DIGIT Leaders’ Summit 2017. A quick review.
I had the chance to attend the inaugural DIGIT Leaders’ Summit at Our Dynamic Earth. This event was focused in how technology has permeated all facets of modern organisations, becoming an equal, if not integral, partner in setting core business strategies.
Information Technology has certainly evolved, mainly in the last few years, from a back room, occupied with “techies” taking care of light-blinking hardware to the front room, talking directly to business leaders and set core organisational strategy. This, essentially, has happened because of the realisation that IT “can make a difference”.
The day was split into three sections which considered crucial elements of leadership, looking at culture, vision, up-skilling, communication and innovation. Speakers were presenting on behalf of the public and private sector, arguing against challenges and their take on resolutions. The main outcomes were:
- Nurturing a flexible, change-friendly and open culture is fundamental in achieving long-lasting success.
- People, and not technology, is the most important factor when undergoing technology changes within any organisation.
- Core IT skills have moved away from technology to include soft skills, required to communicate the “IT language” to non-tech stakeholders.
- The single most important element of innovation is failure. Afraid to fail creates barriers to innovate.
- A true leader creates more leaders, not followers.
Culture is the hardest thing for competitors to copy. Liza Horan – Media Moxie, Director.
Chris Rivinus’ talk regarding culture got my attention as it highlighted the use of Hofstede’s Model to measure culture characteristics. It uses six dimensions to score different culture aspects, based on which can lead decision making against communication, management and marketing strategies. Relating to IT adoption, this model can help in understanding change tolerance within an organisation, thus putting effort in lacking areas to achieve better results.
Overall, I found the event very interesting and helpful regarding leadership understanding, how people relate with technology changes and how IT can lead business strategies.
