CEOs play a crucial role in driving and aligning cross-functional teams in digital transformations.
Every digital transformation is ultimately a people transformation, requiring upskilling employees and focusing on user adoption for successful scaling.
Deep dives
The Importance of CEO Involvement in Digital Transformation
To succeed in a digital transformation, it needs to be a CEO agenda item. The CEO plays a crucial role in driving the transformation and aligning cross-functional teams across the company. The authors emphasize the need for investments to sustain the transformation.
The Challenges of Implementing Digital Transformation
While it's easy to define what needs to happen in a digital transformation, executing it is challenging. The authors highlight the difficulty of implementing the 'how' of transformation, especially in keeping up with rapidly evolving technology. Integration complications and technology debt can also hinder progress.
The Importance of People and Talent in Digital Transformation
The authors stress that every digital transformation is ultimately a people transformation. They discuss the need to upskill existing employees and create career pathways that reward skills. The role of the product manager is highlighted as crucial, along with the importance of aligning incentives and focusing on user adoption for successful scaling.
By now, most leaders understand the importance—or, increasingly, the inevitability—of digital and AI transformation. But fewer executives are clear about how to knit systems, people, and processes together in the most productive way. McKinsey senior partners Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel have written Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI (Wiley, June 2023) with that disconnect in mind. The authors discuss Rewired which offers clear, customizable paths that organizations can take to succeed with their digital transformations—and stay nimble in the face of constant change.
The authors discuss the book on this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, which is hosted by McKinsey editorial director Roberta Fusaro