of Enterprise Digital Maturity, CIO Master – Unleash the Digital Potential of IT, Digital Valley – Five Pearls of Wisdom to Make Profound Influence, Digital Agility-The Rocky Road from Doing Agile to Being Agile, Leadership Master - Five Digital Themes to Leap Leadership Maturity, Talent Master - 199+ Questions to See Talent from Different Angles, Digitizing Boardroom - The Multifaceted Aspects of Digital Ready Boards, and received very positive feedback.
Pearl is a digital visionary who can capture business insight, technology foresight, and perceive digital leadership and management philosophy from multi-dimensional lenses and global perspectives. She is also a forward-thinking digital leader who advocates business innovation and digital transformation.
THe purpose of "Digital Master" is to envision the multidimensional impact that digital philosophy, technology, and methodology will have on the future of business and human society.
