649: How to Begin Leading Through Continuous Change, with David Rogers

David Rogers: The Digital Transformation Roadmap

David Rogers is the world’s leading expert on digital transformation, a member of the faculty at Columbia Business School, and the author of five books. His previous landmark bestseller, The Digital Transformation Playbook, was the first book on digital transformation and put the topic on the map.

David has helped companies around the world transform their business for the digital age, working with senior leaders at many of the largest corporations and he’s been featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. In his newest book, The Digital Transformation Roadmap*, David tackles the barriers behind the 70% of businesses that fail in their own digital efforts and offers a five-step roadmap to rebuild any organization for continuous digital change.

Most of us have heard that leading change requires highlighting a problem, deciding on a clear vision, and then cascading that vision down. In this conversation, David and I discuss how those actions alone often result failed outcomes. Instead, we highlight what a shared vision really is and how we can do a better job of helping the entire organization respond better to change.

Key Points

• Most digital transformations fail because they focus too much on technology and not enough on the actual organizational challenges.
• Selling a problem is negative urgency. It’s important as a component of change, but insufficient alone. Successful change leaders also embrace positive urgency.
• A north star helps leaders and their organizations get clear on the “why” instead of simply the “what.” Once defined, thoughtful debate on measurement brings alignment and empowerment.
• It’s a mistake for vision to only come from the top. Vision should exist at every level.
• Avoid thinking about vision as cascading down. If anything, vision should be cascade up. How conversation happens at each juncture will define how well this works — or doesn’t.

Resources Mentioned

• The Digital Transformation Roadmap* by David Rogers
• The Digital Transformation Playbook* by David Rogers
• David Rogers on Digital newsletter

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank (episode 476)
• Engaging People Through Change, with Cassandra Worthy (episode 571)
• Doing Better Than Zero Sum-Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne (episode 641)

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