MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Questions Leaders Should Ask in the New Era of Digital Transformation

The digital transformation era — and the pandemic era that is adding to the challenge — calls for a shift in leadership mindset. It’s essential to challenge the assumptions that we use to make decisions and identify valuable opportunities. Those assumptions allow experienced leaders to make choices efficiently in a complex world, but when the world changes, those assumptions can become anchors holding them back.

In previous articles, I’ve discussed ways in which companies and managers can benefit from rethinking assumptions about how employees work and the expectations of customers post-COVID-19. If those help to craft a new vision of the future, there is still the question of how to make that vision real. In this article, I’ll look at ways leaders can rethink assumptions about driving transformation to help their companies thrive in times of constant upheaval.

About the Author

George Westerman (@gwesterman) is a senior lecturer with the MIT Sloan School of Management and principal research scientist for workforce learning in MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab.

Learn more about MIT SMR.