Digital Mindsets for the Digital Future

A mindset[1] is composed of a set of beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and expectations held by a person which forms a lens through which the person sees, interprets and makes sense of the world. ?A digital mindset creates a lens through which new possibilities are revealed, allowing a person to chart a course for success making new discoveries in the increasingly disrupted business landscape. A digital mindset provides a different view of the future revealing new opportunities and new business models that create new value for customers. Numerous methods of thinking including critical thinking, design thinking and white hat thinking which Edward De Bono describes as thinking using facts and figures[2] have been extensively discussed in the literature. The digital future will be created by those who combine traditional methods of thinking with a digital mindset. ?Stanford Professor Carol Dweck has performed extensive research on mindsets that she describes in her seminal work, Mindsets[3]. Professor Dweck identifies two mindsets, fixed and growth.?Her research shows that a person’s mindset will be more important to their success than their intelligence, talents, skills and education.??

As we enter the final stage of the Third Industrial Revolution, the impact of digital thinking and digital mindsets is becoming clearer.?Blockbuster Video, founded in 1985 in Dallas Texas no longer exists, replaced by Netflix because Reed Hastings, Netflix Founder, became irked at paying late fees on videos.?Hastings, through his digital mindset, created new value for customers by leveraging new technology in a new subscription-based business model that sent customers CDs in the mail. As video streaming technology emerged at scale, Hastings reinvented the CDs by mail solution he had created to stream videos directly into the homes of customers using wifi while continuing the subscription-based business model. Hastings created new value for customers with his digital mindset that enabled him to develop new solutions using the advanced technologies.?Hastings digital mindset was the key factor in the creation of these new offerings, not the technology. Hastings was able to chart a course that changed the entertainment industry forever.?Jeff Bezos has disrupted the retail industry with his digital mindset and his digital way of thinking through Amazon.?Starting an online bookstore from his garage located in his rented home in Bellevue Washington in 1994, Bezos saw the world differently through his digital mindset lens.?Obsessed with customer experience and knowing he needed to deliver value (faster, better, cheaper), he set about to create the largest bookstore on the planet which he has transformed into the largest retailer on the planet.?At one point in time, many people in the United States ordered from the Sears catalogue that was distributed in the fall of every year enabling orders to be placed in time for Christmas.?Many of the catalogue items were shipped to customers via the US Postal Service.?With his digital mindset, Bezos envisioned a different value proposition for customers who no longer needed to travel to a store to purchase a book.?After placing an order, the book was shipped directly to the customer, often directly from one of Amazon’s suppliers, eliminating the need to maintain a large inventory of books and later incur the cost or returning unsold books.??Books and other physical products were often delivered a few days after being ordered with delivery improving to next day or sometimes same day in recent years. ?Eventually, Amazon created the digital book and the Kindle reader that allowed the customer to immediately download, store and read the digital book without leaving their home. Combinatorial thinking by Bezos brought together the digital catalogue, the internet and next day delivery with other innovations that resulted in an outstanding customer experience that disrupted the retail industry.?One might ask, why didn’t Sears become Amazon.?Sears had the catalogue, a warehouse filled with products, partnerships with delivery services like the US Postal Service and the internet was readily available.?One key difference Sears lacked a leader like Jeff Bezos with a digital mindset who saw a different future and was able to transform Sears from an “analogue” to a “digital” culture.?Society owes a debt of thanks to digital pioneers like Reed Hastings and Jeff Bezos as we transition from the Third to the Fourth Industrial Revolution that will be even more disruptive.??

Organizations need to identify individuals with digital mindsets and develop leaders capable of charting the course to the digital future.?Have you identified the individuals within your organization with digital mindsets? ?How is your organization developing digital mindsets in your leaders???Will your organization be able to thrive in the digital future or will it languish as startups like Netflix and Amazon create the digital future?? The healthcare industry which has already experienced some disruption due to the COVID19 pandemic is ready for disruption but poses unique barriers to entry for entrepreneurs with digital mindsets due to the large amount of regulation that creates significant barriers to entry for new ventures focused on the practice of medicine as healthcare organizations chart their course toward the digital future of health.?Our research is exploring programs creating leaders with digital mindsets.?We’re interested in your experience.??

[1] Leibowitz, Kari, and Joar Vitters?. "Winter is coming Wintertime mindset and wellbeing in Norway."?International Journal of Wellbeing?10.4 (2020).?

[2] De Bono, E. Six Thinking Hats. London: Penguin Books, 1985

[3] Dweck, Carol S.?Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random house, 2006.