As CDO, I want to be useless in 3 years

When I did the interview in May with Beno?t Zante from “Le Petit Web” (https://www.petitweb.fr/actualites/t-derungs-cdo-de-bnp-paribas-wealth-management-je-veux-devenir-inutile-dici-2-a-3-ans/), I did not realise that I had said something so special.
But Beno?t wisely entitled the article with one of my sentences: “as CDO, I want to be useless in 3 years”. I quite appreciated it since it so well represents who I am.
Yet what a surprise for me (and for my Brand & Communication Team) to see that it made quite a buzz on social media.

Why?
Why having “useless in 3 years” as KPI could be so uncommon?
Must we have a CDO for 10 or 15 years as mentioned by Olivier Roberge in https://www.collaboratif-info.fr/edito/le-cdo-nest-pas-pret-de-disparaitre?

Have you ever seen the video “the guy dancing alone” that has been used so many times in presentations on leadership, change management… https://youtu.be/GA8z7f7a2Pk Well… as CDO, I have been that lonely dancer. Working in a big financial group such as BNP Paribas, and to top it off, within Wealth Management which is present in nearly 30 countries, is a challenge when it comes to any transformation. And digital transformation is not the easiest one…
But I aim to onboard other dancers and, after a while, let them dance without me.

If you know or have just watched the video, you probably noticed that no security guy or policeman jumped on the lonely dancer to throw him out.
As he did, I had that chance too. My CEOs, Sofia Merlo and Vincent Leconte, not only believe in me they support me and block the security guards in order to let me dance. They even clapped their hands to follow the music.

Indeed, never start any digital transformation without the top management’s commitment and support. Obvious? Not so much… Just declaring that “digital is important” is not a commitment. It is an empty sentence. “Digital is important and I invest, support you and work with you” is a commitment.

Digital is no evolution, but a revolution; as such you need to find the opportunity to start. And your CEO is the only one to grant you the first dance.

Much more… My CEOs trust me and let me choose the music. Sounds good. ;o)
If I dance without any music, I just look like a jerk who smoked some illegal substance… Selecting the music is about setting up your story, your vision: the very first steps are to onboard other stakeholders.

Dancing alone is fun but not for too long… I need some fellow dancers.
The first dancers to join the party are just as crazy as me… They are also strong believers who had been waiting just to avoid being the first one. After observing that there could be some fun, they join in and start to dance too.

These first few people to onboard our company’s digital transformation are from my digital community. To make sure I have their full commitment, together we defined our dancing style: the digital strategy.

Are my CEOs happy? Yes!, they continue to clap their hands and join us for some dancing.

And me? As a gentle disruptor, or a disruptive gentleman, I continue to dance to guide and keep the tempo. As long as the music is on, I must keep the people dancing.
But sometimes, I feel inspired to pull some new dance moves, different from those we choreographed together.

Once started, the digital transformation must stay focused on innovation.

Guess what? The early comers also start doing some different dances from time to time while the overall group style remains.
Innovation is there to shake your world and to discover new solutions or ways of doing. But it cannot distract totally the group and raise anarchy. Even the strange dances must follow the music.

And I continue to dance. Although I am very happy with the few dancers I have, it is time to have more. For God’s sake! It’s a party!
Showing how dancing is good and fun is your digital awareness program. Let people know and understand that digital is interesting, manageable and provides real added value for them.

Progressively I send my dancers to take by the hand some of the spectators who are too shy to join on their own but are looking on while tapping their toes…
Yes, I have also a change management program to onboard people.

Now, I have more and more dancers and the party is on. Our digital transformation is a reality and we’re starting to get somewhere.

What next? Should I organise the new Wembley or go up and dance on stage? No, it’s time to leave the floor to a team of DJs and for me to leave the party.

Once my digital transformation is launched and my company has reached a certain level of maturity, “digital” should be a part of BAU (Business As Usual) for the executives, the CTO, the marketers, the communications team…
Together with maturity, the employees will not only work on digital but with digital, making the most of the new capacities and opportunities.

My company will then have achieved its digital transformation.

Then, yes… I will be useless as CDO. This is my mission.
I truly hope to be useless as CDO in 3 years.