Welcome to the Sh*t Show (Just Surround Yourself With Brilliance and You'll be Fine)
So here's a secret. You don't have to be brilliant, you just need to surround yourself with people who are and it rubs off on you. (Kind of like you don't have to own the big house and boat on Lake Minnetonka - you just need a good friend who does). This was once again proven true for me with our amazing guests for the first season of our new podcast series In the Key of D: Using Digital to Transform Your Business.
Engage talented, energetic, colorful, and highly successful people in conversations and you get back high energy, engaging, and extremely valuable content filled with a ton of insights. I am thrilled that all of you can now listen in on these conversations as well, because recording them was the most fun I've had in, well, forever.
This brings me to my headline of Welcome to the Sh*t Show which came from our guest, Andrew Eklund, who leads a highly successful digital agency called Ciceron (www.ciceron.com). This was the title of a speech he gave in Lake Tahoe last August at a MediaPost conference - and his use of it during our podcast recording made both me and Gino laugh right out loud. Andrew's presentation last year was about that the market was running too hot and perhaps a bit of a house of cards in 2019, and he and others were expecting something to take it down in 2020. I think it aptly describes what we all are facing in 2020 (even though Andrew and others didn't expect a pandemic per se), but there is hope. Listen to the episode featuring Andrew to learn more - as he very articulately lays out how new digital channels and opportunities have emerged following these times of economic crashes and recovery.
Here is a recap of all of our Season One episodes and guests:
- Let's Get Digital - featuring Gino Giovannelli
- Why Sears Could Have Been Amazon - featuring Craig Herkert
- Measure Twice, Cut Once - featuring Andrew Benson and John Dusek
- Small Bets, Placed Often - featuring Jen Swanson
- Welcome to the Sh*t Show - featuring Andrew Eklund
- Keep the Talent, Lose the Fear - featuring Darin Lynch
- Evolution Not Revolution - featuring Stuart Harris
"Digital Transformation is the use of smart, connected technologies to solve a problem."
One of the first questions we ask each guest is how they define Digital Transformation. Not surprisingly, just like all things digital we got a wide array of definitions and I love them all. These include:
- Broadly defined, digital transformation is about how we transform things that we used to do physically into something that comes be done with computers - that is - zeros and ones. (Craig Herkert)
- Digital transformation is a way to shift away from thinking about digital being something that supports the strategy of a company - to digital actually being the strategy. (Jen Swanson)
- (It is) how we help companies use technology and data to frankly just be more responsive, be more responsible and faster in an environment that is just moving so incredibly fast. (Andrew Eklund)
- Digital transformation is NOT just a marketing slogan or the concept of upgrading your servers or software or devices. It IS about the weaving and embracing of technology into all approaches to improve business performance. (Darin Lynch)
- Digital transformation is the use of smart, connected technologies to solve a problem, and it usually involves a change in behavior or work practice. (Stuart Harris)
- The user experience (or UX) part of digital transformation is a loose collection of things - including research, design, and writing - that all have the common goal of using input and feedback from end-users in the actual design of a digital product. (Andrew Benson)
- It's the million-dollar question and most people go right to the technology (eCommerce, AI, IoT, wearable technology). But digital transformation also includes the enablers of people, processes, and platforms which is the glue that makes it happen - and all of the touchpoints which is where digital transformation touches customers, employees, and partners. (Gino Giovannelli)
- It's a whole bunch of stuff that I know I am supposed to be doing to make my business better, but I am just not exactly sure how to get started. (Kathy Hollenhorst)
See - very clearly not brilliant but in the company of all of the other great definitions, I figure mine begins to look a bit better. I'll let you decide.
So while we all are indeed in a business and personal shi*t show like we haven't seen in awhile, with chaos comes opportunity. I hope you join us on this journey and hear firsthand how our experts suggest you bring this digital transformation opportunity to life for your business and yourself. It's definitely worth a listen. Check out more at www.creatis.com/podcast
Creatis , Managing Change , InTheKeyofD, Digital Transformation
