Change destroys. And change creates. Which is scary. And exciting.

So the first order of business is to jettison the idea of Change Managment. With all due respect to Lewin, Bridges, Kotter, Kübler-Ross and the geniuses at McKinsey etc, change is too feral to sit politely in PowerPoint slides about its management. Change is a constant that invites us to adapt or die.

In order to be on the rewarding side of change, approach Digital Transformation with a playful mind and an anthropological lens. The technology that’s adopted and assimilated is one that does two things: (1) allows people to more easily do what they’re already doing, and/ or (2) allows people to do what they always wanted to do, but couldn’t. 

Look at your business this way and things will become much more clear. If you approach transformation tentatively with a conventional mindset, you will be too scared to do anything more than take incremental steps toward the future. And someone else will beat you there.