Digital Outliers

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Stowe Boyd, a futurist and editor-in-chief at Work Futures, about how companies are missing the mark on digital transformation by thinking about it from an industrial approach instead of a humanities-based approach. In a wide-ranging discussion, Boyd shares his thoughts on the inherent bias in social media and how we have to do more than being aware to counteract it. He also shares how orgs can capitalize on the groundswell created by change agents, no matter where they sit in the organization, and move from an industrialization mindset into a future of work mindset.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Brenda Cooper, CIO for the city of Kirkland, Washington, about the many ways her science fiction writing parallels and even influences the nature of the digital transformation of her home city. Cooper points out that notoriously slow-moving and bureaucratic cities, must open themselves to a fast-arriving future filled with smart technologies, and balance it against the fear and personal data privacy issues that naturally go along with such change.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Dr. Jonathan Reichental, CIO for the City of Palo Alto, about how the evolution of digital technology at the heart of Silicon Valley offers each of us a sneak preview into the coming transformation in urban areas everywhere. With roughly 3 million people migrating to cities every week and more than half the world’s population now congregated in these urban centers, these regions will be the first to host an array of digital technologies – smart cars, sensors, and more - that will fundamentally change every aspect of human life.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Ben Arnold, Executive Director and industry analyst for The NPD Group, about the consumer habit of adopting technology outside the workplace, then either expecting that same technology to be made available internally or, increasingly, simply bringing it into the workplace with them. Arnold urges business leaders to pay close attention to consumer trends in digital technology and how to use these behaviors to build a workforce that plays to these strengths. He also talks about the emerging generation that expects instant engagement, and how companies can prepare for this friction. Is your organization working toward a digital workplace? Assess your progress and create a customized blueprint that help kickstart your journey to digital today: https://goo.gl/U8qVcF.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews David Rogers, faculty member at Columbia University, consultant, and author of ‘The Digital Transformation Playbook,’ about looking at digital transformation outside of a technology focus, and more of an organizational restructuring. Rogers explains how digital transformation is forcing modern enterprises to rethink virtually every aspect of their business, including how they incubate and integrate new ideas. And just as importantly, clearing the logjam of politics that might have been holding them back. Get ready for a no-holds barred conversation!

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Alexandra Samuel, a technology futurist, researcher and author who has had a front row seat to the digital tsunami transforming consumer and business landscapes alike. Samuel founded Social Signal, one of the world’s first social media agencies and is the author of Work Smarter with Social Media, a series of practical books from Harvard Business Review Press. She has an infectious passion for the Internet’s potential as a tool for community-building and civic participation.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Steve Snyder, CIO for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, about the paths he’s taken in transforming Boston’s convention center into one of the world’s most technologically sophisticated and capable exhibition and conference locations. Snyder details the importance of finding the right people and, just as important, creating an atmosphere where they are highly engaged, motivated, and invited to share and collaborate. They are also expected to take risks to build solutions that meet and exceed customer needs. Otherwise, says Snyder, his three conference centers are nothing more than “just big boxes.”

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Chris Satchell, EVP and Chief Product Officer for Comcast, about the immense changes occurring in the way we consume content within the home, and how those changes are also changing consumer expectations about the products we use at home, at play, and at work. Satchell points out that all of the new digital habits embraced by consumers must not only be embraced by the companies that want their business, but factored into every aspect of the brand: product and service design, implementation, customer service practices, packaging – every touch point.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Didier Bonnet, senior vice president at Capgemini Consulting, about why modern organizations must move beyond a simple alignment of IT with business practices, to a complete, corporate-wide embrace of digital technology and all that it entails. Bonnet shares his experiences helping the global corporate community to understand the true nature of digital transformation, and why it is mandatory that all stakeholders – from the C-suite to the rank and file – become fully conversant in digital technology if they are to succeed.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews Paul Miller, CEO and founder of the Digital Workplace Group, about how critically important it is for corporate leaders to add digital literacy to their more traditional management skillsets. In an era where political, business, and cultural leaders are no longer able to predict – let alone get in front of – the changes brought on by digital technology, Miller argues that executives must try a new approach to communications where they embrace a particular channel that feels right to them (e.g. blogging, podcasting, etc.). Simultaneously, they should enlist the help of internal digital ambassadors who are dialed in to the collaborative conversation the organization is having.

In this episode, host Brian Solis interviews David Bray, chief information officer at the Federal Communications Commission, about his Herculean efforts to digitally transform one of the U.S. government’s most important oversight authorities. Bray shares how he used a combination of innovative motivational techniques, technical acumen, and an unconventional approach to the role of CIO to fully modernize the FCC’s moribund technology programs. The result: an FCC with agile systems, intelligent processes, and motivated employees collectively empowered to continue to adapt to a rapidly changing world.