The Digital transformation. an uncomfortable change... or not

The technological progress during of past three decades has permanently changed the world.,a speedy transformation that improved our lives in so many ways also brews uncertainty and instability

Today more than ever is essential to take a break and look at the past because that's the only way to realize the massive technological impact on our world and, more importantly, how our behaviors and social interactions have been altered.

The digital revolution broke some barriers that not some many years ago we thought were impossible. If you have more than 35 years old, I am sure that your childhood memories have as background a completely different world. e.g., long distant phone calls were so expensive that only a few people could afford them. Today we are interconnected. Today in just a few seconds, you can receive an email from a person hundreds of kilometers away instead of wait for weeks or months for a letter, as probably happened to your parents and grandparents. We discovered the way to edit the genome. Building the bases to move our species to other planets and close to creating life from inorganic matter (AI)

The speed at which we are moving is so extreme that it is easy to overlook the details of this metamorphosis.?

Proper observation and contextualization, a deep study of the past, and critical analysis are more than ever vital to guarantee sustainable development. Only through these processes can we generate effective solutions consistent with this new era.?

Trying to update and adapt old ideas instead of generating and adopting new alternatives that challenge the Status Quo creates fragile patches that will not take more than a decade to collapse. Consequently, we will suffer the loss of resources in the medium and long term that maybe we can not afford.?

How does all this relate to the business world?

The short answer, in?everything.

Without understanding that the current social and cultural framework is entirely different from 40 years ago, the use of technology is the perfect breeding ground for the genesis of wrong premises and "solutions."?

The proliferation of mental illnesses in work environments, the lack of commitment from employees, or the enormous drop in performance suffered by thousands of companies, are some of the symptoms of this techno-social imbalance.

Just Talk about flexibility, innovation, agility, participation, inclusion, Etc. Without generating a proper ecosystem, for these concepts to be developed, will produce a devastating effect that directly affects trust, increases the political game, and corrupts the organization. It is no coincidence that the average permanence of companies in the S&P 500 has gone from 33 to 18 years, a range that will most likely become shorter in the coming years.

Let's take a deeper look.

Currently, the typical management model used by large companies is based on the military hierarchy. An organizational system in which non-questioning, discipline, and submission are essential factors for success, along with an interpretation of leadership that dates back to the nineteenth century, where the homeland, civic spirit, and the sense of belonging are the purpose, mission, and vision. A highly successful model in the last 300 years, but that stopped making sense in a globalized and so well communicated world.

The Reports from consulting firms consistently showing that at least 85% of employees globally are not engaged. The WHO (World Health Organization) reports advising an alarming increase in mental illnesses at work, or the evident social instability, give us clues to assume that this is a global issue. Therefore there has to be a common denominator causing these symptoms between different cultures and societies. My bet is none other than the Internet and communication technology.

The scientific community classifies the Internet as one of the critical moments for the human species, at the same level in importance as discovering fire or man's arrival into space.?

The network has a direct impact on the most important human characteristic, the one that made us the dominant species on the planet: Our ability to share, store and develop ideas and information

We can access hundreds of different opinions, experiences, and ideas in seconds in our current world. We are constantly exposed to lead. A world where even language barriers have been almost destroyed by technology.

The digital transformation is not about software or computing power but about how our behavior shifts by the adoption and adaption to this new ecosystem.

These changes are not new in our species history. We experienced profound social changes every time that our communication methods have been improved. The writing language allowed us to develop modern society. Mechanical printing was vital to end feudalism. The radio and tv were crucial for the development of consumer society.?

Do you think that a military leadership model has any sense in a world where we can debate everything in forums, where people can challenge the authority or question the intelligence of a country's president via Twitter?

Not considering that people will challenge a system based on the traditional hierarchy under this new scenario is absurd.?

This unprecedented level of empowerment has already changed our way of reporting to leadership and returning us slowly but surely to a point where trust, values, and purpose carry infinitely more weight than any rank, hierarchy, or title.?

Talented employees are demanding qualified managers, real collaboration, freedom to use their capabilities and propose. It is not because millennials or GenX, as some "experts" believe but because now it is easier to connect and communicate.?

Imposed and fake leadership is daily destroyed on employees' private WhatsApp groups. The useless tasks and KPIs are criticized on internal communication tools, and the decisions without logical explanations are debated and ridiculed on breaks.?

It is not because of millennials or GenX, as some "experts" claim, but because now it is easier and safer to connect and communicate. It is the closing of a cycle and the beginning of a new era.

The lack of acceptance of this new reality is why thousands of organizations are suffering and cannot generate the transformation that prevents them from falling into oblivion. A task that is certainly not easy as it goes against the order established so far. But change is inevitable and visible in an extended range of areas.

Here are just some examples:

Educational hierarchy Challenged?

The proliferation of self-learning platforms. It is estimated that by 2025 it will generate a market value of 300 trillion dollars.?

Google, Apple, IBM, Bank of America, or EY are reducing the requirement of university degrees from applicants in the hiring processes.

?In 2013, Laszlo Bock, vice president of human resources at Google, assured that "the academic record is useless."

The ten most in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 1994. The constant advances in automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics will make many jobs obsolete. For example, machines will probably deliver medical prescriptions in the short future.

Financial hierarchy challenged

The emergence and exponential growth of the fintech Banks.

The emergence of new decentralized speculative markets such as digital currencies, where a broker or a traditional bank is no longer needed to make transactions.

The use of new decentralized technologies such as blockchain to transfer and automate payments will make the Swift system obsolete and force banking to change.?

Sociocultural hierarchy challenged

The decrement of the religious institution's power. The number of people who consider themselves religious worldwide fell from 77% to 62% between 2005 and 2016

The reduction of canonical marriages. for example, In Spain, While in 1990 there were 220,000 marriages, today there are only 168,000, and the number of domestic partners has tripled

The current social pressure to challenge and modify laws based on outdated religious and cultural beliefs. E.g., egalitarian marriage, abortion, criminalization of animal abuse, Etc.

Companies must take action and understand that only through a mentality shift focused on a more profound understanding of the new ecosystem, human relationship, authentic leadership and stop confusing the word "digital transformation" with just the acquisition of computer software.?