Post written by
Matthew Lieberman
It might surprise you to learn that a deep technology background isn’t one of them.
What’s the first thing you look for in a candidate to fill a tech role in your organization? Relevant technology expertise, right? Well, the same doesn’t apply when it comes to digital. In fact, a technology background is not generally the No. 1 requirement.
According to a new study conducted by PwC’s Strategy&, less than a third of chief digital officers (CDOs) — defined by their responsibilities for leading the digital agenda and not necessarily having the CDO title — have a technology background at 2,500 of the world’s largest global public companies.
This makes sense, as digital transformation is about so much more than technology strategy and implementation. Equally important are the business drivers and the user experience, regardless of whether your initiatives touch customers, employees or other partners.
If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes to be a digital leader, ask yourself if you possess three qualities that many of the CDOs we surveyed have in common. If so, you may qualify to help guide your organization — or another leading company in your industry — through a much-needed digital transformation.
Today’s CDO needs the following three qualities to make good on the promise of digitization:
- Political Acumen
At least half the work of any digital transformation involves reconciling a range of executive and business unit goals and unifying them so it’s crystal clear how the company-wide digital strategy will help move the company forward. It also demands seeking out the diverse perspectives in your organization that will enable you to uncover new value.
For this reason, digital leaders must act as unifiers for various roles and business units. It requires political astuteness to identify with and bridge a variety of different priorities that may not immediately appear to align — and that may even seem to be at odds with one another.
- An Eye For Talent
Cross-functional collaboration and a unified digital agenda may not get you very far if you don’t have the in-house talent that’s necessary to implement the strategy. This may explain why our CDO survey found that 46% of CDOs are external hires.
It stands to reason that someone with the ability to take a hard, fresh, unbiased look at a company’s talent pool — in addition to having a well-rounded Rolodex of industry contacts — can more seamlessly address any gaps in expertise that may need to be filled to make good on digitization plans.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t promote from within your organization; it’s just that taking an outsider’s perspective will serve you well.
- Determination To Tackle Legacy Systems
Despite a notable progress toward modernization, integration and implementation of more modular, flexible systems, most CDOs will be forced to grapple with legacy structures in one form or another. Here again, while tech expertise is helpful, what may be more important is the ability to focus on both the overarching digital agenda and multiple smaller projects that together will carry a company through to reach its desired state of digital transformation.
For this, you may refer back to No. 2 because you will need buy-in from all corners of the organization (especially IT) to effectively deal with legacy systems. For companies that still have tons of legacy manual processes in place, it’s critical that any changes to these processes are accepted across the board.
CDOs likely will not be able to complete the migration of all their member data to new, faster systems that restructure and automate many formerly manual tasks without close collaboration from their CIOs.
The Makings Of A Digital Leader
What makes an ideal CDO will be different for every company, but a technology background isn’t the only prerequisite. Digital transformation is a considerable undertaking with an equally alluring payoff potential. If you have the qualities we uncovered, you may be exactly who your company needs to lead the way.