Swisspreneur Show EP #288 - Tomoko Yokoi: Deciding To Become Your Own Boss
Timestamps:
07:35 - Curiosity Breeds Entrepreneurship
15:09 - The Fall of Dermintel
23:24 - Digital Transformation Best Practices for Companies
33:03 - Inclusivity in the Tech Space
39:14 - Cognitive Flexibility and the Future of Work
About Tomoko Yokoi:
Tomoko Yokoi is a researcher and advisor in digital transformation at the IMD Business School and a lecturer at ETH Zürich. She also co-founded a market research startup, Dermintel. Before working in business, she studied International Development and Human Rights at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service. Although she had a huge passion for development and human rights, she wanted to venture into something different and decided to enter the corporate world.
The more she learned about entrepreneurship, the more she realised the advantages of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, including time flexibility, which she felt was lacking in corporate life. In 2020, the covid pandemic forced Tomoko to pause Dermintel's development, allowing her to focus more on her passion for digital transformation.
Digital transformation can be complicated, but Tomoko loves unpacking the complexity to help organisations succeed. For her, it's not just about technology: it's also about governance, innovation, culture change, leadership, and competency development. As part of her book, Hacking Digital: Best Practices for Implementing and Accelerating Your Business Transformation, Tomoko Yokoi shares more about how to implement digital transformation in the workplace by giving insight into:
- How to create the best business model that has value
- How to lead digital transformation
- New technologies in digital transformation
Resources:
Book: Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate Your Business Transformation
Article: Emojis In The World Of Work
Memorable Quotes:
“So many opportunities exist, it really depends on how you can target what you need when you need it.”
“It is important to think of inclusivity when you think about innovation.”
If you want to tune into another conversation with a founder who left corporate to start a business, check out our episode with Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO at Energy Vault.
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