The New Book “Thinkingaire” Chapter Four Agile Minds Introduction

In a broader scope, “agility” is a philosophy of managing complexity and unpredictability through empiricism. Agility is the ability to adapt to the changes. Agile minds see the world via three “I”s Interaction, Improvement, and innovation. Agile is a state of mind based on a set of principles, via understanding that in order for Agile to work, it needs to be cultural, not an imposed afterthought. Ultimately, all aspects of the enterprise from strategic planning to the most atomic levels task much embrace agile philosophy for optimal effect:
A Customer-Centric Mind: The digital business ecosystem is still evolving. The digital dynamic continues to evolve with increasing speed of change and rapid integration of business across the globe. How to become a customer-centric business is in every forward-looking organization’s agenda, it requires not just management, but every digital professional to shape a customer-centric mind, think through the lens of customers’ viewpoint, outside-in. There is nothing wrong with looking at the customer experience from the inside out. Because you are the one that can change the inside. However, the outside-in view is more important, because the customer’s experience is about how they encounter, observe or undergo a company’s events or stages. You lay out a journey which is a helpful, positive, and sharing experience with your customers. You need to operate from the realization that the customer is the lifeline of the business. Once you have this basic premise right, everything flows naturally and exceptional customer service and WOW moments will be the automatic result.
An Accelerated Mind: With increasing speed of changes, the mind also needs to be shifted and accelerated from the fixed mind to an accelerated mind. Fix mind refers to those who approach their work with fixed mindset, the assumption that their abilities are innate and not subject to changes, while an accelerated mind refers to those who solve problems or target the goals with a growth mindset - the belief that their ability level is nothing more than a snapshot in time and eminently changeable as they continue to learn and develop. A growth mind is a strategic imperative to adapt to the changes and an accelerated mind is needed to match the digital speed. Furthermore, to speed up and accelerate digital transformation, companies should capture their collective insight, which is more connected and accelerated than any single mindset, and analyze all critical, cross functional processes, to connect divergent factors for the business ecosystem in decision making and business strategic planning.
A Learning Mind: In today’s fierce knowledge, technology, and innovation economy, change is the new normal, and the speed of change is increasing. Learning is the way to keep your mind flowing, and hence your life flowing, because when you stop learning, you are stagnant. At the individual level, being a continuous learner is no longer simply a choice we can make. It is a necessity and imperative if we expect to add value, to compete for the future with authenticity and consistency. At the organizational level, the hyperconnected global workplace opens up a whole new world on how to build a creative and productive workforce, or put simply, how to build a learning customer- grooming the collective learning mind to encourage both employees and an organization as a whole to grow.
Digital thinking makes significant impacts on every aspect of the business from people, process, to technology, both horizontally and vertically. People are always the weakest link in any change or transformation effort. The way to change the game is to change the mindset, to adapt to change, and to move the world forward.Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu