Beyond Digital – The Era of Autonomous Transformation (Outthinkers Podcast #124)

"You only need a digital transformation if you're transforming into something. So, when people say, 'We're going through our digital transformation', I always love to say, 'Well, what are you transforming into?' It can become just an overarching bucket that we just keep doing digital things, but it's only useful if it's creating more value for our customers and our partners.”

Brian Evergreen is the author of Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, which was named a Next Big Idea “Must-Read” and for which Brian was shortlisted for the 2023 Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award. ?

Building on his experiences working at Accenture, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft, Brian advises and speaks to organizations around the world, guest lectures at 美国普渡大学 and the Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management , sharing the unconventional and innovative methods and frameworks he developed leading and advising Digital Transformation initiatives at many of the world's most valuable companies. There are very few people in the world who has had as much experience of Brian facilitating strategic conversations that lead to big, breakthrough ideas.?

At the core of Brian’s ideas is that in this age of accelerated AI, there is not only room for—but a dire need for human reasoning to remain a core component of business strategy in what he calls “autonomous transformation,” which contrast with and complements what we all call digital transformation. ?

He recently joined the Outthinkers Podcast to discuss:

• The differences between transformation, reformation and creation — and when each is best employed given the presence of key criteria.
• His "reason-driven Framework," which in contrast to data-driven frameworks, allow the space and opportunity for human experimentation, learning, and innovation.
• The critical difference between digital transformation (moving from analog to digital) and autonomous transformation, which encompasses systems that autonomously handle processes and make decisions, emphasizing that transformation should create value, not just imply digital changes.

Listen to the full episode here.

Episode Timeline

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:09—Introducing Brian + the topic of today’s episode

2:56—If you really know me, you know that...

3:29— How chess shaped Brian's approach to strategy

04:49— Defining strategy: a decision tree framework

05:56— Challenges of strategy implementation in organizations?

06:58— Reformation vs. transformation, the key differences

09:17— Knowing when to build from scratch

11:24— Reason driven framework for strategic decision making

14:16—? Data vs. reason: Why reason driven decision making is crucial?

24:22— Steps of the reason-driven framework

28:48— Digital vs. autonomous transformation

33:43—Solving for the future

More Resources

• Link to personal website: www.brianevergreen.com
• Link to book: Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
• Follow on LinkedIn:? www.dhirubhai.net/in/brianevergreen/