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The Digital Mindset: What It Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI
The digital revolution is here. It's changing how work gets done, how industries are structured, and how people from all walks of life work, behave, and relate to each other. To thrive in a world driven by data and powered by algorithms, we must learn to see, think, and act in new ways. We need to develop a digital mindset.
But what does that mean? Some fear it means that in the near future we will all need to become technologists who master the intricacies of coding, algorithms, AI, machine learning, robotics, and who-knows-what's-next.
This book introduces three approaches—Collaboration, Computation, and Change—that you need for a digital mindset and the perspectives and actions within each approach that will enable you to develop the digital skills you need. With a digital mindset, you can ask the right questions, make smart decisions, and appreciate new possibilities for a digital future. Leaders who adopt these approaches will be able to develop their organization's talent to prepare their company for successful and continued digital transformation.
Award-winning researchers and professors Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley will show you how, and let you in on a surprising and welcome secret: developing a digital mindset isn't as hard as we think. Most people can become digitally savvy if they follow the 30% rule—the minimum threshold that gives us just enough digital literacy to understand and take advantage of the digital threads woven into the fabric of our world.
But what does that mean? Some fear it means that in the near future we will all need to become technologists who master the intricacies of coding, algorithms, AI, machine learning, robotics, and who-knows-what's-next.
This book introduces three approaches—Collaboration, Computation, and Change—that you need for a digital mindset and the perspectives and actions within each approach that will enable you to develop the digital skills you need. With a digital mindset, you can ask the right questions, make smart decisions, and appreciate new possibilities for a digital future. Leaders who adopt these approaches will be able to develop their organization's talent to prepare their company for successful and continued digital transformation.
Award-winning researchers and professors Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley will show you how, and let you in on a surprising and welcome secret: developing a digital mindset isn't as hard as we think. Most people can become digitally savvy if they follow the 30% rule—the minimum threshold that gives us just enough digital literacy to understand and take advantage of the digital threads woven into the fabric of our world.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2022
234 people are currently reading
2890 people want to read
About the author
Paul Leonardi
8 books4 followersPaul Leonardi is a leading expert in digital transformation, the future of work, and social networks.
Paul’s insights come straight from the front lines. For 20+ years, Paul has advised Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits on how to build smarter communication, foster innovation, and manage the people side of new tech. Whether he’s coaching executives or speaking to thousands at a user conference, Paul brings clarity, energy, and a sense of humor to complex topics like AI, remote work, and digital fatigue.
Paul has turned his research into practical ideas that have shaped thinking in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and (his personal favorite) Car & Driver. His award-winning book, The Digital Mindset (co-authored with Tsedal Neeley and published with Harvard Business Review Press), offers a playbook for professionals navigating a tech-driven economy.
His newest book Digital Exhaustion (Riverhead Press) helps people learn to re-orient to their technologies in ways that improve their capacity for collaboration, innovation, and happiness whether at work or in their everyday lives.
At UC Santa Barbara, Paul chairs the Department of Technology Management, where he holds the Duca Family Endowed Chair. He also founded the university’s Master of Technology Management program, a graduate degree designed to help professionals harness the power of new technologies to build better businesses, products, and services.
Paul earned his PhD from Stanford University, and worked previously as a faculty member at Northwestern University. He lives with his family in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul’s insights come straight from the front lines. For 20+ years, Paul has advised Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits on how to build smarter communication, foster innovation, and manage the people side of new tech. Whether he’s coaching executives or speaking to thousands at a user conference, Paul brings clarity, energy, and a sense of humor to complex topics like AI, remote work, and digital fatigue.
Paul has turned his research into practical ideas that have shaped thinking in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and (his personal favorite) Car & Driver. His award-winning book, The Digital Mindset (co-authored with Tsedal Neeley and published with Harvard Business Review Press), offers a playbook for professionals navigating a tech-driven economy.
His newest book Digital Exhaustion (Riverhead Press) helps people learn to re-orient to their technologies in ways that improve their capacity for collaboration, innovation, and happiness whether at work or in their everyday lives.
At UC Santa Barbara, Paul chairs the Department of Technology Management, where he holds the Duca Family Endowed Chair. He also founded the university’s Master of Technology Management program, a graduate degree designed to help professionals harness the power of new technologies to build better businesses, products, and services.
Paul earned his PhD from Stanford University, and worked previously as a faculty member at Northwestern University. He lives with his family in Santa Barbara, CA.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
January 26, 2023
This is an excellent introduction to recent developments in digital technology, including algorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, plus a simple introduction to data and analytics. The “front end” (the main 202 pp. of text) is a very readable introduction, replete with examples from many different industries, including sports – not just online retailers. The end of the book includes a Notes section anchoring the main text by references to relevant scholarly literature in top journals and books. The result is that the main text is carefully edited into essentially something “catchy” for lay readers (e.g., the “three Cs” of Collaboration, Computation, and “Change” structure the book, with an overarching “30% rule” and three or four areas examined in each chapter – as one would expect for a popular business book), readers wanting more depth will find the Notes section extremely valuable, and comprehensive. Not only references to the scholarly literature, but to newspaper articles, short cases, and so on.
Readers will leave with a good understanding of what artificial intelligence is, the difference between machine learning and deep learning, and how to cultivate a digital presence, communicate effectively even remotely, and get a grip on cybersecurity. The authors argue that developing a “digital mindset” means knowing where data came from and what questions to ask of it, and their practical focus on getting leaders comfortable with learning should pay dividends. This comprehensive, plainspoken guide will be a godsend to leaders trying to tell a blockchain from a bitmap. The choice of good examples – e.g., how Japan classifies heart attacks as strokes – will stick in readers’ minds. What is the data? Whose data? What questions is the data answers to?
It's a journey that almost all large firms should undertake – to cultivate a digital presence; working with data, analytics, and statistics; and rethinking cybersecurity and privacy, experimentation, and implementing digital transformation as part of a greater organizational change. There is a useful glossary at the back of the book, and an Appendix of “Continuous Learning Case Examples.” I commend this book because it has good examples and provides depth and pathways to investigate topics more deeply.
Readers will leave with a good understanding of what artificial intelligence is, the difference between machine learning and deep learning, and how to cultivate a digital presence, communicate effectively even remotely, and get a grip on cybersecurity. The authors argue that developing a “digital mindset” means knowing where data came from and what questions to ask of it, and their practical focus on getting leaders comfortable with learning should pay dividends. This comprehensive, plainspoken guide will be a godsend to leaders trying to tell a blockchain from a bitmap. The choice of good examples – e.g., how Japan classifies heart attacks as strokes – will stick in readers’ minds. What is the data? Whose data? What questions is the data answers to?
It's a journey that almost all large firms should undertake – to cultivate a digital presence; working with data, analytics, and statistics; and rethinking cybersecurity and privacy, experimentation, and implementing digital transformation as part of a greater organizational change. There is a useful glossary at the back of the book, and an Appendix of “Continuous Learning Case Examples.” I commend this book because it has good examples and provides depth and pathways to investigate topics more deeply.
April 30, 2023
A compelling explanation of how companies are becoming digitally fluent in all departments. This is mandatory in order to take advantage of the metadata that every employee generates with both its digital interactions and results of experiments, the leverage gained if well integrated in the company might just propel the next innovation and consequently leading to a pull ahead of competition. The vital keywords and concepts of digital tech briefly explained. Besides a well backed account of great examples in the industry.
May 26, 2024
Took me a few months to get through this, but I learned a ton. It feels mainly geared towards decision makers and leaders, but I still feel like there were valuable lessons for me.
November 6, 2022
This book is interesting and necessary for everyone since we cannot live without technology now. It is a requirement for any organization to be digital now to survive. When we talk about digital transformation, it is not about how tech-savvy we are but it is more about the digital mindset that we need to have. To develop a digital mindset, the authors introduce "the 30 percent rule", which means we just need to achieve 30% fluency in a handful of technical topics to cultivate a digital mindset. The book then explains how to achieve this 30% fluency in 3 key processes: Collaboration, Computation, and Change.
(1) COLLABORATION
1.1 Working with Machines
Developing a digital mindset means accepting that machines are not people even if they increasingly look and sound human. Getting angry or talking politely is not effective! Instead, you need to learn how machines work, which means understanding the basics of AI.
- AI is the computer inside the robot. Today's cars, airplanes, thermostats, and even email filters all rely on artificial intelligence to perform specific tasks. When you interact with a machine by talking or writing it's through what's called a conversational interface.
- Data, processing power and algorithms are the three basic components that computer scientists use for developing AI.
- A technology stack is comprised of all the hardware and software systems needed to develop and run a single application. Typically, a technology stack includes a front-end system, a back-end system, and middleware.
- Machines mimic the "cognitive" functions of people by learning and problem-solving.
- Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that can generalize from samples and gain the ability to "learn" without being explicitly programmed by humans. Overtime, machine learning enables computers to adjust their behaviors to new situations based on the accumulated data to which they have been exposed.
- Advances in computational power paired with massive amounts of data mean that machines can make calculations much faster, more accurately, and at higher volumes than the human brain. For that reason, a digital mindset means becoming clear and intentional about the tasks you ask AI to perform.
- we cannot comprehend exactly how AI makes its calculations, we just give it instructions. A digital mindset means learning when it is and is not ok to trust the machine's results and also when to check to see that the results make intuitive sense.
Understanding the basic ways that AI works gives you a vocabulary and set of concepts that help gauge how little or how much to trust the machines you will increasingly work alongside. When collaborating with machines, remember that AI will not respond to your emotions but only to the explicit directions that you program it to follow.
1.2. Cultivating your digital presence.
Digital technologies that enable virtual work change how people collaborate. In remote work, you lose the benefits of nonverbal communication and spontaneous communication that create shared experience and understanding crucial to social bonding. This is called the mutual knowledge problem.
Developing a digital mindset means learning new practices for achieving a digital presence with your collaborators, managers, clients, and the broader organization.
Best practices to lay the foundation for digital presence:
- Send updates, don't wait: Let your team know you're making progress, whether or not you might need a course correction, and that you're engaged.
- Create a sense of curiosity. Don't be afraid to use ambiguity to pique your teammates' interest when necessary, but don't overdo it.
- Communication on their timelines, not yours. Keep your teammates' schedules and times in mind when you reach out to them.
Best strategies to use internal social media for digital presence:
- Articulate the purpose. Interactions on social media help you see how your teammates fit into the organization, what roles they play, and how they contribute.
- Look to learn. Keep a lookout for helpful information. Social media platforms open up dialogues that would otherwise remain trapped in private email exchanges.
- Get personal or social. Don't be afraid to socialize with people on social media platforms, even when the subjects aren't work-related. Casual chats with team members build natural rapport that leads to better collaboration.
- Focus on the right data. Keep a lookout for less visible forms of knowledge - for instance, knowledge of the organization's politics and processes.
- Remain "in mind" when "out of sight". Stay active on the platform! Let others know you're out there.
Establishing the close, collaborative working relationships that we all need to thrive in the digital age means developing a digital mindset that expects the mutual knowledge problem and learns strategies to compensate. Establishing a digital presence is key.
(2) COMPUTATION
2.1 Data and Analytics
Data and its use permeate nearly every facet of life. Understanding the basic principles of data analysis is key to developing a digital mindset:
- Data are produced and are the product of what we choose to capture and agree to categorize.
- Errors in what data we input can have unintended consequences; the tiniest errors can sometimes create enormous failures.
- Data classification is a socially informed decision. Because discrepancies in classification can lead to misnomers or erroneous decisions, you need to think hard about how a data set is classified.
- Classification schemes that use complex algorithms to predict behavior, such as Netflix's singular value decomposition, are highly influential but not entirely accurate here is where the data scientist focus much of their attention.
- Developing a digital mindset that can critically analyze the data means becoming aware of how bias, existing in both humans and the machines who learn from the data we give them, can skew our notion of what is true and accurate. Data confirm rather than compensate for racial or other bias.
- Data don't speak for themselves. Tell the story of your findings so their meaning is clear and relevant.
- Technology provides us with sophisticated options for data sharing, so you want to think about how much or how little data you provide people in any given situation, and in what format. We have emotional responses to how data are represented. Learn to match your data representation with your specific audience.
Developing all these facets of a digital mindset helps you to work with data's inherent subjectivity and avoid the common pitfall of believing in what can feel like data's inherent and objective facticity.
2.2 Statistical reasoning
Statistics are tools for analyzing underlying patterns in data. Developing a digital mindset means operating like a curious detective who asks the right questions and recognizes the stories that statistics can tell. Understanding a few basic concepts and terms will go a long way.
Descriptive statistics identify patterns in data:
- Central tendency statistics describe where the values of a data set tend to land (mean, mode, median).
- Dispersion statistics analyze how the data are spread out (range, variance, standard deviation).
Inferential statistics allow you to draw conclusions about a population from a sample set of available data.
Confidence intervals are a range of values that estimate the accuracy of a statistic about a population from the available data.
Hypothesis testing is the process of comparing two assumptions in order to assess the likelihood that a data sample actually reflects the overall population.
3. CHANGE
3.1 Cybersecurity and privacy
Developing a digital mindset means letting go of the idea that data security is like securing a castle with fixed access points; dynamic digital environments are inherently interdependent, complex, and bound to change. Accept that it's not a matter of if your data become vulnerable, but when. Privacy is another security concern. Plan proactively with security and privacy on top of your mind.
- Budget for technical debt continually and deliberately by updating old infrastructure and future-proofing existing infrastructure.
- Each activity you conduct online leaves traces - digital exhaust - that make your behavior visible to people and you never intended to see it. These clues can be pieced together to form behavioral profiles.
- You should be able to opt-in or out of the collection of your personal data.
- Companies need to design privacy as a default setting, embed privacy into all aspects of design, and be transparent about data collection.
- Blockchain refers to an array of distributed ledger technologies.
- Blockchain technologies are capable of recording data for complex transactions quickly and securely. Transactions performed using blockchain are permanent and irreversible, and they can be processed immediately without the need for a third party.
- Speed, security, and the ability to facilitate direct peer-to-peer transactions make blockchain ideal for cryptocurrencies, efficient record-keeping systems, the tracking of goods across supply chains, and more.
- Blockchain functions like any network - its value increases as more users adopt it - and promises to be a foundational technology that will revolutionize business and society.
Understanding when and how your private data can and cannot be harvested is part of developing a digital mindset. Remember also that digital systems are always evolving, which can bring about both intended positive and unexpected vulnerabilities.
3.2 Experimentation imperative
The speed and scale of change in the digital era make experimentation a necessity. Developing a digital mindset means recognizing the value of running experiments large and small - to extract value from data, support constant improvement, and ensure continual learning. Some basic guidelines can help you to experiment with intention and intelligence:
- Begin with a testable hypothesis and a clear rationale for why and how an experiment should be done.
- Create a learning agenda by outlining an experiment's question, steps, and how to evaluate its outcome.
- If an experiment fails, think about the lessons learned and how these lessons can be used to inform a future experiment.
- Recognize that the hundreds of millions of data points created as employees and customers use their digital tools can be turned into digital footprints that can form the basis of strong experiments.
- Remove organizational roadblocks by making resources and data available to teams across departments and rewarding teams for experimenting.
- Establish psychological safety by framing experiments as learning opportunities and emphasizing that failures provide valuable insights and lessons.
Using data and digital tools for running experiments is important at all levels of an organization. If you are building products, making ads, or working with customers, chances are you are capable of participating in some form of rapid experimentation. Best is a culture of digital experimentation, which can lead to increased revenue, cost-cutting, innovation, and employee satisfaction.
3.3 Transitioning and preparing for continuous change.
Digital transformation is when organizations redesign underlying systems and processes to align with today's data and digital technology, including AI, machine learning, and IoT. Digital transformation is not a one-and-done; it is a state of perpetual transition; your task is not simply to adapt, but to be adaptive. Leaders can emphasize specific mindsets and strategies:
- Teams must become agile, autonomous, and collaborative. Communication must be fast and effective to keep up with the speed of Digital transformation.
- Every member of the team must be able to identify how, why, when, and which digital tools align with strategic goals. Tech savvy is no longer strictly the realm of IT.
- Work backward: identify your strategic goals first, then find the right digital solutions. Gain buy-in by showing your team members how the solutions achieve team goals. This is the work digitization process.
- Replace obstacles to learning new skills with boosts: hold training sessions, establish new targets, and recruit digital mindset influencers who can champion change.
- Use the adoption framework to turn frustration about digital change into inspiration. The framework is built on the following two questions that team members must ask themselves: Have I bought in? and Am I capable of learning? To bring employees from "no" to "yes" on both questions, stress the importance of Digital transformation for the organization, each employee's critical role in the process, and your confidence in their capacity to learn.
- For continuous learning to be sustainable, learners must be internally motivated and develop individual autonomy.
- For employees to feel comfortable learning new skills for the rest of their professional lives, leaders must establish a culture of psychological safety that encourages exploration and the courage to fail.
Upskill your team! The war for digital talent is fierce. Focus on the upskilling talent within our ranks over hiring talent from the outside. Hard skills can be learned; institutional knowledge takes time to build. This new educational paradigm means employees and organizations must continually upskill to stay competitive.
(1) COLLABORATION
1.1 Working with Machines
Developing a digital mindset means accepting that machines are not people even if they increasingly look and sound human. Getting angry or talking politely is not effective! Instead, you need to learn how machines work, which means understanding the basics of AI.
- AI is the computer inside the robot. Today's cars, airplanes, thermostats, and even email filters all rely on artificial intelligence to perform specific tasks. When you interact with a machine by talking or writing it's through what's called a conversational interface.
- Data, processing power and algorithms are the three basic components that computer scientists use for developing AI.
- A technology stack is comprised of all the hardware and software systems needed to develop and run a single application. Typically, a technology stack includes a front-end system, a back-end system, and middleware.
- Machines mimic the "cognitive" functions of people by learning and problem-solving.
- Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that can generalize from samples and gain the ability to "learn" without being explicitly programmed by humans. Overtime, machine learning enables computers to adjust their behaviors to new situations based on the accumulated data to which they have been exposed.
- Advances in computational power paired with massive amounts of data mean that machines can make calculations much faster, more accurately, and at higher volumes than the human brain. For that reason, a digital mindset means becoming clear and intentional about the tasks you ask AI to perform.
- we cannot comprehend exactly how AI makes its calculations, we just give it instructions. A digital mindset means learning when it is and is not ok to trust the machine's results and also when to check to see that the results make intuitive sense.
Understanding the basic ways that AI works gives you a vocabulary and set of concepts that help gauge how little or how much to trust the machines you will increasingly work alongside. When collaborating with machines, remember that AI will not respond to your emotions but only to the explicit directions that you program it to follow.
1.2. Cultivating your digital presence.
Digital technologies that enable virtual work change how people collaborate. In remote work, you lose the benefits of nonverbal communication and spontaneous communication that create shared experience and understanding crucial to social bonding. This is called the mutual knowledge problem.
Developing a digital mindset means learning new practices for achieving a digital presence with your collaborators, managers, clients, and the broader organization.
Best practices to lay the foundation for digital presence:
- Send updates, don't wait: Let your team know you're making progress, whether or not you might need a course correction, and that you're engaged.
- Create a sense of curiosity. Don't be afraid to use ambiguity to pique your teammates' interest when necessary, but don't overdo it.
- Communication on their timelines, not yours. Keep your teammates' schedules and times in mind when you reach out to them.
Best strategies to use internal social media for digital presence:
- Articulate the purpose. Interactions on social media help you see how your teammates fit into the organization, what roles they play, and how they contribute.
- Look to learn. Keep a lookout for helpful information. Social media platforms open up dialogues that would otherwise remain trapped in private email exchanges.
- Get personal or social. Don't be afraid to socialize with people on social media platforms, even when the subjects aren't work-related. Casual chats with team members build natural rapport that leads to better collaboration.
- Focus on the right data. Keep a lookout for less visible forms of knowledge - for instance, knowledge of the organization's politics and processes.
- Remain "in mind" when "out of sight". Stay active on the platform! Let others know you're out there.
Establishing the close, collaborative working relationships that we all need to thrive in the digital age means developing a digital mindset that expects the mutual knowledge problem and learns strategies to compensate. Establishing a digital presence is key.
(2) COMPUTATION
2.1 Data and Analytics
Data and its use permeate nearly every facet of life. Understanding the basic principles of data analysis is key to developing a digital mindset:
- Data are produced and are the product of what we choose to capture and agree to categorize.
- Errors in what data we input can have unintended consequences; the tiniest errors can sometimes create enormous failures.
- Data classification is a socially informed decision. Because discrepancies in classification can lead to misnomers or erroneous decisions, you need to think hard about how a data set is classified.
- Classification schemes that use complex algorithms to predict behavior, such as Netflix's singular value decomposition, are highly influential but not entirely accurate here is where the data scientist focus much of their attention.
- Developing a digital mindset that can critically analyze the data means becoming aware of how bias, existing in both humans and the machines who learn from the data we give them, can skew our notion of what is true and accurate. Data confirm rather than compensate for racial or other bias.
- Data don't speak for themselves. Tell the story of your findings so their meaning is clear and relevant.
- Technology provides us with sophisticated options for data sharing, so you want to think about how much or how little data you provide people in any given situation, and in what format. We have emotional responses to how data are represented. Learn to match your data representation with your specific audience.
Developing all these facets of a digital mindset helps you to work with data's inherent subjectivity and avoid the common pitfall of believing in what can feel like data's inherent and objective facticity.
2.2 Statistical reasoning
Statistics are tools for analyzing underlying patterns in data. Developing a digital mindset means operating like a curious detective who asks the right questions and recognizes the stories that statistics can tell. Understanding a few basic concepts and terms will go a long way.
Descriptive statistics identify patterns in data:
- Central tendency statistics describe where the values of a data set tend to land (mean, mode, median).
- Dispersion statistics analyze how the data are spread out (range, variance, standard deviation).
Inferential statistics allow you to draw conclusions about a population from a sample set of available data.
Confidence intervals are a range of values that estimate the accuracy of a statistic about a population from the available data.
Hypothesis testing is the process of comparing two assumptions in order to assess the likelihood that a data sample actually reflects the overall population.
3. CHANGE
3.1 Cybersecurity and privacy
Developing a digital mindset means letting go of the idea that data security is like securing a castle with fixed access points; dynamic digital environments are inherently interdependent, complex, and bound to change. Accept that it's not a matter of if your data become vulnerable, but when. Privacy is another security concern. Plan proactively with security and privacy on top of your mind.
- Budget for technical debt continually and deliberately by updating old infrastructure and future-proofing existing infrastructure.
- Each activity you conduct online leaves traces - digital exhaust - that make your behavior visible to people and you never intended to see it. These clues can be pieced together to form behavioral profiles.
- You should be able to opt-in or out of the collection of your personal data.
- Companies need to design privacy as a default setting, embed privacy into all aspects of design, and be transparent about data collection.
- Blockchain refers to an array of distributed ledger technologies.
- Blockchain technologies are capable of recording data for complex transactions quickly and securely. Transactions performed using blockchain are permanent and irreversible, and they can be processed immediately without the need for a third party.
- Speed, security, and the ability to facilitate direct peer-to-peer transactions make blockchain ideal for cryptocurrencies, efficient record-keeping systems, the tracking of goods across supply chains, and more.
- Blockchain functions like any network - its value increases as more users adopt it - and promises to be a foundational technology that will revolutionize business and society.
Understanding when and how your private data can and cannot be harvested is part of developing a digital mindset. Remember also that digital systems are always evolving, which can bring about both intended positive and unexpected vulnerabilities.
3.2 Experimentation imperative
The speed and scale of change in the digital era make experimentation a necessity. Developing a digital mindset means recognizing the value of running experiments large and small - to extract value from data, support constant improvement, and ensure continual learning. Some basic guidelines can help you to experiment with intention and intelligence:
- Begin with a testable hypothesis and a clear rationale for why and how an experiment should be done.
- Create a learning agenda by outlining an experiment's question, steps, and how to evaluate its outcome.
- If an experiment fails, think about the lessons learned and how these lessons can be used to inform a future experiment.
- Recognize that the hundreds of millions of data points created as employees and customers use their digital tools can be turned into digital footprints that can form the basis of strong experiments.
- Remove organizational roadblocks by making resources and data available to teams across departments and rewarding teams for experimenting.
- Establish psychological safety by framing experiments as learning opportunities and emphasizing that failures provide valuable insights and lessons.
Using data and digital tools for running experiments is important at all levels of an organization. If you are building products, making ads, or working with customers, chances are you are capable of participating in some form of rapid experimentation. Best is a culture of digital experimentation, which can lead to increased revenue, cost-cutting, innovation, and employee satisfaction.
3.3 Transitioning and preparing for continuous change.
Digital transformation is when organizations redesign underlying systems and processes to align with today's data and digital technology, including AI, machine learning, and IoT. Digital transformation is not a one-and-done; it is a state of perpetual transition; your task is not simply to adapt, but to be adaptive. Leaders can emphasize specific mindsets and strategies:
- Teams must become agile, autonomous, and collaborative. Communication must be fast and effective to keep up with the speed of Digital transformation.
- Every member of the team must be able to identify how, why, when, and which digital tools align with strategic goals. Tech savvy is no longer strictly the realm of IT.
- Work backward: identify your strategic goals first, then find the right digital solutions. Gain buy-in by showing your team members how the solutions achieve team goals. This is the work digitization process.
- Replace obstacles to learning new skills with boosts: hold training sessions, establish new targets, and recruit digital mindset influencers who can champion change.
- Use the adoption framework to turn frustration about digital change into inspiration. The framework is built on the following two questions that team members must ask themselves: Have I bought in? and Am I capable of learning? To bring employees from "no" to "yes" on both questions, stress the importance of Digital transformation for the organization, each employee's critical role in the process, and your confidence in their capacity to learn.
- For continuous learning to be sustainable, learners must be internally motivated and develop individual autonomy.
- For employees to feel comfortable learning new skills for the rest of their professional lives, leaders must establish a culture of psychological safety that encourages exploration and the courage to fail.
Upskill your team! The war for digital talent is fierce. Focus on the upskilling talent within our ranks over hiring talent from the outside. Hard skills can be learned; institutional knowledge takes time to build. This new educational paradigm means employees and organizations must continually upskill to stay competitive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2025
Discussed with a group at work. Enjoyed the examples highlighted, still curious about the 30% rule 🤔
April 20, 2025
I liked this writing style, great examples of companies with successful digital transformations as well as how to cultivate the digital mindset individually. Good advice to manage your digital footprint as a remote worker, aka communication and not stay in a silo. Data discussion really relevant; love the example of Japan health status on heart attacks that are artificially low due to calling them strokes. Practical and useful sections for answering interview questions on digital transformation.
November 6, 2023
I liked chapter 7, continual learning is quite vital in our modern days and I did like the presentation of examples and implementation considerations.
The rest, however, felt like a lot of fluff and buzz words. Gave me the impression the authors had a contractual obligation to drop "digital mindset" at least once per page. One can probably glean just as much by reading the chapter summaries as one would by carefully perusing them.
Did get me thinking of looking into my own work's continual learning offerings though.
I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.
The rest, however, felt like a lot of fluff and buzz words. Gave me the impression the authors had a contractual obligation to drop "digital mindset" at least once per page. One can probably glean just as much by reading the chapter summaries as one would by carefully perusing them.
Did get me thinking of looking into my own work's continual learning offerings though.
I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.
September 16, 2023
[After reading this book in hard-copy form, I refreshed my memory by listening to its unabridged 7-hour audio version (read by Emmanuel Chumaceiro, Ascent Audio, 2022).]
A few days before writing this review, I watched a TED-style talk under the title "The Road Turned, Iran Kept Going Straight," by three popular Iranian professors, who were recently fired from their tenured positions by the country's dictatorial regime. The speakers pointed out that a few centuries ago, Iran was economically bustling and an important hub on the Silk Road. Then, overland trade routes were replaced by more-efficient and cheaper sea lanes, which led to Iran being left behind and becoming isolated when it did not adapt. In today's world, countries and businesses that do not adapt to digital technologies face similar fates.
UCSB Technology Management Program's Paul Leonardi and Harvard Business School's Tsedal Neeley set out to help businesses deal with the pressures and challenges of going digital. According to the authors, a digital mindset consists of a set of approaches in three key areas: collaboration, computation, and change. Working with others and effective collaboration are already familiar to most people. But collaboration in the digital era is quite different, because it requires working with other people and with machines. Making machines do what you want and trusting their predictions or recommendations are parts of the challenge.
Appreciating data and recognizing them as social constructs is another key factor. The digital world is constantly changing, so instituting an approach to change is fundamental. Development of skills in employees to embrace new technologies and to become capable of thriving in a changing environment is another fundamental requirement.
We are in a transition period. Younger workers have grown up with digital technologies, so they are "digital natives," while older workers can be viewed as "digital immigrants" with limited skills in their adopted digital environment. The authors assert that to be a competent citizen of the digital world requires only a 30% fluency in a limited number of areas. This is akin to what happens in learning a foreign language, where mastery might require the knowledge of about 12,000 words, whereas knowledge of 30% of these words, or about 4000 words, provides a person with the ability to work with others. The authors identify the 30% skill & knowledge sets that would make businesses digitally literate, as they proceed to higher levels of proficiency.
A few days before writing this review, I watched a TED-style talk under the title "The Road Turned, Iran Kept Going Straight," by three popular Iranian professors, who were recently fired from their tenured positions by the country's dictatorial regime. The speakers pointed out that a few centuries ago, Iran was economically bustling and an important hub on the Silk Road. Then, overland trade routes were replaced by more-efficient and cheaper sea lanes, which led to Iran being left behind and becoming isolated when it did not adapt. In today's world, countries and businesses that do not adapt to digital technologies face similar fates.
UCSB Technology Management Program's Paul Leonardi and Harvard Business School's Tsedal Neeley set out to help businesses deal with the pressures and challenges of going digital. According to the authors, a digital mindset consists of a set of approaches in three key areas: collaboration, computation, and change. Working with others and effective collaboration are already familiar to most people. But collaboration in the digital era is quite different, because it requires working with other people and with machines. Making machines do what you want and trusting their predictions or recommendations are parts of the challenge.
Appreciating data and recognizing them as social constructs is another key factor. The digital world is constantly changing, so instituting an approach to change is fundamental. Development of skills in employees to embrace new technologies and to become capable of thriving in a changing environment is another fundamental requirement.
We are in a transition period. Younger workers have grown up with digital technologies, so they are "digital natives," while older workers can be viewed as "digital immigrants" with limited skills in their adopted digital environment. The authors assert that to be a competent citizen of the digital world requires only a 30% fluency in a limited number of areas. This is akin to what happens in learning a foreign language, where mastery might require the knowledge of about 12,000 words, whereas knowledge of 30% of these words, or about 4000 words, provides a person with the ability to work with others. The authors identify the 30% skill & knowledge sets that would make businesses digitally literate, as they proceed to higher levels of proficiency.
August 25, 2024
The hallmark of a gifted public scientist is conveying complex ideas in a simple, straightforward manner. In this sense, Leonardi and Neeley are completely successful. The book is full of useful advice for incorporating digital technologies into personal and collective work endeavors in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing digital landscape.
I would have liked to see more content about generative AI and the growing roles of computers in decision making and content generation. However, this is addressed to some degree. I also would have liked to see more information about ethical considerations as traditionally human tasks are supplanted by advanced machines. However, it seems like the target audience is managers who are chiefly concerned with profit. Leonardi and Neeley offer advice about how to create camaraderie through "digital presence," but this is more about creating an effective workforce that an ethical stance.
Ultimately this was a great read that synthesized immense wisdom in a small, digestible package.
I would have liked to see more content about generative AI and the growing roles of computers in decision making and content generation. However, this is addressed to some degree. I also would have liked to see more information about ethical considerations as traditionally human tasks are supplanted by advanced machines. However, it seems like the target audience is managers who are chiefly concerned with profit. Leonardi and Neeley offer advice about how to create camaraderie through "digital presence," but this is more about creating an effective workforce that an ethical stance.
Ultimately this was a great read that synthesized immense wisdom in a small, digestible package.
November 9, 2024
A good book, providing a comprehensive guide to the skills and habits necessary to succeed in the computational age. The authors, academics Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley, delve into more than just big data and analytics. They explain the basics and emphasize the critical importance of data security, IT auditing, computing methods, algorithms, and other essential digital skills. The book, through a variety of case studies, offers practical advice and insights for navigating the complexities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By exploring ways to interpret and utilize digital tools effectively in various professional contexts, the authors deliver invaluable knowledge for understanding and leveraging digital advancements to enhance both personal and organizational success. A very useful guide for those who want to understand how to effectively utilize all that computing and information developments have to offer. A great book for thriving in today's rapidly evolving technological landscape.
March 13, 2025
This is a great primer for shifting one's thinking to more of a digital mindset. I personally experienced these type of approaches in my last job, a large supply chain start-up that commenced with building an ERP from zero. Since we were building from zero, we were not disrupting any established department procedures: there were no entrenched interests holding on to their traditional procedures with white knuckles. Digital transformation of an organization internally is discussed with insight in this book. What was pleasantly surprising is that the authors don't expect the reader to be overly technical - the guidance is accessible, meaningful and worth considering as the world of work is constantly changing.
November 14, 2023
This books offers a helpful thought process on how to breakdown the future of AI for anyone in a leadership role who may be struggling to understand these concepts. If you are looking for a map or instruction manual, this is not going to fit that need. The author keeps the discussion at a high level for the majority of the book, but finds a few opportunities to dive into the weeds and geeks out a bit on technical aspects and mathematical concepts. There might be better options in this space, but it's a quick listen/read and worth the time for those interested in the topic.
February 5, 2025
Decent book at giving a very high level overview of how to lead a digital/data transformation. Probably gives a layperson on the business side enough understanding to talk with the more technical leaders and contribute to the strategy. My biggest qualm with this book was that the audience they were targeting felt a bit uncertain. Parts of the book seem focused on the staff level and then suddenly shift to middle manager level or sometimes even executive level with very little transition. Overall though a good summary of the basics.
July 5, 2025
I feel bad saying this but, I'm tempted to DNF this book. It's good for those with literally no knowledge of data or the internet, but not for me. I got this book for a work book club and I'm honestly pretty disappointed, I was hoping for more of a deep dive into the digital space but I haven't gotten that. It really is an introduction to the internet, which is fine, but if you pick it up expecting any sort of critical discussion about our digital world, you won't find that here. Very buzz word-y
April 9, 2022
This book is an easy and comprehensive way to learn about digital, Artificial intelligence, machine learning, data, statistics and experimentation with organizational change. All these important aspects of digital transformation are covered in one book with examples and ideas. I liked the concept of 30% which his also used to summarize the chapters. The great part is that you don't need to be a coder to understand and implement all these trends.
January 3, 2023
A book that many should read. The days of leaving tech knowledge to the IT gurus are long gone. They don't know your needs as well as you do and people need to take responsibility for finding their own solutions. Technology is moving so fast that only small teams and individuals can determine specific software solutions by research.
This book is excellent in that it provides the framework that individuals need to acquire to survive and grow in an ever expanding technological world.
This book is excellent in that it provides the framework that individuals need to acquire to survive and grow in an ever expanding technological world.
December 26, 2024
Leonardi and Neeley write this book primarily for people in the business, rather than tech professionals. At the heart of it is gaining a better understanding of the biggest tech trends so that leaders can move their organizations from surviving to thriving in the digital age. This book came out before ChatGPT gained popularity, and it is even more relevant now as the business community is going through an AI transformation. Definitely worth a read!
didn-t-finish
November 6, 2025Put this one down very quickly. Firstly, it certainly seems like their point is going to turn out to be “continuous learning” and I don’t think we need to be told that anymore. Obviously I didn’t finish so I could be wrong.
But really the nail in the coffin was the narrator. It claims to be narrated by some opera singer, but there’s zero chance it wasn’t read by a digital AI thing. It was horrible.
But really the nail in the coffin was the narrator. It claims to be narrated by some opera singer, but there’s zero chance it wasn’t read by a digital AI thing. It was horrible.
May 18, 2022
Good summary of technical basics and relevant organisational aspects to consider in regards to digital transformation of products or services.
However the book is more for those who are not in tech- (software etc.) industry. It wasn’t entirely clear from the description, so just a tip - if you work in tech or are tech-savvy based on experience or education, this book might bore you.
However the book is more for those who are not in tech- (software etc.) industry. It wasn’t entirely clear from the description, so just a tip - if you work in tech or are tech-savvy based on experience or education, this book might bore you.
January 10, 2023
I suppose that the authors achieved their intended goal- to provide a very simple and basic understanding of the concepts required to adapt to a changing digital landscape. I consider myself a person with average knowledge of the tech landscape but this was a pretty basic book, but this could be just what you need if these concepts are totally new to you.
January 26, 2023
What are you looking for?
Personal reactions to this book will depend on what you already know and what you are looking for. The book accurately indicates it is about 30% of proficiency. The book argues many need to understand the very basics of different topics and this is pretty much what you get.
Personal reactions to this book will depend on what you already know and what you are looking for. The book accurately indicates it is about 30% of proficiency. The book argues many need to understand the very basics of different topics and this is pretty much what you get.
June 20, 2023
Used this as a weekly discussion for my staff and found it a good introduction to a lot of topics. The book is intentionally attempting to get people to the 30% of knowledge they need to understand the age of data that we live in and how algorithms, AI, distance working, and several other topics are changing the way we work and live.
July 7, 2023
I believe it’s an excellent book for those people who need a general understanding of the current transformative tech changes in the world. What I find the most beneficial is the advice to develop the digital mindset, embrace the change, continuous learning, new norms of being flexible and adaptable.
February 10, 2024
3.5 - very simple and clear explanations on the digital change we are in. It is aimed for traditional leaders I think, as the book outlines very basic (and crucial) items, but as a leader exactly in this business, I did not learn much tbh. Still a must read book for a digital mindset to differentiate yourselves.
May 11, 2024
I personally didn't learn too much from this, but it's a decent introduction to data. The real-world examples peppered throughout were the most interesting to me, as I've not heard many of them before.
Read it if you're new (I mean zero-knowledge-new) to data analysis and tech. Otherwise, give it a miss.
Read it if you're new (I mean zero-knowledge-new) to data analysis and tech. Otherwise, give it a miss.
June 14, 2024
Eu lendo esse livro e pensando: minha resenha vai ser “tá difícil viver.”
Me fez pensar muito no quão rápido as coisas vem mudando nos últimos tempos. É preciso estar preparado pra acompanhar o ritmo e entender como as novas tecnologias funcionam, mas, sinceramente, é assustador. Parece que você já começa a aprender atrasado, porque até entender tudo as coisas já vão ter mudado de novo.
Me fez pensar muito no quão rápido as coisas vem mudando nos últimos tempos. É preciso estar preparado pra acompanhar o ritmo e entender como as novas tecnologias funcionam, mas, sinceramente, é assustador. Parece que você já começa a aprender atrasado, porque até entender tudo as coisas já vão ter mudado de novo.
Read
October 4, 2024This certainly opened up a different perspective of looking at our growing digital world. It eases some of the apprehensions we may have as it continues to develop and allows us to understand it better without taking offense or feeling a certain kind of way about technology. We must use it to our advantage and not be afraid.
December 9, 2022
Suitable for beginners and those having issues with grasping the today's tech. If you're already into tech, you'll feel as if you're reading what you've already known all along. A superficial overview.
January 7, 2023
Mind opening
It has given me confidence to approach and design change more effectively. I had the constant fear of not knowing enough and the 30 percent rule made me feel comfortable about moving forward.
It has given me confidence to approach and design change more effectively. I had the constant fear of not knowing enough and the 30 percent rule made me feel comfortable about moving forward.
February 19, 2023
Great introduction for people in the workforce (primarily) who want to expand their knowledge. I think the book does well to provide a holistic view of digital concepts and frameworks.
Wasn't entirely new for me but a good refresher and I liked the 30% approach.
Wasn't entirely new for me but a good refresher and I liked the 30% approach.
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