When approaching digital transformation , many companies put digital natives at the helm of their digitalization efforts.
However, to successfully complete their digital transformation, companies do not need digital natives so much as digital enthusiasts. And digital enthusiasm has little or nothing to do with people's origin, education, age and gender.
A digital enthusiast is not necessarily a full-fledged techie or a social media freak. And he or she does not have to be in possession of each and every one of the millions and millions of pieces of knowledge that are “cooking” in the digital arena. He or she must, however, take all the necessary measures to inoculate the digital virus in each and every corner of the companies for which he or she provides his or her services.
It's clear that digital enthusiasts are pure gold for companies, but what distinguishes this "species" from the rest of us mortals? Lead Digital outlines the hallmarks of digital enthusiasts below:
1. Agility . Digital enthusiasts are not afraid of change. They embrace new topics and new challenges without any fear.
2. Curiosity . Digital enthusiasts love to try and discover new things. They are sort of modern-day researchers.
3. Courage . Digital enthusiasts have the courage to make belgium phone number decisions (even when they don't know for sure what the results will be).
4. Openness to criticism . Digital enthusiasts have a thick shell that allows them to withstand criticism unscathed (in order to learn from it).
5. Vision . Digital natives are really in a position to develop (and turn into reality) their ideas and visions. The best thing? That their visions always have a focus on real utility for people (and do not exude “smoke”).
6. “Customer centricity” – A digital enthusiast develops ideas thinking outwards (always with an eye on the customer) and not inwards.
7. Empathy . Digital enthusiasts are capable, like chameleons, of adapting to different types of people. And the empathy that dwells in their guts is particularly useful in the necessarily flexible teams that hold the reins of digitalization within companies.
7. “Networking” – Digital enthusiasts act as “translators” for the inhabitants of two completely different universes within companies: the offline and the online. And they strive to find understanding between one universe and the other.