Pearl Zhu's Blog, page 1377
December 25, 2015
The Weekly Insight of the “Future of CIO” 12/25/2015 to Celebrate Holidays
Holidays is not just the time to open the gift, but also the time to open the mind.
The “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.2 million page views with 2300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom. Here is the weekly insight of the “Future of CIO” blog - to celebrate the holiday season.
The Weekly Insight of the “Future of CIO” Blog 12/25/2015Digital Master Holiday Intense-Tuning: The Future of Digital Organization: It is almost the end of the year, many start to read their tea leaf or crystal balls, what is the future trend of technology and business? Digitalization now opens the new chapter of innovation, it connects silos across walls, seas, mountains, and the planet, as the notion of “digitalization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from within and around business ecosystem, woven into the DNA of business, to customer engagement, business models and processes, and no industry is exempt. It also raises questions about leadership, strategy, culture, talent management and almost everything else. So How to run a high-effective and high-mature digital organization with the very nature of digital “persona” and amplified digital influence? From an organizational development perspective, what would be the digital dimensions to harness its unique strength and styles? And how to find tune a digital master in the upcoming new year?
Three “Rigidities” to Avoid in Innovation Management Innovations at the digital era are coming at seemingly much fast space, more changes and more potential disruptions, and therefore, innovation management also becomes more complex and dynamic, so what are the potential barriers to stop people from being creative, and how to manage innovation more effectively?
CIO’s Digital Agenda XVIII: The Pitfalls to Avoid in Digital Transformation: Digital transformation is a thorny journey, there are many roadblocks on the way, and numerous pitfalls lead to the failure, so how to identify and avoid them in order to drive digital transformation effortlessly?Three Questions to Assess an Employee’s "Digital Fitness": Digital workforce is multigenerational, multicultural, multitasking and multi-devicing; digital workplace is more flexible and productive, propelled by technology to affect where we work, how we work and at what time we choose to work. However, it doesn’t mean you are perfectly fit in because you can play the latest digital gadgets, or you are an active user at multiple social platforms. So how to assess an employee’s digital fitness via inquiries?
Synthesizing Leadership: Digital is about changes, closer to reality is that 'change' is continuously happening in such a dynamic environment of a company. The desires of stakeholders, clients and employees are evolving naturally, not to mention that many of organizations today are facing a more radical digital transformation, and some of them are at the inflection point to radical digital. Businesses need to recognize the change and help leaders meet the challenge via business savviness and agility. Improvisation, fact finding, analysis and synthesis, trial and error, all are necessary ingredients of leadership. In particular, synthesis becomes an important element in digital leadership due to the "VUCA" characteristics of digital, Here are three perspectives of synthesizing leadership.Blogging is not about writing, but about thinking and innovating the new ideas; it’s not just about WHAT to say, but about WHY to say, and HOW to say it. It reflects the color and shade of your thought patterns, and it indicates the peaks and curves of your thinking waves. Unlike pure entertainment, quality and professional content takes time for digesting, contemplation and engaging, and therefore, it takes the time to attract the "hungry minds" and the "deep souls." It’s the journey to amplify diverse voices and deepen digital footprints, and it's the way to harness your innovative spirit.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Holiday Dots Connection: Sympathy vs. Empathy
Sympathy is an emotional attachment, and empathy is an Emotional Intelligence.
Once again, it is the holiday season and it’s almost the end of the year, it is not just the time to spoil your appetite, but also the moment to open your mind, and connect more dots to discover the new meaning of holidays - Are you sympathetic to give more to others, or are you empathetic to understand better of the world? Are you compassionate about many man-made disasters; or are you passionate to overcome the challenges facing human society? What’s the further dot-connection between sympathy and empathy?
Sympathy vs. Empathy: Sympathy derives from Latin and Greek words meaning 'having a fellow feeling. The term empathy originated in psychology and has now come to mean the ability to imagine or project oneself into another person's position and experience all the sensations involved in that position. Both empathy and sympathy are feelings concerning other people. Sympathy is literally 'feeling with' - compassion for or commiseration with another person. Empathy, by contrast, is literally 'feeling into' - the ability to project one's personality into another person and more fully understand that person. (Dictionary.com).
Sympathy is an emotional attachment, and empathy is an Emotional Intelligence: Sympathy is to feel sorry about other’s unfortune. Empathy is about thinking as if you were in the other party's position. Sympathy is an emotional connection and Empathy as evidence of emotional intelligence. Someone in the throes of a strong emotion is simply unable to hear rational arguments or respond logically. The only way to move them from the heart to the rational mind is to use empathy to disarm their emotion. When people receive empathy, they truly feel heard and they can learn to listen more proactively and respond with empathy. It takes effort and we have to find our own words and our own way of saying them and become more focused on problem-solving.
Sympathy touches the heart, and empathy connects the minds. Sympathy feeds the hunger, and improve the bottom line of human society. Empathy fulfills the minds to raise the top line of human potentials. Be grateful to understand others and be understood. Sympathy makes the world caring, and empathy makes the world equal. When someone is sharing a thought with you, do you focus on what’s been told contextually and listen OBJECTIVELY with an open heart and mind. Empathy means using the right language with the right people. "Nothing in the world, in business or in life, is black and white. It could be hinting at another important skill for great leaders, which is respecting other people as if you were in their position. One can empathize with someone else without agreeing with their perspective. However, if we send out a feeling of respect towards others, we listen more selectively.
Sympathy is a positive feeling to help others with compassion. Empathy is an ultimate level of human cognition of being wise -nonjudgmental, active listening and balancing between tolerance and respect to achieve that. Sympathy shows the willing to give and support, and empathy is the path and practice to convey the human wisdom. Once a person understands that we all have different lenses, perceptions in the way we look at the world, it becomes easier to open your heart to another person and have a "soul to soul" conversation with RESPECT. It does take a lot of practice and is achievable. So sympathy reflects the holiday spirit, and empathy lifts up the holiday spirit and brings the new perspective for the upcoming new year.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Once again, it is the holiday season and it’s almost the end of the year, it is not just the time to spoil your appetite, but also the moment to open your mind, and connect more dots to discover the new meaning of holidays - Are you sympathetic to give more to others, or are you empathetic to understand better of the world? Are you compassionate about many man-made disasters; or are you passionate to overcome the challenges facing human society? What’s the further dot-connection between sympathy and empathy?
Sympathy vs. Empathy: Sympathy derives from Latin and Greek words meaning 'having a fellow feeling. The term empathy originated in psychology and has now come to mean the ability to imagine or project oneself into another person's position and experience all the sensations involved in that position. Both empathy and sympathy are feelings concerning other people. Sympathy is literally 'feeling with' - compassion for or commiseration with another person. Empathy, by contrast, is literally 'feeling into' - the ability to project one's personality into another person and more fully understand that person. (Dictionary.com).
Sympathy is an emotional attachment, and empathy is an Emotional Intelligence: Sympathy is to feel sorry about other’s unfortune. Empathy is about thinking as if you were in the other party's position. Sympathy is an emotional connection and Empathy as evidence of emotional intelligence. Someone in the throes of a strong emotion is simply unable to hear rational arguments or respond logically. The only way to move them from the heart to the rational mind is to use empathy to disarm their emotion. When people receive empathy, they truly feel heard and they can learn to listen more proactively and respond with empathy. It takes effort and we have to find our own words and our own way of saying them and become more focused on problem-solving.
Sympathy touches the heart, and empathy connects the minds. Sympathy feeds the hunger, and improve the bottom line of human society. Empathy fulfills the minds to raise the top line of human potentials. Be grateful to understand others and be understood. Sympathy makes the world caring, and empathy makes the world equal. When someone is sharing a thought with you, do you focus on what’s been told contextually and listen OBJECTIVELY with an open heart and mind. Empathy means using the right language with the right people. "Nothing in the world, in business or in life, is black and white. It could be hinting at another important skill for great leaders, which is respecting other people as if you were in their position. One can empathize with someone else without agreeing with their perspective. However, if we send out a feeling of respect towards others, we listen more selectively.
Sympathy is a positive feeling to help others with compassion. Empathy is an ultimate level of human cognition of being wise -nonjudgmental, active listening and balancing between tolerance and respect to achieve that. Sympathy shows the willing to give and support, and empathy is the path and practice to convey the human wisdom. Once a person understands that we all have different lenses, perceptions in the way we look at the world, it becomes easier to open your heart to another person and have a "soul to soul" conversation with RESPECT. It does take a lot of practice and is achievable. So sympathy reflects the holiday spirit, and empathy lifts up the holiday spirit and brings the new perspective for the upcoming new year.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Digital Master Holiday Intense Tuning Chap 3: Five Points of Digital Strategy
The strategy is the roadmap to navigate through the business's digital journey.
Strategy is the art of designing a way of navigating and effectively utilizing available resources to attain a clearly defined objective. However, in many business contexts, the word strategy is demotivating. Some organizations have strategy meetings days and weeks only to go around in circles. Now businesses step deeper and deeper into the digital era, in which everything is touched by digital technologies, but how do they put effort on reshaping the digital version of corporation strategy?
Digital TouchPoint: The traditional strategy is the view via narrow “frame,” but digital strategy view is broader to oversee business ecosystem.The traditional strategy-execution are linear steps, but digital strategy execution is an iterative continuum. Thus, the radical digital strategy shall not only put emphasis on defining how to take advantage of digital technologies, but also refine the broader digital effects, which include culture factor, agility trait, and business maturity. Digital strategy includes all kinds of digital touchpoints that help businesses get to the strategic objectives in a more structural, adaptive and cooperative way.
Digital Focal Point: One of an important aspects in strategy making is to make choices, and set priorities to maximize the business benefits. These can range from an enterprise focus, which considers the broader opportunities and risks that digital can bring in. So it also requires the new focal point of strategy such as, people centricity (human touch) will become more central to competitive advantage; cross-functional collaborations multiply and enforce the effectiveness of strategy execution, and organizational structure is becoming flatter. Further. a new strategy implies a lot of change and hence capital investments. It is not like you can change a strategy at no cost. Therefore, one has to be very careful before coming up with the suitable strategy, strong focus, and commitment. Things will change here and there along the way, indeed as to the choice of routes to the destination.
Digital Inflection Point: Many organizations are at the inflection point for digital transformation, from strategy perspective, it means digital strategy need to look holistically into the business ecosystem and try to answer the big WHY- is it critical for such digital paradigm shift; WHAT are current business problems need to be solved, and HOW - to set guidelines to enable changes, and HOW MANY - measuring the right things before measuring them right.
Digital Decision Point: Decision points are connecting strategy making and strategy execution. A combination of internal and external factors needs to be considered to achieve a winning digital strategy. You have to think about people, products, customers, competitors, etc. Due to the “VUCA” digital characteristics, having the right information to make the right decisions at the right time by the right people is simply one of the most challenging management tasks facing in digital organizations.
Digital Practice Point: Digital strategy management practices need to be proactive, not reactive. A digital strategy is just as much about knowing what you will not do as it is about knowing what you will do. Stay within what you will do in the strategic forum, but change some priorities or weight of effort in the short term, be opportunistic about emerging event, and you will reach your goal. So it is not about the plan; rather, it is about the planning process that you will go through continuously as you implement the strategy.
Digital strategy is more dynamic, inclusive and informative. And digital strategy needs to be shifted from top-down to operational inclusion, from linear, static to cascading continuum, and from inside-out, operation focus to outside-in customer centricity, getting more perspectives about the future, and making digital strategy more future proof.
Digital Master Tuning XX: Is Digital Strategy “Anti-Strategy”? In many contexts, the word strategy is demotivating. Some organizations have strategy meetings days and weeks only to go around in circles. The traditional strategy is more like a “shelf-ware” - the document put on the shelf, instead of the shared guide to compass the business transformation journey. What are the essential elements and unique styles of digital strategy to groom a Digital Master? And how to rejuvenate the fresh strategic thinking and crafting, is digital strategy “anti-strategy”?
Digital Master Tuning XXXXVIII: How to Make Strategy Work under Uncertainty. VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is digital new normal, as complexity and uncertainty increasing, the connection between any single individual organization’s strategy, and their tactical plans and actions can become diluted and disconnected. How to craft a good strategy, and make strategy executable under such uncertainty and unpredictability in order to transform the business into the Digital Master?
Digital Master Tuning #55: How to Mind the Gap between Strategy and Execution? As companies around the world transform themselves into digital business that is based on information, innovation, and intelligence, their ability to well align the strategy and execution, for delivering the solid result; their capability to explore intangible assets (leadership, culture, innovation, knowledge etc) has become far more decisive than their ability to invest in and manage physical assets.
Digital Master Tuning #66: Three Perspectives in Strategy Planning. Today’s businesses are over-complicated and hyper-connected, hence, strategy planning also becomes a more challenging and complex scenario. Who should participate strategy making, how are you anticipating and preparing for the road ahead, without anticipation, any strategy you develop is flawed by design?
Digital Master Tuning #75: How to Align Digital Vision with Strategy? In many organizations, vision is just a statement written on the wall and strategy is the set of documents put on the shelf. Usually VISION is left as corporate requirement, and strategy is not broadly understood. Metaphorically, vision is your destination, and strategy is like a GPS, to navigate you through. So first things first, how to align digital vision with strategy and keep the end in mind to business your business as a Digital Master?
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:
Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOLFollow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Strategy is the art of designing a way of navigating and effectively utilizing available resources to attain a clearly defined objective. However, in many business contexts, the word strategy is demotivating. Some organizations have strategy meetings days and weeks only to go around in circles. Now businesses step deeper and deeper into the digital era, in which everything is touched by digital technologies, but how do they put effort on reshaping the digital version of corporation strategy? Digital TouchPoint: The traditional strategy is the view via narrow “frame,” but digital strategy view is broader to oversee business ecosystem.The traditional strategy-execution are linear steps, but digital strategy execution is an iterative continuum. Thus, the radical digital strategy shall not only put emphasis on defining how to take advantage of digital technologies, but also refine the broader digital effects, which include culture factor, agility trait, and business maturity. Digital strategy includes all kinds of digital touchpoints that help businesses get to the strategic objectives in a more structural, adaptive and cooperative way.
Digital Focal Point: One of an important aspects in strategy making is to make choices, and set priorities to maximize the business benefits. These can range from an enterprise focus, which considers the broader opportunities and risks that digital can bring in. So it also requires the new focal point of strategy such as, people centricity (human touch) will become more central to competitive advantage; cross-functional collaborations multiply and enforce the effectiveness of strategy execution, and organizational structure is becoming flatter. Further. a new strategy implies a lot of change and hence capital investments. It is not like you can change a strategy at no cost. Therefore, one has to be very careful before coming up with the suitable strategy, strong focus, and commitment. Things will change here and there along the way, indeed as to the choice of routes to the destination.
Digital Inflection Point: Many organizations are at the inflection point for digital transformation, from strategy perspective, it means digital strategy need to look holistically into the business ecosystem and try to answer the big WHY- is it critical for such digital paradigm shift; WHAT are current business problems need to be solved, and HOW - to set guidelines to enable changes, and HOW MANY - measuring the right things before measuring them right.
Digital Decision Point: Decision points are connecting strategy making and strategy execution. A combination of internal and external factors needs to be considered to achieve a winning digital strategy. You have to think about people, products, customers, competitors, etc. Due to the “VUCA” digital characteristics, having the right information to make the right decisions at the right time by the right people is simply one of the most challenging management tasks facing in digital organizations.
Digital Practice Point: Digital strategy management practices need to be proactive, not reactive. A digital strategy is just as much about knowing what you will not do as it is about knowing what you will do. Stay within what you will do in the strategic forum, but change some priorities or weight of effort in the short term, be opportunistic about emerging event, and you will reach your goal. So it is not about the plan; rather, it is about the planning process that you will go through continuously as you implement the strategy.
Digital strategy is more dynamic, inclusive and informative. And digital strategy needs to be shifted from top-down to operational inclusion, from linear, static to cascading continuum, and from inside-out, operation focus to outside-in customer centricity, getting more perspectives about the future, and making digital strategy more future proof.
Digital Master Tuning XX: Is Digital Strategy “Anti-Strategy”? In many contexts, the word strategy is demotivating. Some organizations have strategy meetings days and weeks only to go around in circles. The traditional strategy is more like a “shelf-ware” - the document put on the shelf, instead of the shared guide to compass the business transformation journey. What are the essential elements and unique styles of digital strategy to groom a Digital Master? And how to rejuvenate the fresh strategic thinking and crafting, is digital strategy “anti-strategy”?
Digital Master Tuning XXXXVIII: How to Make Strategy Work under Uncertainty. VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is digital new normal, as complexity and uncertainty increasing, the connection between any single individual organization’s strategy, and their tactical plans and actions can become diluted and disconnected. How to craft a good strategy, and make strategy executable under such uncertainty and unpredictability in order to transform the business into the Digital Master?
Digital Master Tuning #55: How to Mind the Gap between Strategy and Execution? As companies around the world transform themselves into digital business that is based on information, innovation, and intelligence, their ability to well align the strategy and execution, for delivering the solid result; their capability to explore intangible assets (leadership, culture, innovation, knowledge etc) has become far more decisive than their ability to invest in and manage physical assets.
Digital Master Tuning #66: Three Perspectives in Strategy Planning. Today’s businesses are over-complicated and hyper-connected, hence, strategy planning also becomes a more challenging and complex scenario. Who should participate strategy making, how are you anticipating and preparing for the road ahead, without anticipation, any strategy you develop is flawed by design?
Digital Master Tuning #75: How to Align Digital Vision with Strategy? In many organizations, vision is just a statement written on the wall and strategy is the set of documents put on the shelf. Usually VISION is left as corporate requirement, and strategy is not broadly understood. Metaphorically, vision is your destination, and strategy is like a GPS, to navigate you through. So first things first, how to align digital vision with strategy and keep the end in mind to business your business as a Digital Master?
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:
Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOLFollow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
December 24, 2015
Digital Master Intense Tuning Chap II: Mind Crafting to Celebrate Holidays!
A good conscience is a continual Christmas. - Benjamin Franklin
It’s almost the end of the year, and it’s the holiday week, it’s not just the time for shopping or relaxing, but also the time to recharging and making New Year's Resolution. It is not just the time to gain a few pounds but also doing more PONDERING. In other words, happy holidays with mind crafting. Although you can’t control every event of your life journey, but via the power of digital mind-crafting, you can adapt to the change and keep your mind flow. Indeed, mind-set is far more important than talent. Talent can always be developed by those with an open and right mind-set. In chapter II of Digital Master, we introduce the 15 decoded ultramodern digital mind-sets, here we do a sum up for the holiday mind rebooting: “Thinking Habit”: Do you Have One? As humans, we can not “Not Thinking!” Our mind is always operating either in the foreground, or the background, at conscious, subconscious or superconscious mode. Since we don't always "feel pain," then thinking, in general, is not necessarily painful. However, we need to distinguish amongst the different types of thinking in order to evaluate the thought processes, also improve thinking qualities such as criticality, profundity, creativity, intelligence, etc. So how do you ingrain the thinking habits during this holiday season and upcoming New Year?
What is Real Thinking? Thinking is all of it, the process of being individual and human - it's the inquiry that all of us are engaged in - who am I, what am I doing here, what is life? Many say thought to the mind is like music to pianos. Thoughts come into our minds all the time; sometimes from higher consciousness and other times from the ego. However, we can stop ourselves from getting hooked on and thinking about the thoughts seriously. So what is real thinking? Is it about flow or about value? About imagination or about meaning? About decision making or about problem-solving?
Thinking Out-of-Box, What is your Box Though? Every mind has a certain box, some smaller, some bigger; the box starts set-up at a very early age, by your surroundings, the education you received, the people you interacted with and the standards by which you lived. The "boxes" are the walls in your mind. Walls in your mind are constructed by society's conditioning (rules imposed by parents, teachers, leaders, media, books, etc). When you allow information into being accepted as absolute "truth" without first using Critical Thinking, it inhibits your ability to also think creatively. So in order to think "out of the box," you have to clarify what's inside your box, though?
How to Learn & Teach Critical Thinking More Effectively: Critical Thinking has been described as "reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do." It has also been described as "thinking about thinking." It has been described in more detail as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Only small percentage of the population is the critical thinker, so how to learn and teach critical thinking more effectively?
The Brain, the Mind, and the Gut: Human needs to be humbled. Not only do we only know a tip of an iceberg about what’s going on in our environment, but also we know so little about ourselves: Who are you? Are you more than just body and brain? If so, what's behind the wheel? is it your brain that's doing the thinking, or is it you? The brain, the mind or the gut, where does your intelligence come from?
The spirit of holidays is the state of mind: being thoughtful, peaceful, playful, colorful; grateful; delightful, graceful, fruitful, and it’s the time to refresh your mind and recharge your energy.
Digital Master Featured URLs: Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:
Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
It’s almost the end of the year, and it’s the holiday week, it’s not just the time for shopping or relaxing, but also the time to recharging and making New Year's Resolution. It is not just the time to gain a few pounds but also doing more PONDERING. In other words, happy holidays with mind crafting. Although you can’t control every event of your life journey, but via the power of digital mind-crafting, you can adapt to the change and keep your mind flow. Indeed, mind-set is far more important than talent. Talent can always be developed by those with an open and right mind-set. In chapter II of Digital Master, we introduce the 15 decoded ultramodern digital mind-sets, here we do a sum up for the holiday mind rebooting: “Thinking Habit”: Do you Have One? As humans, we can not “Not Thinking!” Our mind is always operating either in the foreground, or the background, at conscious, subconscious or superconscious mode. Since we don't always "feel pain," then thinking, in general, is not necessarily painful. However, we need to distinguish amongst the different types of thinking in order to evaluate the thought processes, also improve thinking qualities such as criticality, profundity, creativity, intelligence, etc. So how do you ingrain the thinking habits during this holiday season and upcoming New Year?
What is Real Thinking? Thinking is all of it, the process of being individual and human - it's the inquiry that all of us are engaged in - who am I, what am I doing here, what is life? Many say thought to the mind is like music to pianos. Thoughts come into our minds all the time; sometimes from higher consciousness and other times from the ego. However, we can stop ourselves from getting hooked on and thinking about the thoughts seriously. So what is real thinking? Is it about flow or about value? About imagination or about meaning? About decision making or about problem-solving?
Thinking Out-of-Box, What is your Box Though? Every mind has a certain box, some smaller, some bigger; the box starts set-up at a very early age, by your surroundings, the education you received, the people you interacted with and the standards by which you lived. The "boxes" are the walls in your mind. Walls in your mind are constructed by society's conditioning (rules imposed by parents, teachers, leaders, media, books, etc). When you allow information into being accepted as absolute "truth" without first using Critical Thinking, it inhibits your ability to also think creatively. So in order to think "out of the box," you have to clarify what's inside your box, though?
How to Learn & Teach Critical Thinking More Effectively: Critical Thinking has been described as "reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do." It has also been described as "thinking about thinking." It has been described in more detail as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Only small percentage of the population is the critical thinker, so how to learn and teach critical thinking more effectively?
The Brain, the Mind, and the Gut: Human needs to be humbled. Not only do we only know a tip of an iceberg about what’s going on in our environment, but also we know so little about ourselves: Who are you? Are you more than just body and brain? If so, what's behind the wheel? is it your brain that's doing the thinking, or is it you? The brain, the mind or the gut, where does your intelligence come from?
The spirit of holidays is the state of mind: being thoughtful, peaceful, playful, colorful; grateful; delightful, graceful, fruitful, and it’s the time to refresh your mind and recharge your energy.
Digital Master Featured URLs: Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:
Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Three “Q”s to Assess a Person’s Flexibility
Dynamic digital organizations cannot operate with inflexible minds and unchanging people.
Digital organizations today are hyperconnected and over-complex, with well mixed physical workplace and virtual team setting; multi-cultural, multi-generational, and multi-devicing workforce. The organization of the future is a business designed openly for anyone with ideas on how human organizations ought to be contrived in the face of the strategic imperatives of the 21st century. The work is not the place you go, but a live organization and an experiment lab you can connect the future dots. Thus, flexibility has emerged as one of the important characteristics for both digital leaders and professionals. But how to assess a person’s flexibility via questioning?
Are you flexible to embrace the different PoVs and alternative way to do things? Though the meaning of the word flexibility, in general, more refers to physical movement capable of being bent, without breaking; from the psychology perspective, it is about the adaptation to the changes, the alternative way to do the things; and the resilience to survive or thrive from the failures. A flexible mind loves choices, enjoys making differences; feels comfortable to be unique and welcomes the diversity of thoughts as a fountain of creativity. One of the biggest challenges in this complex digital world is the fact that we need different perspectives, different knowledge and different ways to solve a problem. Sometimes there is no "one" answer: there are some, or many: That is why what is first of all needed is to think as a team via embracing the collective wisdom. Thus, a flexible mind is not restricted to rigid processes and challenge conventional way to do things. People with a flexible mind can work as a team more seamlessly, but also professionally, such team or working environment encourages collaborative thinking, build adaptability to create mutual interest communities, to identify common, yet flexible process focuses on outcomes without micromanagement and creates a sense of urgency as well.
Is a creative mind more flexible, or a flexible person more creative? Flexibility is a mental process which results in an action that tests a possible solution. Things either work or they do not. That action is creativity. The traits of innovation include: simply about how flexible people can see what's around easily and effortlessly discover a better way to do it. It’s easy to say you are flexible or playful and have a lot of innovative desire, but within the walls of an organization, the overly hierarchical culture still stifles innovation. Flexible leadership means the vision to foresight the future trend ahead, and the creativity to solving the problem on the way. Digital leadership is not only about being flexible for the ability to learn and adapt to new responsibilities, but also and above all, in the effectiveness of its initiatives, the creativity with which complex problems are solved, in actively seeking feedback on its effectiveness. Together, these flexible teams, with extensive experience, are resolute, responsive, adaptive, able to speed up the decision-making process and alternative way to do things.
Is flexibility a type of entrepreneurial attitude or a trait of learning agility? The digital transformation is shaping work from being a place you go during set hours to something you do in a dynamic, increasingly hybrid workplace. Technology has enabled new possibilities for the where, when and how of work. Digital also increases the agility with which the organization is able to correct itself through agile cultures, such as entrepreneurial attitude, the lens of diversity, and tolerance of ambiguity. See the world through the eyes of others. By understanding alternative perspectives, adaptive leaders cultivate and embrace the cognitive diversity that underpins adaptive organizations. And it marks an inflection point in the ways careers are built, work is done and participation in organizations is fostered. And a flexible organization is built to achieve high-performing result with agility and resilience.
Dynamic and changing digital organizations cannot operate with inflexible minds and unchanging people. People must first be open to seeing and understanding what stifles creativity in their surroundings, the fixed mindsets, overly rigid processes, bureaucratic culture, or command-control leadership, etc., and then they can each hold accountability on their own thoughts, beliefs, and action. So the organization as a whole can be more adapt to changes, innovative to overcome challenges, resilient to recover from unexpected setbacks and digital disruptions, and more focus on building a set of differentiated digital capabilities in running a high-effective and high-mature digital organization.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Digital organizations today are hyperconnected and over-complex, with well mixed physical workplace and virtual team setting; multi-cultural, multi-generational, and multi-devicing workforce. The organization of the future is a business designed openly for anyone with ideas on how human organizations ought to be contrived in the face of the strategic imperatives of the 21st century. The work is not the place you go, but a live organization and an experiment lab you can connect the future dots. Thus, flexibility has emerged as one of the important characteristics for both digital leaders and professionals. But how to assess a person’s flexibility via questioning?
Are you flexible to embrace the different PoVs and alternative way to do things? Though the meaning of the word flexibility, in general, more refers to physical movement capable of being bent, without breaking; from the psychology perspective, it is about the adaptation to the changes, the alternative way to do the things; and the resilience to survive or thrive from the failures. A flexible mind loves choices, enjoys making differences; feels comfortable to be unique and welcomes the diversity of thoughts as a fountain of creativity. One of the biggest challenges in this complex digital world is the fact that we need different perspectives, different knowledge and different ways to solve a problem. Sometimes there is no "one" answer: there are some, or many: That is why what is first of all needed is to think as a team via embracing the collective wisdom. Thus, a flexible mind is not restricted to rigid processes and challenge conventional way to do things. People with a flexible mind can work as a team more seamlessly, but also professionally, such team or working environment encourages collaborative thinking, build adaptability to create mutual interest communities, to identify common, yet flexible process focuses on outcomes without micromanagement and creates a sense of urgency as well.
Is a creative mind more flexible, or a flexible person more creative? Flexibility is a mental process which results in an action that tests a possible solution. Things either work or they do not. That action is creativity. The traits of innovation include: simply about how flexible people can see what's around easily and effortlessly discover a better way to do it. It’s easy to say you are flexible or playful and have a lot of innovative desire, but within the walls of an organization, the overly hierarchical culture still stifles innovation. Flexible leadership means the vision to foresight the future trend ahead, and the creativity to solving the problem on the way. Digital leadership is not only about being flexible for the ability to learn and adapt to new responsibilities, but also and above all, in the effectiveness of its initiatives, the creativity with which complex problems are solved, in actively seeking feedback on its effectiveness. Together, these flexible teams, with extensive experience, are resolute, responsive, adaptive, able to speed up the decision-making process and alternative way to do things.
Is flexibility a type of entrepreneurial attitude or a trait of learning agility? The digital transformation is shaping work from being a place you go during set hours to something you do in a dynamic, increasingly hybrid workplace. Technology has enabled new possibilities for the where, when and how of work. Digital also increases the agility with which the organization is able to correct itself through agile cultures, such as entrepreneurial attitude, the lens of diversity, and tolerance of ambiguity. See the world through the eyes of others. By understanding alternative perspectives, adaptive leaders cultivate and embrace the cognitive diversity that underpins adaptive organizations. And it marks an inflection point in the ways careers are built, work is done and participation in organizations is fostered. And a flexible organization is built to achieve high-performing result with agility and resilience.Dynamic and changing digital organizations cannot operate with inflexible minds and unchanging people. People must first be open to seeing and understanding what stifles creativity in their surroundings, the fixed mindsets, overly rigid processes, bureaucratic culture, or command-control leadership, etc., and then they can each hold accountability on their own thoughts, beliefs, and action. So the organization as a whole can be more adapt to changes, innovative to overcome challenges, resilient to recover from unexpected setbacks and digital disruptions, and more focus on building a set of differentiated digital capabilities in running a high-effective and high-mature digital organization.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
December 23, 2015
CIO’s Digital Agenda XXI: Complexity Management
Complexity can either Stimulate or Stifle Innovation.
Add caption
The “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.2 million page views with about 2300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom.
Business is complex, nature is complex, and human is complex, there are beauty and harmony in it, also it is dynamic, diverse and distinct. So the purpose of managing complexity is not to, actually is impossible to eliminate it at all, but on how to create synergy and build delight on it.
Complexity ManagementDo you have 'Complexity Mindset'? Besides change, complexity is the other characteristics facing in business today, what might be the impacts complexity could have on businesses today and how to deal with it strategically?
How to Simplify a Complex Organization- How to manage business complexity becomes one of the top agendas for today’s corporate management, though complexity does not always mean the bad thing, design complexity or collaboration complexity are the key digital factors in business competency. Still, simplicity is the ultimate level of complexity, to make things simple, but not simpler. But what are the challenges to simplify a complex organization?
“VUCA” as Digital Normality: "VUCA" is an acronym used to describe or reflect on volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situation. (Wikipedia), perhaps it’s the best description of today’s digital characteristics -"VUCA” as Digital Normality.
CIO's Agile Practices in Managing IT Complexity Businesses become over-complex and hyper-connected today, agility is the ability of an organization to sense opportunity or threat, prioritize its potential responses, and act efficiently and effectively. More specifically, what does Agile mean for IT and business, how does CIO leverage agile in managing IT complexity?
How to Manage Innovation Complexity? Innovation is how to transform novel ideas to achieve its business value, due to the hyper-complexity of modern business, innovation is essentially about reducing the unnecessary business complexity. But from a management perspective, how to manage innovation complexity, though?
The Paradox of Complexity: Modern organizations spend significant time and resources to deal with complexity, is complexity good or bad; the complex organizational structure/process or the hyper-complex business ecosystem, which factors contribute the most to making organizations more complex? And philosophically, what is the paradox of complexity?
Blogging is not about writing, but about thinking; it’s not just about WHAT to say, but about WHY to say, and HOW to say it. It reflects the color and shade of your thought patterns, and it indicates the peaks and curves of your thinking waves. Unlike pure entertainment, quality and professional content takes time for digesting, contemplation and engaging, and therefore, it takes time to attract the "hungry minds" and the "deep souls." It’s the journey to amplify your voice, deepen your digital footprints, and match your way for human progression.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Add captionThe “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.2 million page views with about 2300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom.
Business is complex, nature is complex, and human is complex, there are beauty and harmony in it, also it is dynamic, diverse and distinct. So the purpose of managing complexity is not to, actually is impossible to eliminate it at all, but on how to create synergy and build delight on it.
Complexity ManagementDo you have 'Complexity Mindset'? Besides change, complexity is the other characteristics facing in business today, what might be the impacts complexity could have on businesses today and how to deal with it strategically?
How to Simplify a Complex Organization- How to manage business complexity becomes one of the top agendas for today’s corporate management, though complexity does not always mean the bad thing, design complexity or collaboration complexity are the key digital factors in business competency. Still, simplicity is the ultimate level of complexity, to make things simple, but not simpler. But what are the challenges to simplify a complex organization?
“VUCA” as Digital Normality: "VUCA" is an acronym used to describe or reflect on volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situation. (Wikipedia), perhaps it’s the best description of today’s digital characteristics -"VUCA” as Digital Normality.
CIO's Agile Practices in Managing IT Complexity Businesses become over-complex and hyper-connected today, agility is the ability of an organization to sense opportunity or threat, prioritize its potential responses, and act efficiently and effectively. More specifically, what does Agile mean for IT and business, how does CIO leverage agile in managing IT complexity?
How to Manage Innovation Complexity? Innovation is how to transform novel ideas to achieve its business value, due to the hyper-complexity of modern business, innovation is essentially about reducing the unnecessary business complexity. But from a management perspective, how to manage innovation complexity, though?
The Paradox of Complexity: Modern organizations spend significant time and resources to deal with complexity, is complexity good or bad; the complex organizational structure/process or the hyper-complex business ecosystem, which factors contribute the most to making organizations more complex? And philosophically, what is the paradox of complexity?
Blogging is not about writing, but about thinking; it’s not just about WHAT to say, but about WHY to say, and HOW to say it. It reflects the color and shade of your thought patterns, and it indicates the peaks and curves of your thinking waves. Unlike pure entertainment, quality and professional content takes time for digesting, contemplation and engaging, and therefore, it takes time to attract the "hungry minds" and the "deep souls." It’s the journey to amplify your voice, deepen your digital footprints, and match your way for human progression.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Is Agility the Right Thing to Measure?
If you want to measure agility, you need to be able to measure how well your organizations can respond.
Agility is one of the most important digital capabilities for business to sense, respond, and adapt to changes. But how do you measure the agility of an organization? What indicators do you need to consider that would help you with in-depth understanding where you are and where you are going to? Why would someone want to measure their "agility"? Is "agile" a comparative adjective? Is agility the right thing to measure? Does it matter if one is more or less "agile"? Does the whole equal to the sum of its parts? And what do those measures enable you to do? Is there always a direct correlation between agility and customer satisfaction? Which measurements are directly affected by being more or less agile in software development? Can "agility" be measured by itself in a vacuum? Should not all measurements be aimed at some business perspective such as "customer satisfaction" or "increase in sales"? Would the organization and software development team be completely "agile" if the business' goals were met based on those measurements? Or does the business gain financial or other benefits simply by having teams score higher on some abstract "agility scale"?
If you want to measure agility, you need to be able to measure how well your organizations can respond. Given the business is in a state of decline, when you alter the organization to think in an agile mindset, To be “agile,” you need to be able to respond effectively to change. From an agile perspective, the direction is more crucial than an absolute destination. Because often the team cannot have an absolute destination. You have a vision about where you want to go. You may keep changing your destination based on the new learnings during the journey, but direction remains pretty much same. So understand which direction your need to go and frequently reflect on your progress. You can measure the time from when a “radical” new requirement appears until the software is delivered, on each key dimensions...start with, "Doing the right thing" before “doing things right.”And agility measurement needs to focus on:
(1) Timely Delivery achieved frequently and repeatedly.
(2) Response to change quickly.
(3) less cost to customers to support requirement changes.
There is a direct correlation between product value and agility: Part of the Agile is to be focused on achieving productivity/efficiency as a result of a reduction of "bureaucratic waste" - which while it involves the development team extends beyond it:
- time spent on contract negotiation and compliance.
- time spent on creating/tracking/changing detailed plans.
- time spent on ensuring compliance with rigid processes.
- time spent on communicating within and across the teams
- time spent on comprehensive documentations.
- time needed to "onboard" new staff.
- time spent in "managing" the team (conflict resolution etc.).
The legitimate question is what to measure to ensure you will end up with satisfied customers. You're going to measure agility, then you need to also measure how long it takes to get working software into the customer's hands. That is, building the right product and delivering it to a satisfied customer are not unique concepts to the Agile world---those goals have always existed. Being agile helps the business in achieving high customer satisfaction. If you are not able to achieve that then the first diagnosis can be on agility, and if it is found, you are agile enough and reason can be something else too. And then there are three components to successful customer interactions: satisfaction, value, and service. Each can be measured independently, the key pillars supporting this dimension are,
-Product Vision (How well the team understands the product vision)
-Customer collaboration (Constructive partnership with the customer)
-Customer Need (How well the team understood the customer need, "Why")
-Customer feedback (How the team takes care of customer feedback)
Measure employee happiness index: Winning teams create winning products. Being agile means respecting individuals, involving team members in day to day activities etc. In general, people pay too much attention to the notion of "processes" and "tools" to define or indeed measure their "Agility," and too little to established ideas about individual and interactions. The team has to learn "to sharpen the saw" to be effective, and leadership is also crucial for agile success - the concept of the "Situational Leadership" model - the appropriate level of directive or supportive leadership being provided as a team/individual increases their knowledge/skill of a task, dynamically adjusted through observation. The intention is to find possible ways to help the team. There are many things that an organization will do to prevent real agility: not provide training, not empower the teams, not put all the skills necessary to define/build/ deploy the software on a single team, set up bureaucratic obstacles, etc..
Measure things truly matter based on Agile principles. Agility at the end of the day is an enabler for the reasons that the organization set out to build the product and not the other way.When you make a change to a system, you invest effort for some gain to some business value that minimizes side effect to the system as a whole. If the measures are good, they will tell you that you are agile enough. And customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are signs of agile deployment success.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Agility is one of the most important digital capabilities for business to sense, respond, and adapt to changes. But how do you measure the agility of an organization? What indicators do you need to consider that would help you with in-depth understanding where you are and where you are going to? Why would someone want to measure their "agility"? Is "agile" a comparative adjective? Is agility the right thing to measure? Does it matter if one is more or less "agile"? Does the whole equal to the sum of its parts? And what do those measures enable you to do? Is there always a direct correlation between agility and customer satisfaction? Which measurements are directly affected by being more or less agile in software development? Can "agility" be measured by itself in a vacuum? Should not all measurements be aimed at some business perspective such as "customer satisfaction" or "increase in sales"? Would the organization and software development team be completely "agile" if the business' goals were met based on those measurements? Or does the business gain financial or other benefits simply by having teams score higher on some abstract "agility scale"?If you want to measure agility, you need to be able to measure how well your organizations can respond. Given the business is in a state of decline, when you alter the organization to think in an agile mindset, To be “agile,” you need to be able to respond effectively to change. From an agile perspective, the direction is more crucial than an absolute destination. Because often the team cannot have an absolute destination. You have a vision about where you want to go. You may keep changing your destination based on the new learnings during the journey, but direction remains pretty much same. So understand which direction your need to go and frequently reflect on your progress. You can measure the time from when a “radical” new requirement appears until the software is delivered, on each key dimensions...start with, "Doing the right thing" before “doing things right.”And agility measurement needs to focus on:
(1) Timely Delivery achieved frequently and repeatedly.
(2) Response to change quickly.
(3) less cost to customers to support requirement changes.
There is a direct correlation between product value and agility: Part of the Agile is to be focused on achieving productivity/efficiency as a result of a reduction of "bureaucratic waste" - which while it involves the development team extends beyond it:
- time spent on contract negotiation and compliance.
- time spent on creating/tracking/changing detailed plans.
- time spent on ensuring compliance with rigid processes.
- time spent on communicating within and across the teams
- time spent on comprehensive documentations.
- time needed to "onboard" new staff.
- time spent in "managing" the team (conflict resolution etc.).
The legitimate question is what to measure to ensure you will end up with satisfied customers. You're going to measure agility, then you need to also measure how long it takes to get working software into the customer's hands. That is, building the right product and delivering it to a satisfied customer are not unique concepts to the Agile world---those goals have always existed. Being agile helps the business in achieving high customer satisfaction. If you are not able to achieve that then the first diagnosis can be on agility, and if it is found, you are agile enough and reason can be something else too. And then there are three components to successful customer interactions: satisfaction, value, and service. Each can be measured independently, the key pillars supporting this dimension are,
-Product Vision (How well the team understands the product vision)
-Customer collaboration (Constructive partnership with the customer)
-Customer Need (How well the team understood the customer need, "Why")
-Customer feedback (How the team takes care of customer feedback)
Measure employee happiness index: Winning teams create winning products. Being agile means respecting individuals, involving team members in day to day activities etc. In general, people pay too much attention to the notion of "processes" and "tools" to define or indeed measure their "Agility," and too little to established ideas about individual and interactions. The team has to learn "to sharpen the saw" to be effective, and leadership is also crucial for agile success - the concept of the "Situational Leadership" model - the appropriate level of directive or supportive leadership being provided as a team/individual increases their knowledge/skill of a task, dynamically adjusted through observation. The intention is to find possible ways to help the team. There are many things that an organization will do to prevent real agility: not provide training, not empower the teams, not put all the skills necessary to define/build/ deploy the software on a single team, set up bureaucratic obstacles, etc..
Measure things truly matter based on Agile principles. Agility at the end of the day is an enabler for the reasons that the organization set out to build the product and not the other way.When you make a change to a system, you invest effort for some gain to some business value that minimizes side effect to the system as a whole. If the measures are good, they will tell you that you are agile enough. And customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are signs of agile deployment success.
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
December 22, 2015
Digital Master Holiday Intense-Tuning Chap I: The Future of DIgital Organization
"Digital Master" is the Guide Book to Debunk the Myths of Digital Enterprise Maturity.
It is almost the end of the year, many start to read their tea leaf or crystal balls, what is the future trend of technology and business? Digitalization now opens the new chapter of innovation, it connects silos across walls, seas, mountains, and the planet, as the notion of “digitalization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from within and around business ecosystem, woven into the DNA of business, to customer engagement, business models and processes, and no industry is exempt. It also raises questions about leadership, strategy, culture, talent management and almost everything else. So How to run a high-effective and high-mature digital organization with the very nature of digital “persona” and amplified digital influence? From an organizational development perspective, what would be the digital dimensions to harness its unique strength and styles? And how to find tune a digital master in the upcoming new year?
Digital Master Tuning #51: The Future of Organizational Development. Organizational Development helps organizations become more mature by providing an environment within which employees at all levels are inspired and allowed to commit their best in the organization's service. This is definitely a leadership challenge because effective leaders inspire that commitment habitually. However, in most of organizations, leadership of that ilk is in short supply. What's the digital vision of business leaders and how to clearly define the business goals of such organizational tuning?
Digital Master Tuning #57: The Digital Dimensions of Organizational Structure. Digital means change, choice, speed, and customer-centricity. One of the key business competencies is agility, which is the capability to adapt to the changes; and the ability to manage complexity more effectively than competitors, Business agility provides a competitive advantage. From an organizational structure perspective, how can you fine tune the digital dimensions of your organizational development?
Digital Master Tuning #85: Is the New Age of Digital Paradigm Associated with Deep Ecology. A definition for paradigms generally found is a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular subject. A digital paradigm is an emerging digital ecosystem of principles, policies, and practices that set limits or boundaries; and also offer the guidance for problem-solving or creating something new under the digital rules. It is the transformation that is reshaping our thinking and recasting the way we view ourselves, the systems of which we are the part of the environments in which we live, and the way we view the world.
Digital Master Tune XXI: A Flexible Organization: Digital is the age of choices; just like consumers have more options to shop via multi-channel platforms; organizations also have more opportunities (and risks as well) in scaling or innovating their businesses. Today, the "flexible organizations" are on the digital way, those companies, are able to "navigate" the change and the complexity of the present business world via creative problem-solving and next innovation practices. The organizational flexibility is essential for business success.
Digital Master Tuning #103: A Learning Organization. A learning organization is one in which the majority of the employees at all levels are open to new ideas, experimentation with new ways of doing things, learning from instead of condemning or punishing mistakes, errors and, perhaps most importantly, where knowledge is shared instead of hoarded, thus, expanding power instead of confining it. What Systems Thinking models are called up when organizations "learn"? Can you recognize the interconnectivity between employee learning and organizational learning? What are the characteristics of a learning organization? And does "Learning" trait differentiate Digital Masters from the digital laggards?Digital Master Tuning V: How to set Focal Point in Building a Customer-Centric Organization in the New Year? Digital is the age of customer empathy. Being customer centric is the prerequisite to becoming a Digital Master. Organizations large or small are on the journey to digital transformation. Is it reaching the inflection point for organizations to become a customer-centric business, Customer Experience is no long just a single department's job, but a collaborative effort from IT to marketing, from HR to contact center, what will be the top priorities of Customer Experience Management strategically and tactically in the new year?
Many organizations are at the inflection point of digital transformation journey, either be a disrupter or being disrupted, digital makes significant impacts on every aspect of the business from people, processes, to technology and capability both horizontally and vertically. Organizations of the future are increasingly exhibiting digital characteristics in various shades and intensity. Being digital, not just doing digital; digital maturity matters, it’s the core shift in how the business operates, the philosophy and methodology, the leadership and strategy; the mindset and culture, and it is the time to craft a new year digital resolution for your organization.
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
It is almost the end of the year, many start to read their tea leaf or crystal balls, what is the future trend of technology and business? Digitalization now opens the new chapter of innovation, it connects silos across walls, seas, mountains, and the planet, as the notion of “digitalization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from within and around business ecosystem, woven into the DNA of business, to customer engagement, business models and processes, and no industry is exempt. It also raises questions about leadership, strategy, culture, talent management and almost everything else. So How to run a high-effective and high-mature digital organization with the very nature of digital “persona” and amplified digital influence? From an organizational development perspective, what would be the digital dimensions to harness its unique strength and styles? And how to find tune a digital master in the upcoming new year?
Digital Master Tuning #51: The Future of Organizational Development. Organizational Development helps organizations become more mature by providing an environment within which employees at all levels are inspired and allowed to commit their best in the organization's service. This is definitely a leadership challenge because effective leaders inspire that commitment habitually. However, in most of organizations, leadership of that ilk is in short supply. What's the digital vision of business leaders and how to clearly define the business goals of such organizational tuning?
Digital Master Tuning #57: The Digital Dimensions of Organizational Structure. Digital means change, choice, speed, and customer-centricity. One of the key business competencies is agility, which is the capability to adapt to the changes; and the ability to manage complexity more effectively than competitors, Business agility provides a competitive advantage. From an organizational structure perspective, how can you fine tune the digital dimensions of your organizational development?
Digital Master Tuning #85: Is the New Age of Digital Paradigm Associated with Deep Ecology. A definition for paradigms generally found is a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular subject. A digital paradigm is an emerging digital ecosystem of principles, policies, and practices that set limits or boundaries; and also offer the guidance for problem-solving or creating something new under the digital rules. It is the transformation that is reshaping our thinking and recasting the way we view ourselves, the systems of which we are the part of the environments in which we live, and the way we view the world.
Digital Master Tune XXI: A Flexible Organization: Digital is the age of choices; just like consumers have more options to shop via multi-channel platforms; organizations also have more opportunities (and risks as well) in scaling or innovating their businesses. Today, the "flexible organizations" are on the digital way, those companies, are able to "navigate" the change and the complexity of the present business world via creative problem-solving and next innovation practices. The organizational flexibility is essential for business success.
Digital Master Tuning #103: A Learning Organization. A learning organization is one in which the majority of the employees at all levels are open to new ideas, experimentation with new ways of doing things, learning from instead of condemning or punishing mistakes, errors and, perhaps most importantly, where knowledge is shared instead of hoarded, thus, expanding power instead of confining it. What Systems Thinking models are called up when organizations "learn"? Can you recognize the interconnectivity between employee learning and organizational learning? What are the characteristics of a learning organization? And does "Learning" trait differentiate Digital Masters from the digital laggards?Digital Master Tuning V: How to set Focal Point in Building a Customer-Centric Organization in the New Year? Digital is the age of customer empathy. Being customer centric is the prerequisite to becoming a Digital Master. Organizations large or small are on the journey to digital transformation. Is it reaching the inflection point for organizations to become a customer-centric business, Customer Experience is no long just a single department's job, but a collaborative effort from IT to marketing, from HR to contact center, what will be the top priorities of Customer Experience Management strategically and tactically in the new year?
Many organizations are at the inflection point of digital transformation journey, either be a disrupter or being disrupted, digital makes significant impacts on every aspect of the business from people, processes, to technology and capability both horizontally and vertically. Organizations of the future are increasingly exhibiting digital characteristics in various shades and intensity. Being digital, not just doing digital; digital maturity matters, it’s the core shift in how the business operates, the philosophy and methodology, the leadership and strategy; the mindset and culture, and it is the time to craft a new year digital resolution for your organization.
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Digital Master Holiday Intense-Tuning: The Future of DIgital Organization
"Digital Master" is the Guide Book to Debunk the Myths of Digital Enterprise Maturity.
It is almost the end of the year, many start to read their tea leaf or crystal balls, what is the future trend of technology and business? Digitalization now opens the new chapter of innovation, it connects silos across walls, seas, mountains, and the planet, as the notion of “digitalization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from within and around business ecosystem, woven into the DNA of business, to customer engagement, business models and processes, and no industry is exempt. It also raises questions about leadership, strategy, culture, talent management and almost everything else. So How to run a high-effective and high-mature digital organization with the very nature of digital “persona” and amplified digital influence? From an organizational development perspective, what would be the digital dimensions to harness its unique strength and styles? And how to find tune a digital master in the upcoming new year?
Digital Master Tuning #51: The Future of Organizational Development. Organizational Development helps organizations become more mature by providing an environment within which employees at all levels are inspired and allowed to commit their best in the organization's service. This is definitely a leadership challenge because effective leaders inspire that commitment habitually. However, in most of organizations, leadership of that ilk is in short supply. What's the digital vision of business leaders and how to clearly define the business goals of such organizational tuning?
Digital Master Tuning #57: The Digital Dimensions of Organizational Structure. Digital means change, choice, speed, and customer-centricity. One of the key business competencies is agility, which is the capability to adapt to the changes; and the ability to manage complexity more effectively than competitors, Business agility provides a competitive advantage. From an organizational structure perspective, how can you fine tune the digital dimensions of your organizational development?
Digital Master Tuning #85: Is the New Age of Digital Paradigm Associated with Deep Ecology. A definition for paradigms generally found is a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular subject. A digital paradigm is an emerging digital ecosystem of principles, policies, and practices that set limits or boundaries; and also offer the guidance for problem-solving or creating something new under the digital rules. It is the transformation that is reshaping our thinking and recasting the way we view ourselves, the systems of which we are the part of the environments in which we live, and the way we view the world.
Digital Master Tune XXI: A Flexible Organization: Digital is the age of choices; just like consumers have more options to shop via multi-channel platforms; organizations also have more opportunities (and risks as well) in scaling or innovating their businesses. Today, the "flexible organizations" are on the digital way, those companies, are able to "navigate" the change and the complexity of the present business world via creative problem-solving and next innovation practices. The organizational flexibility is essential for business success.
Digital Master Tuning #103: A Learning Organization. A learning organization is one in which the majority of the employees at all levels are open to new ideas, experimentation with new ways of doing things, learning from instead of condemning or punishing mistakes, errors and, perhaps most importantly, where knowledge is shared instead of hoarded, thus, expanding power instead of confining it. What Systems Thinking models are called up when organizations "learn"? Can you recognize the interconnectivity between employee learning and organizational learning? What are the characteristics of a learning organization? And does "Learning" trait differentiate Digital Masters from the digital laggards?Digital Master Tuning V: How to set Focal Point in Building a Customer-Centric Organization in the New Year? Digital is the age of customer empathy. Being customer centric is the prerequisite to becoming a Digital Master. Organizations large or small are on the journey to digital transformation. Is it reaching the inflection point for organizations to become a customer-centric business, Customer Experience is no long just a single department's job, but a collaborative effort from IT to marketing, from HR to contact center, what will be the top priorities of Customer Experience Management strategically and tactically in the new year?
Many organizations are at the inflection point of digital transformation journey, either be a disrupter or being disrupted, digital makes significant impacts on every aspect of the business from people, processes, to technology and capability both horizontally and vertically. Organizations of the future are increasingly exhibiting digital characteristics in various shades and intensity. Being digital, not just doing digital; digital maturity matters, it’s the core shift in how the business operates, the philosophy and methodology, the leadership and strategy; the mindset and culture, and it is the time to craft a new year digital resolution for your organization.
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
It is almost the end of the year, many start to read their tea leaf or crystal balls, what is the future trend of technology and business? Digitalization now opens the new chapter of innovation, it connects silos across walls, seas, mountains, and the planet, as the notion of “digitalization” is now affecting all aspects of business operations from within and around business ecosystem, woven into the DNA of business, to customer engagement, business models and processes, and no industry is exempt. It also raises questions about leadership, strategy, culture, talent management and almost everything else. So How to run a high-effective and high-mature digital organization with the very nature of digital “persona” and amplified digital influence? From an organizational development perspective, what would be the digital dimensions to harness its unique strength and styles? And how to find tune a digital master in the upcoming new year?
Digital Master Tuning #51: The Future of Organizational Development. Organizational Development helps organizations become more mature by providing an environment within which employees at all levels are inspired and allowed to commit their best in the organization's service. This is definitely a leadership challenge because effective leaders inspire that commitment habitually. However, in most of organizations, leadership of that ilk is in short supply. What's the digital vision of business leaders and how to clearly define the business goals of such organizational tuning?
Digital Master Tuning #57: The Digital Dimensions of Organizational Structure. Digital means change, choice, speed, and customer-centricity. One of the key business competencies is agility, which is the capability to adapt to the changes; and the ability to manage complexity more effectively than competitors, Business agility provides a competitive advantage. From an organizational structure perspective, how can you fine tune the digital dimensions of your organizational development?
Digital Master Tuning #85: Is the New Age of Digital Paradigm Associated with Deep Ecology. A definition for paradigms generally found is a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular subject. A digital paradigm is an emerging digital ecosystem of principles, policies, and practices that set limits or boundaries; and also offer the guidance for problem-solving or creating something new under the digital rules. It is the transformation that is reshaping our thinking and recasting the way we view ourselves, the systems of which we are the part of the environments in which we live, and the way we view the world.
Digital Master Tune XXI: A Flexible Organization: Digital is the age of choices; just like consumers have more options to shop via multi-channel platforms; organizations also have more opportunities (and risks as well) in scaling or innovating their businesses. Today, the "flexible organizations" are on the digital way, those companies, are able to "navigate" the change and the complexity of the present business world via creative problem-solving and next innovation practices. The organizational flexibility is essential for business success.
Digital Master Tuning #103: A Learning Organization. A learning organization is one in which the majority of the employees at all levels are open to new ideas, experimentation with new ways of doing things, learning from instead of condemning or punishing mistakes, errors and, perhaps most importantly, where knowledge is shared instead of hoarded, thus, expanding power instead of confining it. What Systems Thinking models are called up when organizations "learn"? Can you recognize the interconnectivity between employee learning and organizational learning? What are the characteristics of a learning organization? And does "Learning" trait differentiate Digital Masters from the digital laggards?Digital Master Tuning V: How to set Focal Point in Building a Customer-Centric Organization in the New Year? Digital is the age of customer empathy. Being customer centric is the prerequisite to becoming a Digital Master. Organizations large or small are on the journey to digital transformation. Is it reaching the inflection point for organizations to become a customer-centric business, Customer Experience is no long just a single department's job, but a collaborative effort from IT to marketing, from HR to contact center, what will be the top priorities of Customer Experience Management strategically and tactically in the new year?
Many organizations are at the inflection point of digital transformation journey, either be a disrupter or being disrupted, digital makes significant impacts on every aspect of the business from people, processes, to technology and capability both horizontally and vertically. Organizations of the future are increasingly exhibiting digital characteristics in various shades and intensity. Being digital, not just doing digital; digital maturity matters, it’s the core shift in how the business operates, the philosophy and methodology, the leadership and strategy; the mindset and culture, and it is the time to craft a new year digital resolution for your organization.
Digital Master Featured URLs:Digital Master Author Home PageDigital Master on Future of CIO BlogDigital Master at FlipboardDigital Master at TwitterDigital Master on LinkedinGoodreads Author’s Home PageDigital Master Introduction, Fun Quiz on SlideshareDigital Master Introduction on YoutubeDigital Master Online Order Links:Digital Master on AmazonDigital Master on B&NDigital Master on Apple iTunesDigital Master on LuLuDigital Master on Google BooksDigital Master on KOBODigital Master on FeedbooksDigital Master on BOL
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
Three Questions to Assess a Person’s Discernment
The verb ‘discern’ simply means to detect with the sense.
Organizations and society as a whole go deeper and deeper into digital dynamic with “VUCA” characteristics (Velocity, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity), either being a digital leader or a digital professional today, it’s more important than ever to have strong discernment and sound judgement to make effective decisions and bring wisdom to the workplace. Discernment means the ability to judge well. The verb ‘discern’ simply means to detect with the senses. So how to assess a person’s discernment via questioning?
What’s your perception- the way (logic, lenses, philosophy, mindset, methodology) you usually use to interpret things? Discernment is more about perceptiveness and discernment requires the ability to be the witness in situations, to have the inner knowing that allows for discernment, to develop better sensing tools and then to act from the greater dimension of knowledge, understanding, and awareness. Perception is one's interpretation of the reality. It is as we see, observe and experience as defined by our mental "band-pass filters." Our mind notices and recognizes some things, but may not do the same for some other things. Our perception is what makes up our worldview. Our perception is, in turn, an interpretation based on our conditioning or beliefs, philosophy, mindset etc, leading us to judge others, all of which may be positive or negative - depending on one's perception. In effect, our perception is not absolutely true, but it is what we believe to be true. Having discernment is not equal to being judgmental which has the aspect of something being right or wrong. It is more about being free to understand things more comprehensively with contextual intelligence. Context aids us in understanding what’s relevant and what’s not. From a practical perspective, 'seeing' the context you are 'part' of, allows one to identify the leverage points of the system and then 'choose' the 'decisive' factors, in the attempt to achieve the set purpose.
Are you continuous examining whether you have a cognitive understanding (knowledge, understanding, insight ) about the circumstances, situations, or people? The most important capability of cognitive mind is the willingness and ability to seek out acknowledge, and address our ignorance and the assumptions we make to minimize it. Both willing and able to acquire various types of information begin with an understanding of purpose; what is it we want to achieve? Willingness to acquire additional information begins with an acceptance you do not know enough to achieve your purpose; you recognize a gap in the knowledge you have and value in closing the gap. Such cognitive understanding requires a person's ability to grasp or comprehend information. Too often assumptions and prejudices get in the way of understanding. Without true understanding, there is no way to have strong discernment. It is the responsibility of each individual to examine themselves and to make sure they are open to true understanding. Assumptions and prejudices are due to lack of deeper understanding. When you judge something, you form a critical opinion of it based on facts, discerned data, and preconceived notions. Many times people make a poor judgment, not because ignorance, but because of the lack of insight. So far wisdom and knowledge have evolved in humans with their eyes and ears open to understand. Understanding has happened to human, which is a reflection of the intellect that has evolved.
Can you think independently and dare to challenge conventional wisdom? Independent Thinking means you do not follow others' opinion blindly, but analyze and synthesize all sources of input and information to form your own opinion. Also, it doesn't mean you will "reinvent the wheel" every time when you make a decision. But if you uncritically accept conventional wisdom -whatever values, knowledge or ideas you've been taught, many of them perhaps are out of date or have a bias, you are not a great thinker with discernment. A leader without independent thinking is a lack of authenticity; a digital worker without independent thinking is a lack of creativity and discernment. An independent thinking mind is shining up in an open and positive working environment, but be treated as “misfit” mind in a hierarchical & silo surroundings. But now digital opens the new chapter of innovation and people-centricity, people are encouraged to express different opinions, present the strong spirit of discernment, and compete for uniqueness. Besides change, complexity is the most critical characteristics facing in digital businesses today, therefore, digital leaders and professionals with strong discernment capability can keep clearer mind, make better decisions, and practice sound judgment, they can also make positive influence on culture, have higher potential to be an innovator, and build a living people-centric digital workplace. Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
