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# Digital Tonto

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- [4 Things I've Learned About Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/4-things-ive-learned-about-ideas/) - One of the toughest things about ideas is that they can only be validated forward, never backward. You never know if you have the right idea until it’s been tested in the real world and, even then, there could be some confounding factor you may be missing. As Kevin Ashton put it, “Creation is a long journey, where most turns are wrong and most ends are dead.” That’s tough work. You can’t just expect lightning to strike. Truly creative people know you have to work at it every day. Sometimes it goes easier and sometimes it’s a bit tougher. There are constant disappointments and true epiphanies are rare. But if you keep with it you’ll find that most days you can come up with something, even if it’s something small. Somebody told me once that you have to let the muse know that you’re serious. Producing ideas leads to more ideas, which allows you to start creating connections between them. The more you produce, the better the chances are that some of those connections will be novel and lead to something important. That’s how you produce an idea that matters. But even then the work isn’t over, because the world your idea enters into keeps evolving and changing. That’s why you need to share it and encourage others to build on it so that it can grow and reach its true potential. Ideas must combine and recombine so that they can memetically evolve. For our ideas to succeed, we need to serve them well. As Daniel Dennett put it, ““A scholar is just a library’s way of making another library.”
- [Innovation Should Serve People, Not The Other Way Around](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/innovation-should-serve-people-not-the-other-way-around/) - These days, innovation has become, far too often, solipsistic and self-referential, pursued for the glory of the innovators themselves rather than for the benefit of anyone else and there is increasing evidence the venture-funded entrepreneurship model is crowding out more productive investments. We need to move away from hype and focus on impact. Because digital technology has become so pervasive, offering a substantial architecture that lends itself to tweaking, we’ve lost the plot. Innovation isn’t about Silicon Valley billionaires peacocking around on social media, but about solving important problems. We need to shift our focus from disrupting industries to tackling grand challenges. While researching my book "Mapping Innovation," I had the opportunity to interview dozens of great innovators, from world-class scientists to super-successful entrepreneurs and top executives at some of the world’s largest corporations. What I was surprised to find was that, in almost every case, they were some of the most thoughtful, generous people I’d ever met. The truth is that, for innovation, generosity is often a competitive advantage. By actively sharing their ideas, innovators build up larger networks of people willing to share with them. That makes it that much more likely that they will come across that random piece of information and insight that will help them crack a really tough problem. The digital revolution has been, if anything, a huge disappointment and Silicon Valley’s tendency to be solipsistic and self-referential probably has a lot to do with it. The simple fact is that the developers banging away at their laptops can achieve little on their own. To tackle our most significant challenges, such as curing cancer, climate change and global hunger, they need to work effectively with specialists with different skills and perspectives. What we need today is to build collaborative networks to solve grand challenges. The recent CHIPS Bill is a good start. It not only significantly increases our investment in basic research and development, but also allocates billions of dollars of investments into building regional ecosystems and advanced manufacturing. Yet the most important thing we need to change is our mindset. We need to focus less on disruption and more on creation and, to create for the world we need to focus on what it means to live in it. We can no longer measure progress in terms of how many billionaires a technology creates and focus on the actual human impact.
- [Why Change Does NOT Have To Start At The Top](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-change-does-not-have-to-start-at-the-top/) - The simple truth is that change rarely, if ever, starts at the top because it is people with power that create the status quo. They are attached to what they’ve built and take pride in their accomplishments, just like the rest of us. That’s why, to bring about genuine change, you need to mobilize people to influence institutions. At a pivotal moment during the height of the civil rights movement, Robert Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States and brother to the President, would turn to the activist John Lewis and say, “’John, the people, the young people of the SNCC, have educated me. You have changed me. Now I understand.” Lewis, just a young kid in his twenties at the time, was himself the product of webs of influence. He was shaped by mentors like Jim Lawson and Keller Miller Smith, as well as by peers such as Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette and James Bevel. They, in turn, influenced others to get out, protest and shape the minds of people like Robert Kennedy. As I explain in Cascades, transformation isn’t top-down or bottom-up, but happens from side-to-side. You can find the entire spectrum—from active support to active resistance—at every level. The answer doesn’t lie in any specific strategy or initiative, but in how people are able to internalize the need for change and transfer ideas through social bonds. Change never happens all at once and can’t simply be willed into existence. The best way to do that is to empower those who already believe in change to bring in those around them That’s what’s key to successful transformations. A leader’s role is not to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief.
- [The Myth of the Hero’s Journey—And Why It’s Killing Change In Your Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/the-myth-of-the-heros-journey-and-why-its-killing-change-in-your-organization/) - The truth is that change is not a hero's journey. Just because you have a vision you believe in and are willing to fight for it doesn’t mean it will ever get any traction. That’s simply not how transformation works. You can’t simply will an idea into becoming a reality. The universe cannot be overpowered, you need to attract its forces to you. The true story of change is that of a strategic conflict between your future vision and the status quo, which always has inertia on its side and never surrenders its power gracefully. It has had years—and sometimes decades or even centuries—to build up the sources of its power and it will be ruthless in defending it. That’s why we always start every transformational effort by doing a resistance inventory, working to anticipate who will resist, what form that resistance will take, and how we can best mitigate it. Then we map the institutional forces that support the status quo, those that are open to the future vision, and those that are still on the fence. We also identify cultural triggers and how best to redesign rituals to encode new norms. Genuine change is possible, but you have to approach it clear-eyed and hard-nosed. You can’t just wordsmith fancy slogans, set up some training sessions and expect people to drop what they are thinking and doing and start thinking and doing something else. You need to build a thoughtful strategy, execute it wisely, and adapt as things develop. In the real world, most change efforts don’t fail because of a lack of heroes, but because they ignore the system they’re up against. If your strategy relies on heroism, it’s probably not much of a strategy.
- [4 Things I Learned Managing People](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/4-things-i-learned-managing-people/) - Teaching undergraduates gives you a different perspective on things. For many, they see their life already laid out: An analyst position at a prestigious bank or consulting firm after graduation, then graduate school and a string of impressive jobs at important institutions. Then family, travel, and maybe a board seat or two. We all know that life is messier than that, but that’s the type of thing you really have to learn for yourself. The management professor Henry Mintzberg once observed that we expect management to be like a conductor with an orchestra, with the leader on a pedestal directing each movement with expert precision. “But,” he argues, “management is more like orchestra conducting during rehearsals, when everything is going wrong.” The truth is that you don’t want things to go exactly as planned. It’s the off-key notes that you learn from most and lead to your biggest opportunities. Here are four things I’ve learned from a very messy career that produced wonderful surprises.
- [The World Is Not Digital—And That’s Why Software Won’t Eat It](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/the-world-is-not-digital-and-thats-why-software-wont-eat-it/) - Fifty years ago, in 1976, life expectancy in the US was 72 years, vs. 78 today. American families typically had one car and one TV. Houses were smaller, nutrition was worse, we polluted like hell and there was no internet. We spent much less time with our screens and more time with each other. Today, it’s easy to see how many things have gotten better, but it’s just as easy to see how others have gotten worse. While in the aggregate, incomes have improved, most of that has gone to top earners, leaving many households feeling worse off. While we have amazingly cool gadgets, costs for basic needs, like housing, healthcare and education, have soared. The truth is that we’ve very good at innovating in the digital space because it’s fast, cheap and low risk. But the biggest opportunities are in the messy, physical world. So we’re ending up with lots of incremental digital innovation and not enough transformational change in the real world. In sum, it’s hard to see how we’ve become meaningfully better off over the last 50 years. For all of the Silicon Valley blather, most American families are materially struggling and our mental health is declining. This isn’t because of some exogenous shock, but because of choices we’ve made. We have the technology to improve our lives, but the benefits are not accessible to most. What we have to reckon with is that the world is not digital. We live, eat, travel and breathe in physical spaces and no amount of algorithms and data centers will change that. As the philosopher Martin Heidegger pointed out long ago, technology is less a creation than it is an uncovering. It brings us possibilities, but it is our responsibility to enframe and direct them in ways that will benefit us. We live in a world of atoms, not bits. Technology only matters if it makes our lives better.
- [To Truly Change The World, You First Must Learn Something About It](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/to-change-the-world-you-first-must-learn-something-about-it/) - Through my work, I’ve gotten to know a number of truly revolutionary people. What has always struck me is how different real revolutionaries are from the mercurial, ego-driven stereotypes Hollywood loves to sell us. What I’ve found over the years is that a sense of openness helped them succeed where others had failed. In fact, evidence suggests that generosity is often a competitive advantage for very practical reasons. People who are friendly and generous tend to build up strong networks of collaborators, who provide crucial support for getting an idea off the ground. But most of all it was that sense of openness that allowed them to learn, adapt and identify a path to victory. Changing the world is hard, often frustrating work. Nobody comes to the game with all the answers. In the final analysis, it’s what you learn along the way—and your ability to change yourself in response to what you learn—that makes the difference between triumph and bitter, agonizing failure.
- [Why Change Doesn't Really Come From The Top: The True Story of Blockbuster & Netflix](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-change-doesnt-really-come-from-the-top-the-true-story-of-blockbuster-netflix/) - We like to think of the big guys at the top getting fat and lazy. The story of Netflix upending Blockbuster is so appealing because it plays to those biases. It’s reassuring to believe that people get disrupted by not paying attention and making poor decisions because that means that we can avoid their fate with a modicum of awareness and intelligence. Yet the far more disturbing reality is that the Blockbuster leadership team was neither stupid nor lazy. In fact, they were innovative, made good strategic decisions, and executed them skillfully. If not for a seemingly minor compensation dispute, things could very easily have turned out very differently. I think the key to understanding what happened is something Antioco told me about an earlier initiative when I interviewed him for my book, Cascades. “The experienced video executives were skeptical. In fact, they thought that the revenue-sharing agreement would kill the company," he told me. "But throughout my career, I had learned that whenever you set out to do anything big, some people aren’t going to like it. I’d been successful by defying the status quo at important junctures, and that’s what I thought had to be done in this case." In other words, over the years he had been put in positions of authority and was able to implement changes and deliver results fast enough that he was able to overpower any resistance. Yet in Blockbuster's battle for survival with Netflix, key stakeholders—namely franchisees and shareholders—defected, and the floor fell out from under him. Antioco had all the formal authority he needed to deliver genuine transformation. But it was the difficulty of managing and aligning stakeholders that led to Blockbuster’s demise. The truth is that change isn’t top-down, nor is it bottom-up. It goes side-to-side as it propagates through networks.
- [The Tony Soprano Problem: Why Even The Strongest Leaders Get Blindsided](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/the-tony-soprano-problem-why-even-the-strongest-leaders-get-blindsided/) - In thinking about social justice, the philosopher John Rawls proposed a thought experiment known as the veil of ignorance. What kind of society would you design if you didn’t know what position you’d occupy in the social order—rich or poor, powerful or powerless, advantaged or marginalized? Rawls was focused on justice, not management, but the veil of ignorance offers a useful way to think about how access and influence are structured within organizations. When coaching business leaders, I often pose a similar question: If a junior employee had a game-changing idea, how would they get it implemented and scaled throughout the organization? How would a transformational idea make its way to the top? For most, the exercise is an eye-opening experience. In other words, how do you know you’re not being disrupted this very minute? The only answer is that you don’t know. As Tony Soprano would tell you, it’s the dangers you don’t see that get you in the end. That’s why strong leaders learn to listen and empower people across their enterprise. That’s how you get access to the information you need to spot trouble ahead, identify viable strategies to overcome them and to make good decisions. You don’t learn to listen and empower others just to be “nice.” You do it because it’s a survival skill. Or, as Andy Grove famously put it, “Only the paranoid survive.”
- [Why The Hardest Part of Building The Future Is Letting Go Of The Past](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-the-hardest-part-of-building-the-future-is-letting-go-of-the-past/) - In November 1989, two watershed events changed the course of world history. The fall of the Berlin Wall would end the Cold War and open up markets across the world. That very same month, Tim Berners-Lee would create the World Wide Web and usher in a new technological era of networked computing. It seemed, as Francis Fukuyama famously wrote, like the end of history. The conflict between communism and capitalism appeared to be over. Just one model remained. But, as Fukuyama also noted—and as I saw firsthand living in Moscow—the human urge to assert identity remained. We weren’t witnessing an end, but the beginning of a major realignment, in which the neoliberal order, globalism, the Washington Consensus, and digital technology would reign. But almost from the beginning, there were deep misgivings. Many developing countries, pressured by the IMF and World Bank to adopt policies that would never have been accepted in wealthier nations, chafed. And even in advanced economies, many felt left behind as globalization and offshoring hollowed out their economic lives. Today, “new right” intellectuals like Patrick Deneen have argued that liberalism has undermined foundational aspects of society such as family, religion, and community. Others, like Curtis Yarvin, argue that democracy itself is inefficient and what we need are tech-style CEO-like sovereigns. Meanwhile, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have called for an abundance agenda that focuses more on building what we need than preventing what we don’t want. We are now, much like America’s Founding Fathers, tasked with finding a way forward when the path is frustratingly unclear. Like generations that came before us, we will need to struggle with new paradigms made possible by advances in technologies. Yet, also like our forebears, our biggest challenge is not a lack of possibilities, but a lack of consensus. We tend to replace questions about what kind of future we want with questions about technology. But as Martin Heidegger explained long ago, we can’t build for the world until we know how we want to live in it.
- [Change Is Not Persuasion: These 3 Key Elements Are What Every Transformation Strategy Needs](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/change-is-not-persuasion-these-3-key-elements-are-what-every-transformation-strategy-needs/) - In the final analysis, most would-be changemakers fail because they assume the righteousness of their cause will save them. It will not. Injustice, inequity and ineffectiveness can thrive for decades and even centuries, far surpassing a human lifespan. If you think that your idea will prevail simply because you believe in it, you will be sorely disappointed. Tough, important battles are won with good strategy and tactics, which is why successful change agents learn to adopt the principle of Schwerpunkt. The idea is that instead of trying to defeat your opponent everywhere, you want to deliver overwhelming force and win a decisive victory at a particular point of attack. Yet Schwerpunkt is a dynamic, not a static concept. You have to constantly innovate your approach as your opposition adapts to whatever success you achieve. For example, the civil rights movement had its first successes with boycotts, but moved on to sit-ins, “Freedom Rides,” community actions and eventually, mass marches. Defining the grievance and the vision, creating a resistance inventory and identifying viable institutional targets will help you apply strength to weakness. The key to success isn’t any particular tactic, leader or slogan, but strategic flexibility. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most change efforts lack. All too often they get caught up in a strategy and double down, because it feels good to believe in something, even if it’s failing. Change, like many things, largely boils down to strategy and execution. It’s not a simple matter of belief or passion. You need to learn how to operate effectively, by studying those who succeeded and those who failed, building on your successes, dusting yourself off after the inevitable setbacks, correcting mistakes and returning to fight with renewed vigor.
- [The Cobra Effect: Why Managing by Metrics Backfires](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/the-cobra-effect-why-managing-by-metrics-backfires/) - Humans don’t always react well to abstractions. We want our leaders to be specific and concrete about their expectations. That’s why we so often try to boil things down to a single metric that can be optimized. That metric then acts as a proxy for success, something everyone can understand and work toward. So activists adopt the goal of getting 3.5% of the population. Economists focus on GDP to evaluate prosperity. CEOs adopt shareholder value as the measure of their own performance. Yet people marching in the streets does not, by itself, create institutional change, just as GDP does not encapsulate the well-being of a society and a stock price does not tell you how well a company is serving its customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Still, those metrics often create perverse incentives that shape behavior. An activist focused solely on populating protests is unlikely to do the kind of institutional work needed to bring change to a society. A government consumed by GDP will likely miss important indicators of societal well-being, such as health and happiness. A CEO rewarded for increasing the stock price is likely to focus on quick fixes like layoffs and stock buybacks, rather than doing the hard work of improving operations. That’s why it’s important to manage for mission, not for metrics. Or as the Polish activist and journalist Adam Michnik put it: "Do you believe in free speech? Then speak freely. Do you love the truth? Then tell it. Do you believe in an open society? Then act in the open. Do you believe in a decent and humane society? Then behave decently and humanely." In other words, if you want to make an impact, think about the end state you want to achieve. There will never be a shortage of influencers, gurus, and other hucksters who try to sell you on a simpler answer in the form of a concrete metric supposedly backed by some form of pseudoscience. Don’t listen to them. Anybody can create a number and call it an achievement. To truly accomplish something worthwhile, you need to define a mission and attract others to it.
- [Let’s Face Facts, The Digital Revolution Has Been A Huge Disappointment](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/lets-face-facts-the-digital-revolution-has-been-a-huge-disappointment/) - We are awash in nifty gadgets, but in many ways we are no better off than we were 30 years ago.
- [What if The Future Looks Exactly Like The Past?](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/what-if-the-future-looks-exactly-like-the-past/) - In his 1954 essay, "The Question Concerning Technology," German philosopher Martin Heidegger described technology as akin to art, in that it reveals truths about the nature of the world, brings them forth, and puts them to some specific use. In the process, human nature and its capacity for good and evil are also revealed. He offers the example of a hydroelectric dam, which uncovers a river’s energy and channels it into electricity. In much the same sense, the breakthrough technologies of today, like the large language models that power our AI chatbots, the forces of entanglement and superposition that drive quantum computing, as well as technologies like CRISPR and mRNA that fuel tomorrow’s miracle cures, were not “built,” so much as they are revealed. In another essay, "Building Dwelling Thinking," Heidegger explains that what we build for the world depends on how we interpret what it means to live in it. The relationship is, of course, reflexive. What we build depends on how we wish to dwell and that act, in and of itself, shapes how we build further. As we go through yet another hype cycle, we need to keep in mind that we’re not just building for the future, but also for the present, which will look very much like the past. While it is, of course, possible that we are on the brink of some utopian age in which we unlock so much prosperity that drudgery, poverty and pain become distant memories, the most likely scenario is that most people will continue to struggle. The truth is that innovation should serve people, not the other way around. To truly build for the world, you need to understand something about how people live in it. Breakthrough innovation happens when people who understand technical solutions are able to collaborate with people who understand real-world problems. Just like in the past, that’s what we need more of now.
- [Is Artificial Intelligence The New Productivity Paradox?](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/is-artificial-intelligence-the-new-productivity-paradox/) - There’s still so much we don’t yet see, for the simple reason that so much has yet to happen
- [Can Artificial Intelligence Be Governed—Or Will It Govern Us?](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/can-artificial-intelligence-be-governed-or-will-it-govern-us/) - In 1945, Vannevar Bush published a long essay in The Atlantic entitled As We May Think, which envisioned a “memex,” a machine that sounded strikingly like the Internet of today. "Consider a future device ... in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory,” he wrote. Yet in envisioning the future he saw both possibility and peril. He predicted much of what we use the Internet for today, including doctors being able to track down symptoms of obscure cases and lawyers being able to quickly retrieve relevant case law. Yet he also foresaw much of what we struggle with, such as information overload and the use of technology for war. Bush was, at the time, a figure something akin to Elon Musk, but if anything more prominent. An engineer of the highest order, he invented a proto-computer at MIT. He also co-founded the company Raytheon, oversaw the U.S. government scientific programs during World War II, including the development of the atomic bomb, radar, and penicillin. Yet probably more than anything else, he was a master at designing institutions. When the war was winding down, President Roosevelt asked him to deliver a report about how to continue America’s scientific prowess. That report, Science, The Endless Frontier, delivered to President Truman in 1945, laid out the basic architecture of programs, such as the National Science Foundation, that would transform the US into a technological superpower. To paraphrase James Carville, it’s the institutions, stupid. If we are going to seize the promise of AI and other cutting edge areas such as quantum computing and synthetic biology, while minimizing the peril, we need structures to organize our collective will for the common good, or we will end up subjugating our will to the technologies we fail to govern. The choices made by those who came before shaped the world we live in today. The choices we make now will shape the world we leave behind.
- [Stop Trying to “Educate” People Into Changing, Science Proves It Doesn’t Work](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/stop-trying-to-educate-people-into-changing-science-proves-it-doesnt-work/) - We like to think we can shape the ideas of others. That’s why most transformation efforts start out with some snappy slogans, a communication program and a big launch. Most generate a burst of excitement and activity, only to fizzle out within months. This fuels change fatigue, making success for the next initiative even less likely. We need to be far more humble about our persuasive powers. Anyone who has ever been married or raised kids knows how difficult it is to convince even a single person of something. If you expect to shift the opinions of dozens or hundreds—much less thousands or millions—with pure sophistry, you’re bound to be disappointed. A simple alternative is to start with a majority. Focus on people who already buy in. Go out and find people who are as enthusiastic as you are, who are willing to support your idea, to strengthen it and help you work through the inevitable glitches along the way. Even if that majority is only three people in a room of five, you can always expand a majority out. That’s how you can begin to gain traction and build a sense of shared mission. As you begin to work out the kinks, you can embark on a keystone project, show some progress, build a track record and accumulate social proof. That’s how you get out of the business of selling an idea and into the business of selling success. As you gain momentum, you can build support through peer networks. Real change doesn’t come from persuading the unconvinced with more information. It is small groups, loosely connected, but united by a shared purpose that drives genuine transformational.
- [First, Try Not To Fool Yourself, Because You are The Easiest One To Fool](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/first-try-not-to-fool-yourself-because-you-are-the-easiest-one-to-fool/) - It would be nice if everyone could have the experience of writing a book and having it thoroughly fact checked. In each of my books, I had dozens of errors in the original manuscript. Many of them were corrected by my publisher’s fact checkers looking online for reference materials to verify what I had written. But they can only do so much, which is why I also sent sections of my work to primary sources for verification. Even then at least one minor error got through on my first book (a publicist for a source didn’t catch it when I sent the section). That’s how I caught a terrible error about Blockbuster CEO John Antioco and was able to fix it. He was also generous enough to offer additional insight and write a blurb for my book. Yet that doesn’t change the fact that I repeated the error in multiple articles, even though I had read the accurate version in Gina Keating’s book about the subject. My version was then picked up by others and repeated in their work. As the great physicist Richard Feynman famously said “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.” We need to be disciplined about what we think we know. The first step is to be hyper-vigilant and aware that our brains have a tendency to fool us. We will quickly grasp on the most readily available information and detect patterns that may or may not be there. Then we seek out other evidence that confirms those initial hunches while disregarding contrary evidence.. It happens to the best of us and, if you are going to put work out in the world you are going to have to accept the risk of getting things wrong. Once you embrace that, you have a chance to make a positive impact on the world.
- [The Humiliation Cycle: How Leaders Accidentally Weaponize Their Competition Against Them](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/the-humiliation-cycle-how-leaders-accidentally-weaponize-their-competition-against-them/) - In early 2000, with their company on the brink of failure, Netflix founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph flew to Dallas to meet with Blockbuster executives. When I interviewed former Blockbuster CEO John Antioco, he vaguely remembered the incident but insisted he didn’t attend the meeting due to a scheduling conflict and merely stopped by. Yet the Netflix founders remember events differently. They claim that not only did Antioco meet with them, but actually laughed when they proposed that Blockbuster buy Netflix for $50 million. “That night, when I got into bed and closed my eyes, I had this image of all sixty thousand Blockbuster employees erupting in laughter at the ridiculousness of our proposal,” Hastings would later write in his book, "No Rules Rules." As I’ve previously explained, Antioco’s version of the story is more credible, but that’s really beside the point. What’s relevant is that for the Netflix guys, the humiliation felt very real. They were on the ropes, trying to survive, and cooked up a pitch to the industry’s 800-pound gorilla, only to be rebuffed. That, more than ambition, drove them to reinvent their business, make it work, and become a 800-pound gorilla themselves. That’s why we always need to be careful about competitiveness evolving into a will to dominate. When you humiliate people, you don’t defeat them—you motivate them. And sometimes, you create your most dangerous competitor. If you’re not careful, you can sow the seeds of a humiliation cycle and inadvertently trigger your own demise. That’s the cycle leaders need to learn to break. You need to design for collaboration by making respect visible and repeatable. The desire for recognition is a basic human need. If you don’t satisfy it constructively, it will emerge destructively.
- [Why You Should NOT Become An AI Expert](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-you-should-not-become-an-ai-expert/) - There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence is a transformative technology, but so were smartphones, broadband mobile internet, cloud computing, and many other things over the last 20 years. It is truly amazing to think that just 20 years ago none of it existed and life was significantly different. Yet still, none of those things had and outsized impact on productivity. The most likely scenario is that the future will look a lot like the past. Many things will be improved, some will be transformed, but adoption will be uneven, with some organizations and industries moving quickly to put new applications into practice, while most will lag behind. As progress fails to meet expectations, disappointment and disillusionment will set in, and focus and budgets will shift elsewhere. If you are truly an AI expert, with the knowledge and skill to shape the technology, you can still expect to do well. There will never be a shortage of organizations that need people to help leverage technology to do important work for them. But if you are just chasing the wave, you will be tying yourself to the ebbs and flows of market sentiment. The truth is that you can’t separate a technology from the environment in which it operates. As the philosopher Martin Heidegger argued, to build for the world you need to understand what it means to live in it. Technology becomes powerful when people who understand solutions learn to collaborate effectively with those who understand the problems that need to be solved. So while there is clearly a need for genuine AI experts, we still need experts in every other human domain. You’re much better off betting on yourself than betting on a technology you have little or no agency over.
- [It's Good to Learn From Your Mistakes. It's Better to Learn From Someone Else's.](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/its-good-to-learn-from-your-mistakes-its-better-to-learn-from-someone-elses/) - We remember our heroes in their most iconic moments. It’s hard to think of Martin Luther King Jr. without picturing him at the Lincoln Memorial, delivering his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In much the same way, Steve Jobs will always be remembered standing on stage, calmly saying, “Just one more thing…” before unveiling the next revolutionary product. Yet those moments are deceiving. Long before Jobs became the creator of the iPhone and the CEO of the most valuable company in history, he was cast out of the company he founded. It was what he learned during his years in relative obscurity—discipline, focus, how to retain top talent—that set the stage for his later triumphs. Martin Luther King Jr. did even better. He learned from others’ mistakes. He studied those who came before him, especially Gandhi. That’s how he knew to build his movement methodically, to train activists and to pick fights he knew he could win. Rather than simply calling people into the streets, he focused early on local campaigns and boycotts, each with a clear strategic objective. All change leaders need to learn from their own mistakes—and that's crucial. But the really smart ones learn from the mistakes of others. The truth is, it’s hard to learn much just by looking at successes. You have to look at the whole picture: examine the missteps, moments of weakness and strategic blunders and the lessons learned. That’s how you improve your odds. That’s why, before you set out to make a significant impact in any field or endeavor, ask yourself: Who’s tried this before? What were their failures? What can we learn from them? And how can we apply those lessons to the challenges we face?
- [3 Questions To Ask You Before You Begin A Major Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/3-questions-to-ask-you-before-you-begin-a-major-transformation/) - All too often, transformational initiatives are presented as a fait accompli. A strategy is set, a plan is made and everything is announced with a lot of hoopla at a big launch event. Questions are treated as a nuisance, something to be batted away rather than engaged with. Change leaders, in an effort that seldom succeeds, try to act as if they have all the answers. Yet while answers tend to close a discussion, questions help us open new doors and lead to genuine insights. Asking, “What kind of change is this?” is essential to building a strategy to overcome challenges. Investigating shared values is key to getting widespread buy-in. Analyzing sources of power is how you identify institutional targets for action. The truth is that every great breakthrough starts with a question. As a child, Einstein asked, “What would it be like to ride on a bolt of lightning?,” which led to his theory of special relativity. He then asked a second question, “What would it be like to ride an elevator in space?” and that led to his theory of general relativity. Change leaders often feel they need to have all the answers, but what they usually need is to ask more—and better—questions. That’s the essence of the Changemaker Mindset: it’s not about building consensus around a plan and executing it, but about building a coalition to explore possibilities that lead to a better future.
- [Why Breakthrough Innovation Often Needs To Start With Rebellion](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-breakthrough-innovation-often-needs-to-start-with-rebellion/) - When Steve Jobs came up with the idea for a device that would hold “a thousand songs in my pocket,” it wasn’t technically feasible. There was simply no hard drive available that could fit that much storage into that little space. Nevertheless, within a few years, a supplier developed the necessary technology and the iPod was born. Notice how the bulk of the profits went to Apple, which designed the product and the experience, and relatively little to the supplier that developed the technology that made it possible. That’s because the technology for developing hard drives was very well understood. If it hadn’t been that supplier, another would have eventually developed what Jobs needed. The iPod, however, was something new, different, and uniquely suited to its time. To explore, you first need to come to terms with your own ignorance. It has little to do with intelligence or diligence. Einstein is revered today because he broke new ground, but was diminished because of where he was not willing to go and became, in the words of Robert Oppenheimer, “a landmark, not a beacon.” That is why innovation needs exploration. If you don’t explore, you won’t discover. If you don’t discover you won’t invent. And if you don’t invent, you will be disrupted. But to be an effective explorer, you need to put your assumptions aside. Purpose isn’t something you start with, it's what you discovery along your journey. And yet, venturing with no idea what you will find requires existential rebellion. Because without knowing what you will find, you will need the journey itself to sustain you. Not all who wander are lost.
- [In The Era Of Trump, Corporate Leaders Need To Act To Protect Their Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/in-the-era-of-trump-corporate-leaders-need-to-act-to-protect-their-business/) - I remember attending a group dinner in Kyiv in late 2007 and sitting across from an executive from Sony Ericsson, who confidently told me that the iPhone launch earlier that year hadn’t yet affected his company’s sales. Yet the same pattern of contagion, adoption and defection would soon kick in. Sony Ericsson would lose relevance and ultimately be absorbed, as the smartphone cascade reshaped the entire industry. Once a cascade begins, it takes on a life of its own. Corporate leaders in America today face a similar dilemma. Their first responsibility is to their stakeholders, whatever their own personal feelings. Yet among those millions taking to the streets are employees, customers, shareholders and their family members. Hoping you can stay on the fence is dangerously naive. It is only a matter of time before someone in your corporate community is affected by ICE and CBP violence: an arrest, getting roughed up, pepper-sprayed—or worse. The time to act is now. If Renee Good or Alex Pretti were one of your employees or their children, what would you want to have in place for them and their families? What legal, medical or psychological support are they and their coworkers going to need? You have to start preparing for that eventuality now. In much the same way, you need to begin to audit your partners and suppliers. Make sure the people you do business with share your values and those of your stakeholders. If they are supporting or engaging in activities that could harm your corporate community, don’t wait for an incident. Cut ties. Most of all, you need to be explicit about your values and make sure you are living up to them. That doesn’t mean taking a political position, but it does mean being clear where you stand. As someone who has had to rise to the challenge of running a business during a revolution, I can tell you from experience that someday you will want to look back on these times, reflect on what you said and did, and be proud of the actions you took.
- [Change Doesn’t Fail By Itself, It Fails Because People Resist It](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/change-doesnt-fail-by-itself-it-fails-because-people-resist-it/) - Many assume that you bring change about through persuasion. They believe that once people understand the idea they will embrace it. So they work to build awareness, desire and knowledge about the idea and equip people with the skills to implement it in the hopes that the transformation will take hold on its own and become self-sustaining. They are usually sorely disappointed. Decades of evidence show that shifts in knowledge and attitudes usually don’t result in changes in practice. There is also a large body of research that suggests providing people with the right information is unlikely to meaningfully influence their behavior. People aren’t blank slates—they bring prior beliefs and biases that shape how they respond to new ideas. The truth is that change isn’t some kind of hero’s journey to some alternative future state. It is a strategic conflict between that desired state and the status quo, which always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. It has sources of power keeping it in place and those sources of power have an institutional basis. That’s why you need to begin to think about how you will overcome resistance from the start. You can’t just wait until you encounter it and react, but must work to anticipate it and devise strategies in advance. That’s what makes the difference between successful changemakers and mere frustrated dreamers who once had an idea.
- [Even Great Ideas Don’t Sell Themselves. You Need Three Types of Power to Make Them Win.](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/even-great-ideas-dont-sell-themselves-you-need-three-types-of-power-to-make-them-win/) - Most of us grow up believing in merit. We’re raised to think that the truth will win out and the best idea will always win in the end. Unfortunately, that’s not really true. As much as we might like to believe that our ideas can stand on their own, the truth is that we need power and influence to put them into action. Stanford Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, who teaches the incredibly popular course "Building Power to Lead," defines power as the ability to get things done your way in contested situations and that gets to the meat of it. People don’t encounter our ideas in a vacuum, but in a sea of other ideas, ambitions, prerogatives, and priorities. For people to adopt an idea, it needs to cross their thresholds of resistance, points at which joining in no longer feels risky or costly. To get them over that hump, we need to access power and influence, which comes in three forms: hard power, soft power and network power. Hard power creates incentives. Soft power persuades. Network power builds momentum and propagates the idea forward. These don’t work in isolation, but in combination. Hard power can force a decision, but risks resentment. Soft power can win buy-in, but without connection to authority, it can’t deliver results. Network power can get you access, but not action. When you use all three in tandem, you can unlock the power to achieve what you want. So don’t just ask whether your idea is good enough. Think about how you are going to access the power and influence you need to set it up for success. That, more than anything, will determine whether you succeed or fail.
- [It’s The Institutions, Stupid](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/its-the-institutions-stupid/) - In the 1990s, Western-style liberal democracy was triumphant. The Berlin Wall had fallen and the Cold War had been won. Teams of diplomats and consultants rushed to spread the Washington Consensus, an agreed-upon set of reforms that poor countries were pressured to undertake by their richer brethren. Francis Fukuyama noted at the time that we had reached an endpoint in history, when one model had achieved dominance over all others. Yet even as he laid out the rational case, he invoked the ancient Greek concept of thymos, or “spiritedness,” to warn that even at the end of history, some would insist on going their own way, no matter the consequences. The truth is that every revolution inspires its own counterrevolution and the pendulum will continue to swing until there can be some agreement about shared values and how to move forward. Today, we can see the consequences. Populists aren’t so much “anti-elite” as they are anti-institution, and today’s media environment rewards those who undermine institutional authority. The result is a world that feels far more divided and dangerous than it did even during the Cold War. Our mistake was that we were far too triumphant about a “unipolar world” to recognize that we needed to redesign our institutions to adapt to a new era. We are still largely living in a society governed by postwar institutions designed for how the world was nearly 80 years ago—no Internet, no cheap air travel, global GDP roughly five percent of what it is today. Today, much like after World War II and in 1989, we are in the midst of a fundamental realignment. To build a different future, we need to rethink our institutions—what values we want to embed in them and what our relationship to them should be. How should schools educate? Corporations produce? Governments serve? And the media inform? We don’t need saviors or messiahs. We need to redesign and rebuild institutions that can serve and sustain us for the 21st century.
- [Why It Pays To Believe In Luck](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-it-pays-to-believe-in-luck/) - Albert Camus believed our existence was absurd. He compared the human condition to Sisyphus, the mythical Greek king condemned to roll a boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down again, for eternity. Incredibly, Camus imagines Sisyphus, returning to his labors at the foot of the mountain, as happy, having found meaning in his task. That’s what he meant by the term “existential rebellion”: to create meaning for yourself in a universe that provides none. In two decades researching innovation, transformation, and change, one constant I have found is that you can’t control your luck. Anything can happen. “Sure things” often fail, while low-probability events occur all the time. We can easily imagine a world in which Einstein remained a clerk in a patent office, doing physics in his spare time; Ramanujan died an anonymous pauper, his genius never recognized; and William Coley’s vision of a revolutionary cancer cure remained a pipe dream. But each persevered against an indifferent universe, and we’re all better off for it. We can’t control our luck, but we can decide for ourselves how we seek meaning. Einstein spent the final decades of his life in Princeton, NJ, working on theories that would never pan out. On his deathbed, Ramanujan defined a new class of mathematical function and the number that bears his name. Dr. Coley, now recognized as the “father of cancer immunotherapy,” died surrounded by his loving family who were dedicated to his legacy. And, like Sisyphus, we can imagine each of them happy, and maybe hoping for a bit of luck.
- [We Are Living In A New Gilded Age—And, Like Then, The Backlash Is Building](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/we-are-living-in-a-new-gilded-age-and-like-then-the-backlash-is-building/) - In 2008, when the global financial crisis hit, the world was a relatively stable place. While the US was still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, those were fairly low-level conflicts at that point. The US federal deficit was $450 billion and the US national debt was $10 trillion, both less than a third of what they are now. Today, the world is a very different place. Beyond the worsening economic situation, we have the largest conflict in Europe since World War II. Russia, China, and other bad actors are engaged in a massive information war against the West, fueling populist surges and political turmoil in western nations. The Atlantic Alliance, once a force for stability, is in shambles. Many would argue that, today, we are in a new Gilded Age, in which powerful industrialists, unbeholden to the rule of law, regularly engage in predatory behavior, but their actions are often shielded from view by technology, buried in complexity. When they are called before Congress, politicians seem lost, unable to meaningfully challenge their power. And much like the Gilded Age was marked by continued cycles of government-sponsored overinvestment and financial panics, today we are likely on a path to an AI bubble that will rival the massive panics we had in 1873 and 1893. Unfortunately, unlike during the 2008 financial crises, our capacity to manage the fallout will be greatly diminished. Clearly, we are on a path that is taking us into rough waters. As Soros described, once the pattern of self-reference and self-reinforcement has taken hold, systems don’t correct gently. They overshoot—and the eventual snapback is rarely orderly or kind. Correction will not come from markets alone. It will come through backlash—political, social, and institutional—when those left bearing the costs decide the system no longer serves them.
- [This One Key Insight Will Change How You Think About Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/this-one-key-insight-will-change-how-you-think-about-change/) - All too often we think about change in terms of persuasion. We think if we can just come up with the right message, broadcast it widely and get it to the right people, that change will happen. But decades of evidence shows that’s not true. Even if we are able to inform people and change their attitudes, they are unlikely to change their behavior. What Gene Sharp showed us is that change isn’t about persuasion, it’s about power. To bring about transformation, we need to undermine the sources of power that underlie the present state while strengthening the forces that favor a different future. If you can influence the institutional stakeholders keeping the status quo in place, change can happen. If you can’t, it is unlikely things will ever change. That also helps explain why so many change efforts fail. They start with tactics designed to create a specific effect, such as “build awareness” or “create a sense of urgency.” Leaders roll out communication campaigns, design training programs, or host events like hackathons. Then they congratulate themselves when the action achieves the intended effect, and wonder why genuine change never happened. Until you identify, analyze, and understand exactly what your actions need to be targeted at, you’re just wasting your time. Every enterprise, whether it’s an organization or an entire society, is governed by institutions that maintain the status quo. Once you are able to internalize that simple truth, you are ready to lead change effectively. Change isn’t about snappy slogans or clever campaigns. It’s what happens when you build the capacity to influence institutions.
- [Why The Urge To Persuade Can Undermine Your Idea For Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/why-the-urge-to-persuade-can-undermine-your-idea-for-change/) - Transformation efforts often center on communication, aiming to build awareness, desire, and knowledge about change, while building a sense of urgency and excitement. So leaders craft persuasive messages and broadcast them widely. Yet, after months of happy talk, they often find their efforts not only fell on deaf ears, but also provoked deep, intense resistance. The truth is that change isn’t about persuasion, but collective dynamics. Decades of research has shown that change spreads through peer networks rather than communication campaigns. Or, as network science pioneer Duncan Watts once put it to me, ideas propagate through “easily influenced people influencing other easily influenced people.” That’s why you need to be wary about the urge to persuade. You want to go where the energy already is, not try to create and maintain it yourself. Find those who are already enthusiastic, empower them to succeed and they'll bring in others, who can bring in others still. As Watts’ research shows, even a small initial shift can cascade into massive transformation. The evidence is clear: You don’t need to win over everyone at once. If you find yourself spending most of your energy trying to convince the skeptical or overpowering resistance, you're either focusing on the wrong people or the wrong idea. Instead of trying to push through, you need to regroup, reassess and identify where your efforts can be better placed. Stop trying to persuade the immovable. Genuine transformation begins when you organize those who already want it to happen. Don’t sell change. Seed it.
- [Change Management Is Broken. These 4 Numbers Explain Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/change-management-is-broken-these-4-numbers-explain-why/) - Change is often presented as an enigma. Unlike a traditional management task, you can’t just devise a plan and execute it. To be an effective change leader, you need to embrace a certain amount of uncertainty because change, by definition, involves doing new things and that always involves some measure of unpredictability. Still, that doesn’t mean change is mysterious. We actually know a lot about it. In Diffusion of Innovations, researcher Everett Rogers compiled hundreds of studies performed over many decades. Around the same time, Gene Sharp led a parallel effort to understand how large-scale political movements drive social and institutional change. So while any change effort involves no small amount of uncertainty, there is also quite a bit of consistency. Much as Tolstoy remarked about families, successful transformations end up looking very much alike, while unsuccessful transformations end up failing in their own way. Here are four numbers to keep in mind as you embark on your change journey.
- [2026: A Year Of Questions And A Question of Institutions](https://digitaltonto.com/2026/2026-a-year-of-questions-and-a-question-of-institutions/) - In "Why Nations Fail," economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson explain why the fate of nations rests less on innate factors such as geography, culture, or climate and more on the quality and types of institutions they build. In particular, they make the distinction between inclusive institutions and extractive institutions. Inclusive institutions protect property rights broadly across society, establish fair competition, and reward innovation. Extractive institutions, on the other hand, concentrate wealth in the hands of a small elite who exploit the broader population. These elite players control resources and use state power to enrich themselves at society's expense. We are clearly in a liminal period in which we are struggling to adapt to shifts in technology, economics, and identity. Will AI oppress or empower regular people? Will we trade openly or retreat behind national barriers? Will we focus primarily on our local communities or see ourselves as citizens of a larger planet? As ever, there will be no shortage of pundits predicting the paths the future will take. Many of their narratives will be persuasive—but also mutually contradictory. The real tell will be what kinds of institutions we build and which ones we allow to decay or be destroyed outright. Are we creating institutions that strengthen rights and the rule of law, or ones that serve those that are already powerful? The outcome is still unclear, but the lines of battle have been drawn. If you want to know what to expect in the near to mid-term, pay less attention to predictions about technology, politics, or ideology and focus instead on institutions. Those are what create the norms and rituals that will shape the behaviors of the future.
- [Top Posts of 2025](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/top-posts-of-2025/) - When Benoit Mandelbrot first started out as a young researcher at IBM, one of the first problems he was asked to tackle was noise in communication lines. What he noticed was a strange pattern: There would be long periods of continuity, punctuated by periods of discontinuity that persisted until a dominant pattern could establish itself
- [Why You Need To Understand Noah Effects And Joseph Effects](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/why-you-need-to-understand-noah-effects-and-joseph-effects/) - It pays to build the ark before the storm.
- [The 2025 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/the-2025-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - One of the great things about books is that they can take you out of your current context. You can go to a different period of history, explore another industry or even a different planet. That’s one reason that I like doing these annual reading lists. They give me a record about what worlds I’ve chosen to enter in past years. Looking back over the past year it’s clear that how things work—or don’t—was very much on my mind. We can have great ideas, put together plans and strategies, but if you can’t execute on the ground, everything is bound to go off the rails. That’s probably why so many of the books I read this year are about how to make stuff work better. Reading books is, quite simply, how I work through the ideas I'm grappling with and, even if I can’t always find answers, I can usually learn enough to start asking better questions. The books I’ve read over the past year have certainly helped me do that, and I hope they can do the same for you. Also, please let me know about the books you've read in the comments.
- [Good Stories Are Powerful — And They’re Also Traps](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/good-stories-are-powerful-and-theyre-also-traps/) - The neuroscientist Antonio Damasio believes we encode experiences in our bodies as somatic markers and that our emotions often alert us to things that our brains aren’t aware of. Another researcher, Joseph Ledoux, reached similar conclusions. He pointed out that our body reacts much faster than our mind, such as when we jump out of the way of an oncoming object and only seconds later realize what happened. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman suggests that we have two modes of thinking. The first is emotive, intuitive and fast. The second is rational, deliberative and slow. Our bodies evolved to make decisions quickly in life-or-death situations. Our rational minds came much later and don’t automatically engage. It takes conscious effort to activate the second system The problem is that when something feels right, humans have a tendency to build stories around them. False fables like those about Blockbuster, Kodak and Xerox, purport to teach us important lessons, but the truth is that they rob us of the opportunity to unlock deeper insights. That’s why I’ve learned to be suspicious of good stories, especially those that I want to be true because they just feel right. We need to constantly interrogate our feelings, especially in areas for which we do not have specific training or relevant expertise. We need to understand what exactly our emotions are alerting us to, and that requires us to engage our rational mind. That’s why, sometimes, you need to let the truth get in the way of a good story.
- [The 2020s Will Be An Era Of Atoms, Not Bits](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-the-2020s-will-be-an-era-of-atoms-not-bits/) - The simple truth is that the digital era is ending and innovation is shifting to other places. Digital technology will remain —just as heavy industry persists long after the end of the industrial era— but will no longer be primary. Over the next decade, we'll see a major shift from bits to atoms that, hopefully, will help us emerge from our extended productivity slump. If we are to compete in this new era, we need to develop new ways of doing business and create new platforms upon which ecosystems of technology, talent and information can flourish. What will be most crucial will be to build more effective collaboration that transcend traditional domains and organizational types. We need corporations working with startups, government entities and research universities. Most of all, we need to be clear-eyed about the fact that the future will not look like the past. We need to learn from the mistakes of the digital age, not repeat those same mistakes in some misguided effort to market our failures into perceived successes. We need to march boldly forward, wiser and better equipped, precisely because of our earlier failings.
- [2020: A Decade To Rediscover Our Humanity](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/2020-a-decade-to-rediscover-our-humanity/) - Too often, we forget that technology should serve humans and not the other way around.
- [2010 -  The Year Everything Was Supposedly Dead;  2011 - The Year of Scale and Synergy](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/2010-the-year-everything-was-supposedly-dead-2011-the-year-of-scale-and-synergy/) - Success over the next year probably has very little to do with technology and everything to do with effective management.
- [The Future I Saw at CES 2012](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-future-i-saw-at-ces-2012/) - CES 2012 showed that the technology we do have is getting much, much more useful. It’s becoming integrated, intuitive and more reliable. We’re not so much chasing the next big thing, but fulfilling old promises to the average consumer.
- [6 Digital Trends to Watch in 2013](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/6-digital-trends-to-watch-in-2013/) - Here are 6 things we can expect to shape the digital world over the next year and beyond
- [2014: Year Of The Open Ecosystem](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/2014-year-of-the-open-ecosystem/) - If you are competing with the plumbing company across town—or a startup across the world—you now have the same capabilities as the world’s largest corporations at your beck and call.
- [2015: The Year The Cloud Bursts](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/2015-the-year-the-cloud-bursts/) - While there are some nascent trends to excite the tech geeks, the most important thing to watch in 2015 is a technology revolution for the rest of us.
- [3 Big Things To Look Out For In 2016](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/3-big-things-to-look-out-for-in-2016/) - We're on the verge of some truly new paradigms that have genuine potential to transform our lives.
- [2017: Collaboration Is No Longer A Choice, But An Imperative](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/2017-collaboration-is-no-longer-a-choice-but-an-imperative/) - In the new business environment that's emerging, the best way to become a dominant player is to be an indispensable partner.
- [2018: The Shift To A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/2018-the-shift-to-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - Great companies don’t adapt, they prepare.
- [2019: The Return Of The Large Enterprise](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/2019-the-return-of-the-large-enterprise/) - The technologies of the future will be far too complex and interdependent for anyone to go it alone.
- [2021: What Comes After Covid?](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/2021-what-comes-after-covid/) - Today the Covid-19 crisis has given a shock to the system and we're at an inflection point. The most immediate effects have been economic recession and the rapid adoption of digital tools, such as video conferencing. Over the next decade or so, however, the short-term impacts will combine with other more longstanding trends to reshape technology and society.
- [2022: Surviving Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/2022-surviving-change/) - Marshal McLuhan, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, described media as “extensions of man” and predicted that electronic media would eventually lead to a global village. Communities, he predicted, would no longer be tied to a single, isolated physical space but connect and interact with others on a world stage. What often goes untold is that McLuhan did not see the global village as a peaceful place. In fact, he predicted it would lead to a new form of tribalism and result in a “release of human power and aggressive violence” greater than ever in human history, as long separated —and emotionally charged— cultural norms would constantly intermingle, clash and explode. Today, what we most need to grapple with is the dystopia that McLuhan foresaw and described so eloquently and accurately. People do not vehemently refute science, trash Darwin, deny climate change or oppose life-saving vaccines because they have undergone some rational deductive process, but because it offends their identity and sense of self. That, more than anything else, is why change fails. Yet as Francis Fukuyama pointed out in his recent book, our identities are not fixed, but develop and change over time. We can seek to create a larger sense of self through building communities rooted in shared values. What’s missing in our public discourse today isn’t more or better information. What we lack is a shared sense of mission and purpose. That is the challenge before us. It is not enough to devise solutions to the problems we face, although that in itself will require us to apply the best of our energies and skills. We will also have to learn to survive victory by overcoming the inevitable strife that change leaves in its wake.
- [2025: The Coming Realignment](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/2025-the-coming-realignment/) - In 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Francis Fukuyama published an essay in the journal The National Interest entitled The End of History, which led to a bestselling book. Many took his argument to mean that, with the defeat of communism, US-style liberal democracy had emerged as the only viable way of organizing a society. He was misunderstood. Fukuyama pointed out that even if we had reached an endpoint in the debate about ideologies, there would still be conflict because of people’s need to express their identity. What many thought to be a justification, was actually a warning to expect people to rebel against order imposed on them from outside their communities. I began to better understand this when I went to live in Moscow for a time in 2003. It was my view, as it was of most Americans, that we had won the Cold war. In Poland, where I had lived for six years, people felt similarly. Yet Russians felt otherwise. In their view, they had not lost, but had been betrayed by Gorbachev. “This must have been what Weimar Germany must have felt like,” I remember thinking. “They are biding their time, plotting their return.” The truth is that every revolution inspires its own counterrevolution and the pendulum will continue to swing until there can be some agreement about shared values and how to move forward. Lasting change is always built on common ground and there is precious little of that in this particular moment. Even the lines defining the battle are just now being drawn. We won the Cold War not because we were able to overpower, but because we could attract. Nobody ever truly capitulates, not really. The human need for status and identity are too strong for that. They may surrender and retreat, but they will always be plotting their return. The forces of discontinuity will continue to prevail, until the forces of continuity are able to build strength, and are ready to take over. The future will be shaped by choices we make—or don’t make. While many of these decisions will revolve around technology and economics, both are ultimately shaped by deeper questions about who we are and who we aspire to become. That’s why dominance will always be fleeting. Until we make our minds up about our identity and aspirations, conflict will continue. As Josep Borrell put it, “It’s the identity, stupid.
- [2023: Making The Shift From Disruption To Resilience](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/2023-making-the-shift-from-disruption-to-resilience/) - It’s been roughly 25 years since Clayton Christensen inaugurated the disruptive era and what he initially intended to describe as a special case has been implemented as a general rule. Disruption is increasingly self-referential, used as both premise and conclusion, while the status quo is assumed to be inadequate as an a priori principle. The results, by just about any metric imaginable, have been tragic. Despite all the hype about innovation, productivity growth remains depressed. Two decades of lax antitrust enforcement have undermined competitive markets in the US. We’ve gone through the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the worst pandemic since the 1910s. At the same time, social mobility is declining, while anxiety and depression are rising to epidemic levels. Wages have stagnated, while the cost of healthcare and education has soared. Income inequality is at its highest level in 50 years. The average American is worse off, in almost every way, than before the cult of disruption took hold. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can change course and invest in resilience. There have been positive moves. The infrastructure legislation and the CHIPS legislation both represent huge investments in our future, while the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act represents the largest investment in climate ever. Businesses have begun reevaluating their supply chains. Yet the most important shift, that of mindset, has yet to come. Not everything needs to be optimized. Not every cost needs to be cut. We cannot embark on changes just for change’s sake. We need to pursue fewer initiatives that achieve greater impact and, when we feel the urge to disrupt, we need to ask, disruption in the service of what?
- [2024: A Pivotal Year](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/2024-a-pivotal-year/) - In 2009, it felt like the world was ending. I was still living in Ukraine then and the financial crisis hit there especially hard. GDP would fall by 14% and the ad market, which fueled the media business I ran, fell by 85%. I remember walking past the kiosks that traded currency everyday, tracking Ukraine’s Hryvnia fall heralding an even more uncertain future. Then things got worse. The next year, Viktor Yanukovych, the corrupt thug whose attempt to steal a presidential election sparked the Orange Revolution in 2004, was voted into power in a legitimate election. He turned out to be even worse than most had feared and Ukraine descended into a bacchanalia of corruption and lawlessness, which led to the Euromaidan protests that brought down his regime. Yet that wasn’t the end of the story. In 2009 I started my blog, Digital Tonto, which turned my life in a new direction. The incredible cynicism and incompetence of Yanukovych’s rule stoked a desire to change direction. Activist attorneys created the Anti-Corruption Action Center which would form the basis for reforms. A video by Ukrainian journalists during the height of the protests captured the mood, calling for a shift in values. I get the sense that we’re in a similar time now and things are heading to a critical juncture. We have wars raging, authoritarian regimes on the rise, deep challenges posed by climate change, and the need to regulate our technology, especially, but not only, artificial intelligence. Even anti-semitism is making a comeback. Yet there are also great opportunities. The war in Ukraine raises the possibility that the country will be finally free from Russia, something its people have sought for over a century. New technologies like artificial intelligence and synthetic biology are leading to not only life-saving cures, but potential solutions to climate change. After a decade of a populist authoritarian rule, Poland chose democracy. We can too. The truth is that you only lose when you quit. I have no idea how this year will turn out. I do know that, whatever happens, it will not be the end of the story. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [3 Stubborn Change Management Beliefs That Consistently Sabotage Genuine Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/3-stubborn-change-management-beliefs-that-consistently-sabotage-genuine-transformation/) - People become successful managers by adopting a manager mindset. They treat transformational initiatives as if they were just a scaled-up sales process. They focus on persuasion to try and build consensus. They plan a big launch event as if they were unveiling a new product and create top-down informational campaigns to evangelize the idea. Yet adopting a changemaker mindset starts with letting go of the illusion that change is simply a matter of better messaging, bigger launches, or more information. Those strategies might work for selling products as part of a portfolio purchase, but true transformation runs deeper. It’s not about convincing people to think differently—it’s about creating the conditions that allow them to act differently. That requires a shift in how we see our role as leaders—not as promoters or persuaders, but as architects of influence and weavers of networks. The beliefs that sabotage change persist because they work in other contexts. We’ve seen how persuasion techniques can win over a client or how a well-timed product launch can drive adoption. But transformation isn’t a transaction—it’s a journey. It’s messy, social, and nonlinear. Leaders who succeed in driving meaningful change understand that what matters most isn’t how persuasive they are, but how effectively they can empower others to bring in others, who can bring in others still. You don’t need to convince everyone all at once—you start with a local majority that can build traction. Change spreads not through force or logic alone, but through people witnessing others like them doing things differently—and succeeding. Ultimately, the goal of transformation isn’t getting people to embrace your idea—it’s helping them make it their own.
- [Why The Perfect Is So Often The Enemy Of The Good](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-the-perfect-is-so-often-the-enemy-of-the-good/) - You don’t have to go far to find someone advising you to “live your perfect life.” From self-help books and TED Talks urging us to “find our why,” to people posting pictures of their spouses and children on social media while praising the perfection and nonstop joy their loved ones bring them—and then, strangely enough, announcing their divorce six months later. Compare that to how bestselling author and TV anchor Fareed Zakaria describes his work: “Thinking and writing are inextricably intertwined,” he says. “When I begin to write, I realize that my ‘thoughts’ are usually a jumble of half-baked, incoherent impulses strung together with gaping logical holes between them.” That’s much closer to reality. Whether it’s writing a book or starting a business, you start off with an idea and that idea is always wrong. Sometimes you’re off by a little, and sometimes you’re off by a lot, but it’s always wrong. Your job isn't to be right, but to embark on a Bayesian process of becoming less wrong over time. Eventually, you get it to the point that it can impact the world. The truth is that the world is a messy place. Marriages are hard. Kids are frustrating. Even stories of incredible success often contain within them tales of heartbreaking desperation. That’s why we need to look at the carefully cultivated images of perfection with a jaded eye, because they will distract us from the necessary struggles required to do something worthwhile. Not all who wander are lost.
- [Why Silicon Valley’s Obsession With Logic Is Breaking the World](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-silicon-valleys-obsession-with-logic-is-breaking-the-world/) - In Careless People, former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams describes the Silicon Valley executives she worked with as so wealthy and powerful that they had grown out of touch with many of the world’s realities. At one point, during a discussion about how much to charge for internet service for refugees, she describes a senior leader’s surprise with the realization that the inhabitants of refugee camps don’t have jobs. Today, we increasingly live in the world of the visceral abstract, where the technologies that shape our lives are deeply rooted in concepts, such as quantum mechanics and natural selection, that can’t be experienced directly. This is especially true for the next generation of technologies, such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and quantum computing. When you design for the physical world by, say, building a bridge there is natural feedback if the building and thinking are out of harmony with dwelling. People can get to where they want to go or they can’t. The path is smooth or bumpy. The view is beautiful, or it is ugly. We notice flaws, if not immediately, then eventually. But they come to light and can be corrected. But in the world of the visceral abstract, thing’s aren’t so concrete. Nation states can manipulate us on social media, our chatbots can shift our psychology and our genomes can be engineered to interact with our environment in new and different ways, without us being aware of it. As technologies grow more powerful, the potential for good and evil multiply. This requires us to be not only careful, but connected—to not only think and build, but to dwell. We need to be suspicious of those who sell us visions of flawless logic, those visions are not only incomplete, they are inhuman. At some point, something has got to break.
- [Here's How You Build Change That Lasts](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/heres-how-you-build-change-that-lasts/) - Pixar founder Ed Catmull once wrote that “early on, all of our movies suck.” The trick, he explained, is to go beyond the initial germ of an idea and put in the hard work it takes to get something to go “from suck to not-suck.” He called early ideas “ugly babies,” because they start out, “awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.” There’s something romantic about the early stages of an idea, but it’s important to remember that, much like Catmull’s ugly babies, your idea is never going to be as weak and vulnerable as those early days before you get a chance to work out the inevitable kinks. You need to be careful not to overexpose it or it may die an early death. You need to protect your ugly baby, not shove it out into the world and hope it can fend for itself. You need to resist the urge to jump right in with a big launch. Change follows a predictable, nonlinear pattern often described as an S-curve. It starts out slowly, because it's unproven and flawed. Few will be able to see its potential and even fewer will be willing to devote their energy and resources to it. Early on, you need to focus on a relatively small circle who can help your ugly baby grow. These should be people you know and trust, or at least have indicated some enthusiasm for the concept. If you feel the urge to persuade, you have the wrong people. As you gain traction, identify flaws and make adjustments, your idea will grow stronger and you can accelerate. Large scale change cannot be rushed. It is not a communication problem and wordsmithing snappier slogans won’t get you very far. It is a collective action problem. People will only adopt it when they see others around them adopt it. That’s why you need to approach it carefully. Give it the respect it deserves, and it can work wonders for you.
- [AI Is Booming—And The Bust Could Be Even Bigger](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/ai-is-booming-and-the-bust-could-be-even-bigger/) - Looking at the AI boom from a historical perspective, the similarities to earlier technological cycles are striking. We see the same excitement, the same calls for government regulators to get out of the way and let the technological and market forces do their work. We also see the same pattern of massive overinvestment. The only part we haven’t seen is the bust…yet. There are also signs that this particular cycle has the potential to be worse than anything in living memory. As investor Paul Kedrosky points out, the size of investment in data center infrastructure has already surpassed that of the dotcom boom and is beginning to approach levels last seen during the railroad frenzy of the 19th century. And for all the hype and hoopla, we’re not seeing much of a boost in productivity growth. A study by the St. Louis Fed suggests a 1.1% increase in aggregate worker productivity, with much of that concentrated in the tech sector. A paper by Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu, looking at total factor productivity (TFP), a measure which takes use of capital into account, sees a 0.66% increase over 10 years, translating to a 0.064% increase in annual TFP growth. Finally, there are signs of growing systemic risk. Kedrosky notes that, increasingly, tech giants are choosing to finance much of their infrastructure build-outs with Enron-like special purpose vehicles, which cost more but keep the debt off their balance sheets. That risk, in turn, is increasingly being passed to more traditional investors such as REITs. So, whether you like it or not, we’re all deeply invested in this AI boom and there will surely be rough waters ahead. We need capable governance if we’re going to navigate the rapids and not end up crashing on the rocks. Who, if anyone, is at the helm?
- [How To Leverage Cultural Triggers To Engineer A High Performance Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-to-leverage-cultural-triggers-to-engineer-a-high-performance-organization/) - Lou Gerstner, reflecting on his legendary turnaround at IBM, wrote, “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value… What does the culture reward and punish – individual achievement or team play, risk taking or consensus building?” Every culture encodes norms through rituals. How you hire, promote, produce budgets, and account for expenses and profits all involve ritualized processes. These reflect both explicit and implicit values that guide people on how they’re expected to act. Deliberately or not, leaders are constantly sending signals and people are constantly reading them. It’s not uncommon for leaders to be unaware of the signals they are sending. Take stack ranking, which requires managers to rank employees by performance and eliminate the bottom 10%. It’s meant to encode norms of excellence. But often it does just the opposite, encouraging employees to undermine each other instead of collaborating effectively. All too often, leaders try to shape behavior through incentives. But trying to bribe and bully your way to a performance culture is like closing the barn door after the horse has already bolted. To effectively shape behavior, you need to address the norms and rituals that underlie it. Incentives might enforce compliance, but they won’t inspire passion or creativity. To build a true performance culture, it is not enough to simply plan and direct action, you have to inspire and empower belief. You do that by being deliberate and precise about how you design cultural triggers.
- [How To Design A Keystone Change In 4 (Not So Easy) Steps](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-to-design-a-keystone-change-in-4-not-so-easy-steps/) - Traditional change management practices focus on communication and training—a holdover from an earlier age, when leaders had more control and the goal was simply to inform and coordinate. Today, however, most change initiatives involve behavior—what people think and do every day—and that naturally triggers resistance. To create genuine transformation, we need to get out of the business of selling ideas and into the business of selling success. That’s what a Keystone Change—a clear and tangible goal, involving stakeholders that paves the way for future change—allows you to do. The next step is to design a Co-optable Resource that will help empower people to spread the idea themselves. For example, in the 80s and 90s, Don Berwick pioneered quality practices in healthcare and founded the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to advance them. Despite clear results, adoption lagged—until the 100,000 Lives Campaign equipped hospital allies with “change kits” and how-to guides. That broke the logjam, and quality practices began to take hold. That’s the model for successfully implementing large-scale change: start with a core team of enthusiasts that will help you iterate and achieve a Keystone Change. Once you’ve gained some traction, help people spread the idea through peer networks by supplying them with a Co-optable Resource so that they can bring in others, who can bring in others still. In the final analysis, transformational change is driven by small groups, loosely connected, but united by a shared purpose. It all starts with a Keystone Chang
- [How To Navigate Power, Build Influence, And Finally Get Your Ideas Heard](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-to-navigate-power-build-influence-and-finally-get-your-ideas-heard/) - Years ago, when I was just an up-and-coming executive, I worked for two entrepreneurs in Poland who understood how to seize power and influence better than anyone I’ve ever met before or since. They had a small local company, but were able to compete and collaborate with the largest multinational corporations in the world on a better than equal footing. In one of my first experiences with them, I joined one of the partners for a breakfast meeting with a major media company. The executives were eager to form a partnership and, after laying out the general terms, handed us a draft contract—while casually mentioning, “We apologize that it’s in German.” Without missing a beat, the partner deadpanned, “Oh really? Where do I sign?” and instantly shifted the power dynamic. What I learned from those guys is that power has nothing to do with the usual trappings of authority. You don’t need a big title or to work for a big company. The truth is, the biggest organizations often produce the smallest people. Influence is not conferred on you by a hierarchy. In fact, mistaking formal authority for actual power can undermine your ability to influence those around you. True influence is something you create yourself, by widening and deepening connections. Influence isn’t a monolithic force, but a continuum. Hard power, soft power and network power work together—you can leverage one to build and enhance the others.
- [Why We Fail to Adapt — And The 3 Hidden Forces Holding You Back](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-we-fail-to-adapt-and-the-3-hidden-forces-holding-you-back/) - There is probably no better example of institutional resistance to change than the story of Ignaz Semmelweis. In the 1840s, as a young doctor at Vienna General Hospital, he discovered that simple handwashing could dramatically reduce infections and save lives. Yet the medical establishment rejected the idea outright. Millions died needlessly before the germ theory of disease gained prominence two decades later. Since then, the term Semmelweis effect has been coined to describe tendency for institutions to reject new evidence when it contradicts established beliefs or paradigms. Sadly, it appears not much has changed in the last 120 years. It continues to persist. Viewed through the lens of synaptic, cultural, and cost effects, the story begins to make more sense. Doctors’ mental models were shaped by the miasma theory, which held that “bad air” made people sick. High-status physicians felt insulted by the suggestion that they themselves were spreading disease and reinforced the existing model. System-wide reforms would have also created significant costs and disruption. So we can’t just blame institutions. We also need to look at Semmelweis, who was an ineffective advocate for his ideas. Rather than identifying why the medical establishment was unwilling to change, he simply railed against it, sending nasty letters to prominent doctors. They closed ranks against him and things ended badly. He would die in an insane asylum, ironically of an infection he contracted under care. If you truly believe in change, passion and good intentions aren’t nearly enough. You need to be an effective advocate. That starts with understanding why we fail to adapt and addressing the barriers that hold us back.
- [3 Stupid Things Leaders Often Think](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/3-stupid-things-leaders-often-think/) - Leaders begin their role with the best of intentions. No one start out by thinking, “I want to make everyone’s lives miserable and undermine their performance.” Yet, we know many do just that. Most are thrust into the role, with very little training or development, because they were good at something else or there was simply a hole to be filled. In "Good Boss, Bad Boss," organizational psychologist Bob Sutton writes, “Devoting relentless attention to doing one good thing after another—however small—is the only path I know to becoming and remaining a great boss” and that’s good advice. But before you can become a great boss, you first need to stop being a bad one. The first step? Letting go of the beliefs that undermine your leadership effectiveness. While nobody sets out to adopt counterproductive ideas, certain myths creep in over time and shape decision-making. These misconceptions lead to poor actions that harm both leaders and their teams. Here are three of the most common stupid things to watch out for:
- [This Is How You Bring Down A Dictator](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/this-is-how-you-bring-down-a-dictator/) - In the early 20th century, the sociologist Max Weber noted that the sweeping industrialization taking place would transform how societies worked. As small operations gave way to large institutions with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, leaders would need to rely less on tradition and charisma, and more on organization and rationality. Today, autocrats work to reverse this process by undermining institutions and bending them to their will. They erode norms, subvert laws and replace them with whims and corrupt incentive structures that value loyalty over competence. Objectives that serve the people are replaced with those that serve the leader and enhance his power. Successful democracy movements do exactly the opposite. They focus on shared values to strengthen societal norms. The Solidarity movement in Poland, for example, leveraged strikes to build trade unions and inspired the Catholic to intervene. In this way, they mobilized people to influence institutions, which amplified and reinforced broader change. In the end, dictatorships always rot from within. Their need to place loyalty over competence hollows out a society's capabilities and saps prosperity and morale. As pressures build, insiders defect and key pillars that support the regime begin to collapse or switch sides. An autocrat who has lost control of institutions can no longer wield power. What’s probably most important is to understand that opposing a dictator is not about playing politics but about strengthening a society, its institutions, and the norms that sustain them. Successful movements are never rooted in a particular person, program or policy, but in the shared values that create a common purpose and mission. There’s no need to make it up as you go along. There’s an established playbook for doing this. The first step is to start following it.
- [How Tribal Instincts Drive Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-tribal-instincts-drive-change-along-the-s-curve/) - The S-curve has become so ingrained in the lore of innovation and change that we scarcely think about where it came from or what drives it. We know that change starts slowly, with a few enthusiasts experimenting with something new. If it gains traction, adoption can accelerate exponentially before the market saturates and levels off. Yet Michael Morris’s work on tribal signals can help us understand the original research in new and interesting ways. We’ve long known that early adopters tend to venture outside their communities to explore. But when we understand the peer instinct and prevalence signals, we can begin to see how the structure of our social networks affects what we can achieve. In a similar vein, understanding the hero instinct and prestige signals allows us to accelerate adoption by celebrating success stories and telling them well. Leveraging the ancestor instinct and precedent signals can help us frame new things in terms that honor and respect traditions that people already value. At its root, innovation is less about technology and disruption than it is about people. Good ideas—even great ones—fail all the time. If you have an idea you care about and want it to succeed, you can’t ignore the basic instincts that drive human nature. You need to harness them and let them work for you instead of against you.
- [We Need To Finally Break Free Of The Engineering Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-finally-break-free-of-the-engineering-mindset/) - It would be nice if every problem could be reduced to a single metric but we live in a more complex world.
- [Disruption Doesn’t Drive Innovation—Safety Does](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/disruption-doesnt-drive-innovation-safety-does/) - In 1997, when Clayton Christensen first published The Innovator’s Dilemma and introduced the term “disruptive innovation,” it was a clarion call. His key insight was that, under certain conditions, the basis of competition in an industry shifts, and the strategies that once made incumbents successful can suddenly make them vulnerable. Yet what Christensen didn’t anticipate was how seductive the idea of disruption would become. Soon all of the pundits—most of whom never read his book or understood his concepts—were preaching the gospel of disruption. Suddenly, everything had to be disrupted all the time. But the truth was, we weren’t disrupting industries, but disrupting people. The unfortunate reality is that when most leaders talk about disruption, they’re not thinking about business strategy but elevating themselves. Disruption becomes a personal brand. A way to feel bold, daring, visionary. Yet while they are glorifying themselves, they’re making things harder for everyone else and there’s a cost to that. Genuinely visionary leaders know that disruption and safety go hand in hand. The safer you make your organization, the more you empower your people to think boldly, take risks, and explore new territory. The more stress you create, the more you drain cognitive capacity, limit creativity and shrink the space for insight, collaboration, and original thinking. To truly lead an enterprise, you need to empower the people in it. You do that by building trust, which can only thrive in an environment of safety and well-being. If you want bold action, you need to create a space in which it can thrive.
- [Here’s What Nobody Tells You About Building an Innovative Culture—Not Everyone Will Thrive In It](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/heres-what-nobody-tells-you-about-building-an-innovative-culture-not-everyone-will-thrive-in-it/) - At PARC, Xerox created a culture where creative minds could thrive. It was there that Alan Kay invented object-oriented software, Bob Metcalfe developed Ethernet; and so many other technologies were created that became central to the age of personal computers. Some of the technology was spun off into entirely new companies, such as 3Com and Adobe. It was also a place where Gary Starkweather, who had been a pariah in the old Xerox research lab back on the east coast, found he fit right in. The technology he had been developing became the world’s first laser printer and brought the bitmapped graphics technology to life. As a product, it would prove to be so enormously profitable it would save Xerox. Yet even the most innovative cultures aren’t fertile ground for every idea. Two researchers at PARC, Dick Shoup and Alvy Ray Smith, were working on a new graphics technology called SuperPaint. Unfortunately, it didn’t fit in with PARC’s vision of personal computing. Much like Starkweather, the two were seen as outcasts and would go elsewhere. Smith would team up with another graphics pioneer, Ed Catmull, at the New York Institute of Technology. Later they joined George Lucas, who saw the potential for computer graphics to create a new paradigm for special effects. Eventually, the operation was spun out and bought by Steve Jobs. That company, Pixar, was sold to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion. Great leaders build cultures that are fit for purpose. That means you have to make choices. Inevitably, that means that some things—and some people—won’t fit.
- [How Ukraine Defied History](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-ukraine-defied-history/) - My friend, the global activist Srdja Popović, once told me that the goal of a revolution should be to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. If you are successful, it should be difficult to explain what was won because the previous order seems so unbelievable. Those words were very much on my mind last week as I watched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flanked by top European leaders at the White House. It’s getting harder to remember a time when Ukraine wasn’t admired around the world. It has come so far since I first arrived in Kyiv more than two decades ago, the past now feels almost like a mirage. To be honest, I’m not sure anyone really knows how we got here. There were so many pivotal moments. What if Putin hadn’t poisoned Yushchenko in 2004? What if he had died or dropped out of the race? What if Putin hadn’t shut off the gas? Or derailed the EU trade agreement? What if, on the night of the full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy hadn’t stood with his ministers in Kyiv and used the camera on his smartphone to broadcast to the world, “I’m here”? So many, “what ifs,” far too many to list. So many questions left unanswered, and so many genuinely unanswerable. But I did get the answer to one question that had long been on my mind. At a small dinner I attended with Yushchenko and his wife last year, I asked him about that pivotal moment, when he left his hospital bed, body ravaged and face disfigured, marched down to Parliament and demanded, “Look at my face.” I was sitting right across from him, just a few feet away, and he told me softly—as if the moment his courage inspired a nation and changed the course of history was just about the simplest thing in the world—“I just always believed in the Ukrainian spirit.” It was a phrase he had used throughout the evening, not dramatically, but in passing, as if he were referring to an antique piece of furniture that had always been there, quietly waiting to be noticed. So maybe the simplest answer to the question of how truly transformational change can happen is that, first, someone has to believe in it.
- [If You’re Serious About Change, You Need To Make These 3 Mindset Shifts](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/if-youre-serious-about-change-you-need-to-make-these-3-mindset-shifts/) - Leaders are trained to operate with a manager mindset because consensus and predictability are essential to execute complex operations. Everyone needs to know their role to carry out their responsibilities and be able to trust that everyone else will do the same. That’s how you deliver for customers, partners, employees and other stakeholders. When you need to change course, however, you need to discard the manager mindset and embrace a changemaker mindset and that means that the usual best practices won’t work. Change isn’t predictable, but uncertain. You can’t expect a consensus, so need to identify a coalition that’s willing to believe in the change vision and explore possibilities. What makes that so difficult is that adopting a changemaker mindset requires leaders to abandon what made them successful in the first place. Persuading people that you have the right vision is unlikely to succeed, so you need to identify people who are already enthusiastic about it. Instead of emphasizing on how the change is different, you need to focus on values that are already widely shared. What’s perhaps most challenging—and humbling— for leaders to understand is that transformation is not a journey in which they get to play the hero, but a strategic conflict with the status quo in their own organization, which is supported by sources of power that have had years—and sometimes decades—to take hold. Effective leaders need to master both the manager mindset and the changemaker mindset and learn to effectively switch off between the two. Just because you need to pursue change doesn’t mean you can just ignore everyday operations. On the other hand, if you try to pursue change with a manager mindset you are almost guaranteed to fail. Genuine transformation happens not when you push change harder, but when you embrace a different mindset.
- [Revealing, Building And Emerging: We Need To Take A More Biological View Of Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/revealing-building-and-emerging-we-need-to-take-a-more-biological-view-of-technology/) - What both the optimists and the Cassandras miss is that technology is not something that exists independently from us. It is, in fact, intensely human. We don’t merely build it, but continue to nurture it through how we develop and shape ecosystems. We need to go beyond a simple engineering mindset and focus on a process of revealing, building and emergence. All too often we fail to notice that as we build complexity emerges and we lose control. People work their entire lives to become experts on even a minor aspect of a technology like an iPhone, a narrow practice of medicine or an obscure facet of a single legal code. As complexity increases, so does specialization, making it even harder for any one person to see the whole picture. What’s crucial to understand, however, is that it’s not any particular invention, but ecosystems that create the future. Make no mistake, our future will be shaped by our own choices, which is why we need to abandon our illusions of control. We need to shift from an engineering mindset, where we try to optimize for a limited set of variables and take a more biological view, growing and shaping ecosystems of talent, technology, information and cultural norms.
- [Happy 16th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/happy-16th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - Much of what this blog has become was born in the winter of 2004 on Independence Square in Kyiv. It was there, with the uncertainty and confusion of the Orange Revolution swirling around us, that we stood shivering in the cold. We didn’t know what would become of us, or of Ukraine, or of anything,
- [Why Leaders Need To Master Tribal Signals](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-leaders-need-to-master-tribal-signals/) - Humanity’s superpower is collective action. We collaborate in large numbers and in incredibly complex ways. That’s how we managed to hunt animals larger than ourselves, build shelters for protection, and pass knowledge down through generations—something no other species does. Our tribal instincts made all of that possible. Yet tribal instincts can also go awry. Our need to signal identity and belonging can lead to group polarization. Moderate voices are drowned out and extreme views dominate. Members engage in “moral outbidding,” a purity spiral ensues and those deemed insufficiently loyal are ostracized and cast out while outsiders are viewed with extreme suspicion and attacked. Still, as Michael Morris points out, wise leaders can harness tribal instincts to build a better future. “Precedent signals” help root new ideas in the cherished traditions of the past. “Prestige signals” encourage people to excel and be recognized. “Peer signals” drive us to seek out best practices and implement them in our own activities. Tribal identities aren’t necessarily fixed. They can grow and evolve over time, incorporating new clans and new ideas to take on new challenges. “Identity can be used to divide, but it can and has also been used to integrate,” Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book on the subject. That insight is key to understanding how to make our tribal instincts work for us. Wise leaders don't ignore tribal instincts, but channel them to evolve a greater whole
- [The Science Behind Why Massive Change Seems To Happen All At Once](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/the-science-behind-why-massive-change-seems-to-happen-all-at-once/) - In my book, "Cascades," I described a pivotal moment when I awoke one morning in the fall of 2004, surprised to see my fiancée wrapping a bright orange bandana around her neck as she prepared to go out. It seemed particularly early for a Saturday, and she has never been an early riser so I asked, “Where are you going?” “I’m going out to a demonstration,” she said. “I thought you didn’t care about politics.” “I didn’t, but it's enough already, and it’s time to do something about it.” And just like everything changed. Ukraine was about to join the wave of popular uprisings that came to be known as the Color Revolutions, which swept across Eastern Europe in the first decade of the 21st century. The movement included Serbia, the Georgian Republic and, of course, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. For many years, how that all happened was a mystery, but over time I began to unravel the science behind it all, which is what led to my book. I learned there are natural laws that govern change and that these laws can be learned and applied by anyone, in any context, to overcome the status quo and bring about the change that they want to see. The Orange Revolution began with a student group called Pora. They didn’t have power or money, but they were fed up with the corruption and incompetence of their leaders. They slowly started forming connections to other students and those students had mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles who became linked through their activities. Then a cascade triggering event occurred—the poisoning of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko. That lowered resistance thresholds of all those mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, who were not students or activists, but marketing managers and accountants and had connections to other professionals like my fiancée, who started attending demonstrations. These triggered peer instincts and even more hit the streets. That’s why transformational change so often happens gradually, then suddenly. It happens when small groups, loosely connected, become united by a shared purpose and then an unexpected event tips the system into a cascade. Wise leaders build their movement to prepare for that moment, and are able to shape the future in a more positive direction.
- [3 Strategic Tools Every Changemaker Needs In Their Toolbox](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/3-strategic-tools-every-changemaker-needs-in-their-toolbox/) - When I was researching my book, Cascades, I noticed that change movements all started out very differently. The activists in the 19th century and early 20th tended to be women, like Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, and Alice Paul. For most of the 20th century, they were mostly men in their 30s and older, like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. In the 60s, student groups became more predominant. Yet despite their differences, I noticed a consistent pattern over the past two centuries. A movement would start with a grassroots effort, begin to gain traction and then experience a tragic failure, such as the Women’s Suffrage Procession, Gandhi’s Himalayan Miscalculation and the massacre at Sharpeville. The successful movements learned from their experience and changed tactics. The unsuccessful movements never did. To this rule, there was one major exception: The Civil Rights Movement in the United States and there is a clear reason why. They learned the successes and failures of those who came before them. Some, like James Lawson, travelled to India and studied directly under Gandhi’s disciples and then trained young activists, like John Lewis, Marion Barry, and Diane Nash who became leaders in their own right. You can do the same. Every effort to drive change faces challenges in maintaining unity, but creating a “contract” that encourages people to explicitly commit to shared values is a proven way to build cohesion. Creating resources that others can co-opt to achieve their own goals allows initiatives to scale organically, while designing dilemmas offers a powerful strategy to discredit those working to sabotage and undermine your efforts. These principles are just as effective for driving organizational change. One thing history has shown is that transformational change is possible in even the most difficult contexts. The key isn’t the righteousness of the cause of even the commitment of those working for change, but the ability to learn use the right tools with skill, discipline and wisdom. Yet despite their differences, I noticed a consistent pattern over the past two centuries. A movement would start with a grassroots effort, begin to gain traction and then experience a tragic failure, such as the Women’s Suffrage Procession, Gandhi’s Himalayan Miscalculation and the massacre at Sharpeville. The successful movements learned from their experience and changed tactics. The unsuccessful movements never did. To this rule, there was one major exception: The Civil Rights Movement in the United States and there is a clear reason why. They learned the successes and failures of those who came before them. Some, like James Lawson, travelled to India and studied directly under Gandhi’s disciples and then trained young activists, like John Lewis, Marion Barry, and Diane Nash who became leaders in their own right. You can do the same. Every effort to drive change faces challenges in maintaining unity, but creating a “contract” that encourages people to explicitly commit to shared values is a proven way to build cohesion. Creating resources that others can co-opt to achieve their own goals allows initiatives to scale organically, while designing dilemmas offers a powerful strategy to discredit those working to sabotage and undermine your efforts. These same principles are just as effective for driving organizational change. One thing history has clearly shown is that truly transformational change is possible in even the most difficult contexts. The key isn’t the righteousness of the cause of even the commitment of those working for change, but the ability to learn use the right tools with skill, discipline and wisdom.
- [We Need To Break The Disruption Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/we-need-to-break-the-disruption-mindset/) - The dumbest thing anybody ever said about change is that you want to start by creating a sense of urgency. If the change is truly urgent then everyone already know it. The reason why so many change leaders cling to this "burning platform" mentality is because it ennobles the change leader, not the change itself. It’s been roughly 25 years since Clayton Christensen inaugurated the disruptive era and what he initially intended to describe as a special case has been implemented as if it were a general rule. Disruption is increasingly self-referential, used as both premise and conclusion, while the status quo is assumed to be broken and inadequate as an a priori principle. The truth is that creating a sense of disruption doesn’t accelerate transformation—it undermines it. It impairs creativity, drains morale, fuels change fatigue, and triggers resistance. We need to abandon the disruption mindset, pursue fewer changes and make sure we bring people along and make sure that we see them through. If you want to bring genuine change about you need to start by creating a sense of safety around the change conversation. You do that by approaching transformation with a sense of empathy, identifying shared values and building trust. Meaningful change can’t be mandated or forced, it can only be empowered. Change that lasts is always built on common ground. Read the full post below:
- [How AI Can Help You Make Better Decisions](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-ai-can-help-you-make-better-decisions/) - Clearly, we are on the verge of something very different. Individual firms are investing tens of billions of dollars to create AI systems that will bring us every fact ever uncovered, every story ever told, every language ever recorded; all human knowledge at our beck and call. This has the potential to give our rational brain unprecedented power. What it can’t do is replace our innate capacity to wonder and explore. The knowledge of the world is finite, but the universe of possibility is limitless. Our emotional brain, driven by somatic markers in our limbic system from personal experiences, fuels our ability to form intent. An AI system can help us to discern facts, but only we can determine what truly matters and decide the paths we want to pursue. It is through forming intent that we can begin to leverage AI to explore. We can, as Warren Berger suggested in A More Beautiful Question, ask our systems questions such as “Why?” “What if” and “How?” That can lead us to new territory where we can create new knowledge, tell new stories and spark new conversations. AI systems are exceptional at analyzing the past, but they can’t envision a completely different future, much less determine what we want from it. They can inform our decisions by helping us discern baseline knowledge, but only we can decide what possibilities we want to explore and whether, when we examine them, they are to our liking. As we embark on this new era of augmented cognitive capacity, we need to learn to collaborate effectively with intelligent machines. We will have far greater power to inform our decisions, but we will still have to make our own.
- [How Blockbuster, Kodak And Xerox Really Failed (It’s Not What You Think)](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-blockbuster-kodak-and-xerox-really-failed-its-not-what-you-think/) - The roots of disruption are always more complex they first appear
- [The Experts Aren’t the Problem. It’s How You’re Listening to Them](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/the-experts-arent-the-problem-its-how-youre-listening-to-them/) - One of the best innovation stories I’ve ever heard came from a senior executive at a leading tech firm. Apparently, his company had won a million-dollar contract to design a sensor that could detect pollutants at very small concentrations underwater. So the firm set up a team of crack chip designers and they got to work. Shortly after, the team’s marine biologist walked in and casually dropped a bag of clams on the table. Noticing the stunned looks around the room, he explained that clams are incredibly sensitive to pollutants—able to detect contaminants at just a few parts per million—and respond by opening their shells. So instead of developing an expensive sensor, all they needed was a basic system to detect when the clams opened. “They saved $999,000,” the executive told me, “and had the clams for dinner.” The story gets to the core of the challenge of listening to experts. If you only listened to the chip designers, you would devote far too many resources and come up with a less optimal solution. If you only relied on marine biologists, you would never be able to design even simple chips. To solve meaningful problems, you need to integrate insights from multiple domains. Innovation isn’t just about technical talent, it’s about creating the space for the dialogue across disciplines. So when we listen to experts, we need to apply a critical lens and ask: What’s the nature of their expertise? If you listen to technology experts, for example, you will come away with a better understanding of what a technology like artificial intelligence is capable of. If you listen to economists, they will give you more realistic context about its potential impact on society. Yet if you examine both with a critical eye, a new story emerges. AI’s productivity on some tasks, such as coding, is already transformational. For others, such as personal services, it has been negligible. That may not predict what the future will be, but it will give you some actionable insight on where to focus your efforts most productively. Understanding the world isn’t about “doing your own research,” but listening to experts critically and integrating the accumulated knowledge from multiple domains.
- [How “True Believers” Can Undermine Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/how-true-believers-can-undermine-change/) - In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the point that many of our opinions are a product of our inclusion in a particular team. Because our judgments are so closely intertwined with our identity, contrary views can feel like an attack. So we feel the urge to lash out and silence opposition. That almost guarantees a failure to survive victory. I first noticed this in the aftermath of the Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004. Having overcome a falsified election, we were so triumphant that we failed to see the gathering storm. Because we felt that the forces of history were on our side, we dismissed signs that the corrupt and thuggish Viktor Yanukovych was staging a comeback and paid a terrible price. DEI leaders are experiencing something similar today. I see the same pattern in our work helping organizations with transformational initiatives. Change leaders feel so passionately about their idea they want to push it through and silence dissent. But not every transformation is for everybody. Meaningful change can't be mandated or forced, it can only be empowered. But in order to do that, you need to focus your energy on winning converts, rather than punishing heretics. ​​One of the most difficult things about leading change is that we need to let people embrace it for their own reasons and in their own way. Some will never embrace it and will take another path, pursue a different journey. The truth is to bring about lasting change you need to learn to love your haters. They’re the ones who can help alert you to early flaws, which gives you the opportunity to fix them before they can do serious damage. They can also help you to identify shared values that can help you communicate more effectively and also design dilemmas that will send people your way. The best place to start is with a problem that people actually want solved, that can be pursued with a sense of shared values and shared purpose. Change that lasts is always built on common ground. The secret to bringing about large-scale change is understanding you don't have to bring in everyone at once, just enough to help you get to the tipping point where you can unlock a cascade. Change is about collective dynamics, not persuasion or snappy slogans In fact, the urge to persuade is a red flag. It usually means you either have the wrong change or the wrong people. That's why you want to start out with a problem that people want solved, that can be pursued with shared values and shared purpose.
- [We Need To Take A More Evidence-Based Approach For Transformation And Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-need-to-take-a-more-evidence-based-approach-for-transformation-and-change/) - Today we are in a change crisis. Businesses need to internalize new technologies like AI and adapt to new realities like hybrid work, but still struggle to adopt decades old skills related to lean manufacturing, agile development and cultural competency. If we are going to drive the transformations we need to compete, we need to take an evidence based approach. The biggest misconception about change is that once people understand it, they will embrace it. That’s almost never true. If you intend to influence an entire organization, you have to assume the deck is stacked against you. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. The good news is that we have over a half-century of research and practice that can inform our efforts. Yet to be effective, we have to put that learning to work. It makes no sense, for example, to “create a sense of urgency” around change when we know that transformation follows an s-shaped curve, starting slowly and then accelerating after a tipping point, doing so is more likely to trigger resistance than to move things forward. In much the same way, if we know that shifts in knowledge and attitudes don’t necessarily result in changes in practice and that ideas about change are transmitted socially, we should focus our efforts on empowering enthusiasts rather than wordsmithing and broadcasting slogans. People tend to adopt the ideas and actions of those around them. We need to think about change as a strategic conflict between the present state and an alternative vision. The truth is that change isn’t about persuasion, but power. To bring about transformation we need to undermine the sources of power that underlie the present state while strengthening the forces that favor a different future. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [The Evidence Behind Why Big Transformations Start Small](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/the-evidence-behind-why-big-transformations-start-small/) - The most common mistake that leaders make when pursuing change is to assume that once people understand it, they will embrace it. So they approach transformation with a typical project management approach, looking to create a sense of urgency, build awareness, remove obstacles and quickly show progress against a timeline. Yet we have decades of research and experience, with every type of change imaginable, that shows that’s not how transformation really works. What we know is that change comes from the outside and takes hold among a small group of enthusiasts. They adopt the idea cautiously at first, but their success encourages others to adopt it more aggressively. As leaders, we can empower this process along, by supporting those early adopters, helping them to succeed and giving them resources they can co-opt to help change spread. To do that, we must shift from a traditional manager mindset—centered on consensus, predictability, and execution—to a changemaker mindset that emphasizes building coalitions, embracing uncertainty, and fostering exploration. We need to follow the evidence. Change doesn’t have to fail. It follows a distinct pattern that we can leverage to achieve what we want to. By recognizing and embracing this pattern, we can avoid the pitfalls of transformation theater so many leaders fall into and consistently bring about genuine change. In an era of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt and leaders who can inspire change have a distinct competitive advantage. Transformation can’t be mandated or forced, it can only be inspired and empowered.
- [Why Is There So Much Bullshit?](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-is-there-so-much-bullshit/) - Pretty much everywhere you look, you’ll find bullshit. We are constantly bombarded with politicians and “experts “on TV, at conferences and on social media, spouting bullshit. An economist would tell you that it is simply impossible for so much bullshit to exist, because the market values truth, but of course that’s bullshit. One possible reason that there is so much bullshit in the world is that there are so many bullshitters. Yet that explanation has a critical flaw. People spouting bullshit are, in most cases, completely sincere. They believe that they are truth tellers, uncovering and sharing critical wisdoms that add value and meaning to our lives. In his famous essay, On Bullshit, philosopher Harry Frankfurt makes the case that “bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are,” because liars need to actually ascertain the truth to misrepresent it. Bullshitters, on the other hand, show complete disregard for facts. I would argue, however, that’s only half the story. We bullshit because it serves a crucial purpose. We’re willing to accept a certain amount of bullshit in our lives. Scientific frameworks like The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) explain that for low involvement areas, we actually prefer low information arguments with emotive content over more detailed explanations. Most of all though, we bullshit to protect our identities, both individual and collective. It is through our beliefs that we connect with others, build communities and engage in shared purpose. It’s an equation that, for the most part, works very well. We engage in bullshit, so that we can do things together that matter, that make a difference in our lives and in others’. Yet every once in a while we need to take a more disciplined approach. A natural disaster occurs, a pandemic arises or a crisis erupts in a far off place that we know little about and we need to show more humility about what we think we know and why we think we know it. David McRaney suggests we can do this by giving a level of certainty—from 1-10—to ideas that we believe and ask ourselves why that level isn’t higher or lower. It’s an effective practice. Try it. Because sometimes we get to a point where all the bullshit just has to stop. CLICK TO READ MORE…
- [When You Fail To Forge Shared Values, Your Vision Will Fail Too](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/when-you-fail-to-forge-shared-values-your-will-vision-fail-too/) - The Women’s March of 2017 was never built on solid ground. Tensions between the white activists who wanted to emphasize issues like reproductive rights and the activists of color who prioritized things such as criminal justice, corporate power, and wealth inequality were barely concealed under the parade of hopeful slogans and pussy hats. Things came to a head in February 2018, when Tamika Mallory, one of the co-chairs, was reported to have attended an event featuring Louis Farrakhan where he let loose with a torrent of anti-Semitic slurs. Further recriminations followed after Mallory refused to condemn Farrakhan during an appearance on The View. In the aftermath, three founding board members announced they were transitioning to other projects. Every change effort faces similar challenges. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. The opposition, for its part, must weave together a coalition of fractious interests and competing priorities. This often devolves into infighting, recrimination, and, inevitably, collapse. The failure to survive victory is always a failure to leverage shared values, usually in favor of differentiating values that allow people to assert their status and identity. Transformational change is always made up of small groups, loosely connected, but united by a shared purpose. The job of change leaders is to help those groups connect through shared values that can form the basis of shared identity and shared purpose. To do that, you need to be explicit and up-front. Papering over differences will only give them space to fester and, eventually, they will erupt. Like so many that came before, the Women’s March failed to meet that challenge, as do so others that are failing even now. The path to success is a narrow corridor and must be tread with courage and discipline. Much like Tolstoy said about families, successful movements always end up looking alike; unsuccessful ones fail in their own way.
- [When You Feel The Urge To Create A Conflict, Create A Dilemma Instead](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/when-you-feel-the-urge-to-create-a-conflict-create-a-dilemma-instead/) - When we feel passionately about an idea it becomes part of our identity, dignity and sense of self. That’s why any opposition can feel like an affront, an assault not only on the idea, but on our very being. That makes us want to lash out, to dominate, to overpower and smite our enemies; to show them that they cannot win and resistance is futile. That never ends well. Usually, you just get pulled into a petty back-and-forth. Even if you prevail in the immediate conflict, you create animosity that is bound to turn back on you and undermine what you are trying to achieve. Whatever stories we want to tell ourselves, the urge to dominate is always seeking status for ourselves, not devotion to a cause. That’s why instead of creating a conflict, we need to create a dilemma for our antagonists. It starts with identifying a shared value and then designing a constructive act rooted in that shared value. That’s what creates the dilemma: Your opponents either need to let the act go forward or to violate the shared value. To change the world, we need to learn to see it differently. We can’t just fight the same losing battles. We need to redefine the terms of our struggle in ways that tilt the playing field to our advantage. In the final analysis, that’s what makes the difference between people who want to make a point and those who actually make a difference.
- [The End of History All Over Again...](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/the-end-of-history-all-over-again/) - Before 1789 the world was ruled by the divine right of kings and the feudal system. Yet that year would prove to be an inflection point. The American Constitution the French Revolution and the first Industrial Revolution, already underway since the introduction of the steam engine in 1776, together created a fundamental realignment of power. Another came in 1919, with the end of World War I, the rise of the United States as a global superpower, and the second Industrial Revolution, driven by electricity and the internal combustion engine. The next half century would not be defined by empires, but ideologies, as capitalism, communism and, briefly, fascism, vied for supremacy. That era ended with the Cold War in 1989 and what comes next remains unclear. The neoliberal global order, if not completely discredited, has been found grossly inadequate. Today, we’re undergoing four major shifts in demography, technology, resources, and migration that are straining the global system towards a breaking point. Our institutions—governmental, educational, scientific, religious and economic—have been under siege for decades and have lost credibility. The main debate now is whether the current system needs to be completely torn down and replaced with some new order or redesigned, streamlined and strengthened. The one constant through it all is the basic need for recognition. That’s been our fundamental mistake over the past half century. We believed we could transcend human nature and build a society on purely rational economic foundations. We were wrong. Whatever comes next will have to begin by acknowledging the visceral human yearning for dignity and meaning.
- [We Are Beset With Conspiracy Theories. Here's How To Fix It.](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-we-are-beset-with-conspiracy-theories-and-how-to-fix-it/) - In a nutshell, the function conspiracy theories play is to explain things that we don’t otherwise understand and feel out of our control. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the age of Covid has spawned a myriad of crazy, dangerous notions. What we need to come to terms with is that the real problem plaguing society is a basic lack of trust and that is where the battle must be fought. We need to learn how to rebuild trust, even with our enemies and the best—perhaps the only way—to do that is by focusing on shared values. We might, for example, disagree on exactly how our criminal justice system should function, but we can all agree that everyone has the right to live in a safe community. We may not agree on the specifics of a “Green New Deal,” but can all see the importance of investing in our rural communities and small towns. Most of all, we need to rebuild a sense of connection. Fortunately, network science tells us that it takes relatively few connections to drastically reduce social distance. Trust is personal, not political. It can’t be legislated or mandated but arises out of shared experience that contributes to the collective well being. Like our mail carriers, our institutions must be seen to be competently serving us and having our well-being in mind. In the final analysis, our problem is not one of information, but that of basic good will. The antidote is not stronger arguments, but more capable public service.
- [Why You Should Beware The Action Trap](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-you-should-beware-the-action-trap/) - When you are launching a new initiative, you want to start with a bang. You want to create a “sense of urgency,” conjure images of “burning platforms” and get everybody’s butts in gear. You will have the urge to recruit high-profile executives, arrange a big “kick-off” meeting and look to move fast, gain scale and rack up some quick wins. While this may be a good approach for a traditional initiative, for a transformational project it’s bound to backfire. Yes, you’ll excite and inspire some, but you will also ignite resistance. As opposition forms and begins undermining you behind the scenes, you are likely to get bogged down. Ironically, creating a sense of urgency often creates the opposite effect. That’s why when we work with an organization, we never do a full-blown launch, but rather start with a Keystone Change—a clear and tangible goal that involves multiple stakeholders and paves the way for future change. Yet instead of shooting bigger, we encourage the team to make it as small as possible. Your first actions should be barely noticeable and focused on people who are as enthusiastic about change as you are. Any early failures should be nearly invisible to the larger organization, but a meaningful success will provide traction and momentum to move forward. You don’t need to convince everyone at once, just enough to get going. Action without strategy, on the other hand, is doomed to fail. That’s why so many change efforts floundsert. They rush in, make noise and sputter out. Then people wonder why nothing ever changes.
- [We Don’t Need The Best People, We Need The Best Teams](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/you-dont-need-the-best-people-you-need-the-best-teams/) - The best performers are no longer the tough executives that can impose their force of will, but those who can engender trust and encourage others to contribute.
- [Change Usually Fails. Ask These 3 Questions To Improve Your Odds](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/change-usually-fails-ask-these-3-questions-to-improve-your-odds/) - To lead change you have to believe in it. You have to be optimistic and overcome doubts—your own and those of others. So it’s understandable that you want to make sure you have all the answers going in. Unfortunately that’s an unrealistic expectation. Change is inherently unpredictable and nobody has all the answers. But what you can do is ask good questions: Who will resist change and why? What are the sources of power that support the status quo and how can you influence them? Where should you start and who should you start with? These are tough questions without clear or simple answers, but you have to continually ask them. What you definitely don’t want to do is just make a plan and move forward on a timeline, hell or high water. That’s a sure path to misery and defeat. The truth is that nothing slows you down more than failure, so you want to move forward deliberately, learning as you go, and building traction and strength as you progress. Change is nonlinear, you accelerate over time. Pixar’s Ed Catmull described new ideas as “ugly babies” because they start out “awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.” “Originality is fragile,” he wrote. “The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends… Our job is to protect our babies from being judged too quickly. Our job is to protect the new.” To take the metaphor a bit further, what you don’t want to do is take your ugly baby down to a biker bar and just let it get wailed on. Yet there’s something about human nature that, when we feel passionately about an idea, we want to convince the skeptics. We want to put the idea in front of exactly the people who hate it most and try to show that we’re right. Don’t do that. Protect the baby. Start by asking the right questions.
- [Here’s How To Think About Artificial Intelligence, Jobs And The Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/heres-how-you-think-about-artificial-intelligence-jobs-and-the-economy/) - Henry Ford provides a good model for understanding how displacement, productivity, and reinstatement shape how technology affects jobs and the economy: Automation on his family farm displaced his labor there, which led to him going to work for Thomas Edison. His increased productivity afforded him the luxury of leisure time, which he used to tinker, experiment and imagine new things. It was the third effect—reinstatement—that proved transformative. Ford became prosperous enough to start his own company and pioneer an industry that created many more jobs. Millions left their family farms, where their labor was no longer needed, to work in factories. Their increased productivity allowed them to earn more and educate their children to work in the high-tech industries of today. What’s crucial to understand is that it is ecosystems, not inventions, that determine the future. You can’t understand the impact of the automobile just by riding in one. It’s the second and third-order effects—how improved transportation and logistics transformed industries such as retail and manufacturing—that truly mattered. Electricity did the same for communication, information processing, entertainment and other things. For a decade, I’ve argued that we need to prepare for a new era of innovation. In fact, I considered this idea so important that I chose it as the title of the final chapter of my book Mapping Innovation, with which I concluded, “​​It is no longer enough to disrupt and disintermediate industrial era institutions; we must forge a new path with a renewed commitment to fundamental innovations.” What will determine our future is not any particular technology, but the ecosystems we build and what they are designed to serve. How can we focus our energies on tasks that AI can’t so easily automate? Do we intend to feed the hungry, cure the sick and protect dignity for every human life? Or do we want to preserve those things for only those that market and technological forces feel are deserving? Only we can shift our focus toward creating completely new industries that can serve us better. No machine, no matter how smart, can automate those decisions for us. Some things, we just have to do ourselves.
- [Working, Fast And Slow](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/working-fast-and-slow/) - I think you can learn something about a person through their relationship with books. Some read a lot of books, knocking off one a week, but never tackle anything challenging. Others will read a single book over the course of months. The truth is that there are different books for different purposes and, in the end, the reader takes possession of the experience. I write my books to be read somewhat slowly and put a lot of work and thought into creating an experience crafted for that pace. My friend Alex Osterwalder, on the other hand, has little interest in books like mine. He creates his books to be used rather than read, and puts a lot of thought and effort into developing that experience. But Alex and I don’t write for different people—we write for different modes of work. Alex’s books are designed for conference tables and sticky notes, my work is more likely to sit on night tables and beside couches. Alex’s work can be used by groups to collaborate, while the experience I work to create is intended to be more personal, experienced alone. To become productive, you need to master multiple modes of work, both fast and slow. To get things done we need to be efficient, creating OODA loops through observing, orienting, deciding and acting. At the same time, we need to take time to explore and reflect, so that we can recognize when the need arises to step out of the loop and go off in a new direction. As I wrote years ago in "Harvard Business Review," everyone can be creative. Despite decades of searching, researchers have never identified a “creative personality” or any such thing. What the evidence does show is this: to create work that is meaningful and original, we need to protect the time and mental space where meaningful, original work actually happens.
- [Summer Reading List: 17 Revolutionary Books](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/summer-reading-list-17-revolutionary-books/) - One observation I’ve made is that countries tend to have their preferred season for rising up. In Ukraine, quite maddeningly, it is the dead of winter. I still remember freezing with so many others on Kyiv’s Maidan during the Orange Revolution in November 2004, then seeing so many of my friends freezing the same way
- [Summer Reading List: 12 Great Stories About History’s Most Legendary Innovators](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/summer-reading-list-12-great-stories-about-historys-most-legendary-innovators/) - Great innovators are real people with real flaws that managed to overcome their failures
- [Summer Reading List: 17 Books That Will Inspire You To Change The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/summer-reading-list-17-books-that-will-inspire-you-to-change-the-world/) - Summer is finally here! Time to break out the sunblock, beach towels and get some time to relax. If you’re anything like me, it’s also a time to get some serious reading done. There’s just something about laying out in the sun that makes the pages turn faster and helps information to sink in. This
- [Why Resistance to Change So Often Defies Logic](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-resistance-to-change-so-often-defies-logic/) - When we feel passionately about something, our first instinct is to often go and try to convince the skeptics. We’re sure that once they understand the idea, they will embrace it. That’s almost never true. More likely is that they will work to undermine what you’re trying to achieve in ways that are dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. In How Minds Change, author David McRaney found that people involved in cults or believed in conspiracy theories didn’t change their opinions when confronted with new facts, but when they changed their social environment. We tend to adopt the ideas of those around us. The best indicator of things we think and do is what the people around us think and do. The truth is that the status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. People spend years being absorbing existing paradigms. Embracing something new means rewiring their brains, incurring switching costs and and pushing against the pull of their social networks. That’s why opposition to change, even when the stakes are life or death, can be completely irrational. The status quo has many champions—our brain chemistry, our social networks and our need for psychological safety. It feels normal and right, so challenging it can feel like a betrayal of what we’ve come to trust. Ideas that are new and different are, as Pixar’s Ed Catmull has put it, like ugly babies and they need to be protected. You don’t need to convince everybody all at once. Go out and find others who are as enthusiastic about the idea for change as you are, who are willing to nurture it until it can gain traction and scale. If an idea is important, don' t leave it vulnerable to those who want to kill it. Protect it, find others who love it as much as you do and give it a real chance to succeed.
- [How We Got Here—and What Needs To Come Next](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-we-got-here-and-what-needs-to-come-next/) - In his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan declared, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” and vowed to unleash the private sector. His deregulation led to the Savings and Loan crisis. Then came the dotcom bubble and crash, two long and destructive wars, the Great Financial Crisis, and the Covid pandemic. Each time there was a villain to execrate: Big Business, Wall Street, Neocons, The Military-Industrial complex, Big Banks, Big Pharma and, of course, nameless government bureaucrats (sometimes also known as public servants). At this point, there’s no one left to blame but us. We can kick the bums out, disrupt our systems and invent new theories of the case, but at some point, we will also have to point the finger at ourselves. In Eastern Europe, I saw how broken societies crumble. Yet I also saw how they can rebuild. When I first arrived in Poland in 1997, it seemed like nothing worked. Today, it is an advanced economy. Warsaw—having suffered the double misfortune of being destroyed by Hitler and rebuilt by Stalin—is now a modern metropolis, with clean streets, bustling shops and low crime. They were able to achieve all this because they chose a better way. Once we accept that we are the problem, it becomes clear that we can also be the solution. There are no heroes coming to save us. We need to accept that the America we knew is gone and the current order—or disorder—cannot stand. Rebuilding isn’t just about systems, it's about understanding our bonds to each other and renewing shared values so that we can regain a shared sense of purpose and common endeavor.” The end of one order always marks the beginning of another. It is now a time to rebuild. As Bill Clinton said in his first inaugural, “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” We got here by making bad choices. We need to start making better ones. The only way out is through—and it starts with ourselves.
- [To Innovate, Leaders Need To Empower The Edges](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/to-innovate-leaders-need-to-empower-the-edges/) - In thinking about social justice, the philosopher John Rawls proposed a thought experiment known as the Veil of Ignorance. What kind of society would you design if you didn’t know what position you’d occupy in it—rich or poor, Black, white, or brown, gay, straight, or trans? While Rawls was focused on justice, not innovation, the Veil of Ignorance offers a useful model for thinking about how access and influence are structured within organizations. When coaching business leaders, I often pose a similar question: If a junior employee had a game-changing idea, how would they get it implemented and scaled throughout the organization? How do transformational ideas and practices ideas filter up to the top? For most, the exercise is an eye-opening experience. The truth is, very few organizations are designed to incorporate new ideas. They’re built to deliver on a specific mission—whether that’s serving customers, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, or enforcing laws. But over time, the very structures that ensure consistency and reliability also reduce adaptability. That’s why it’s incredibly hard for an enterprise to be both optimized for today’s mission and responsive to tomorrow’s possibilities. Yet the situation is far from hopeless. You can equip people with the knowledge and skills to drive change from within, to identify important problems, build a core team of enthusiasts, develop a Keystone Change project and leverage networks to grow scale. As Rita McGrath has pointed out, change originates at the edges. Leaders, by definition, are at the center with limited access to those edges and limited resources to get there. If you want your organization to be ready for change you don’t just need better ideas—you need better changemakers who can help those ideas gain traction, build momentum and scale to impact.
- [We Have Decades Of Research Telling Us How Change Works. We Need To Start Following The Evidence](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-have-decades-of-research-telling-us-how-change-works-we-need-to-start-following-the-evidence/) - The biggest misconception about change is that once people understand it, they will embrace it. That’s almost never true. If you intend to influence an entire organization— or even an entire society—you have to assume the deck is stacked against you. The status quo has had years—and sometimes decades or longer—to build connections and form networks. The good news is that we have over a half-century of research and practice that can inform our efforts. Yet to be effective, we have to put that learning to work. It makes no sense, for example, to “create a sense of urgency” around change when we know that transformation follows an s-shaped curve, starting slowly and then accelerating after a tipping point. Doing so is more likely to trigger resistance than to move things forward. In much the same way, if we know that shifts in knowledge and attitudes don’t necessarily result in changes in practice and that ideas about change are transmitted socially, we should focus our efforts on empowering enthusiasts rather than wordsmithing and broadcasting slogans. People tend to adopt the ideas and actions of those around them. We need to think about change as a strategic conflict between the present state and an alternative vision. The truth is that change isn’t about persuasion, but power. To bring about transformation we need to undermine the sources of power that underlie the present state while strengthening the forces that favor a different future.
- [Why We Need To Put Human Agency Back At The Center Of Decision-Making](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-we-need-to-put-human-agency-back-at-the-center-of-decision-making/) - A joke began circulating in the late 1970s, often attributed to management consultant Warren Bennis, that the factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment. Today, even with offshoring, about 10% of Americans work in factories. Yet in their new book Radically Human, Accenture’s Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson argue exactly the opposite. In their work guiding technology strategy for many of the world’s top corporations, they have found that, in many cases, the robots need us more than we need them. Automation is no panacea. When you scratch below the surface, the joke has less to do with technological advancement than it does with derision and control. Bennis wasn’t just any business consultant, but a renowned expert on leadership, who wrote books, published articles in top journals and even advised presidents. That he would promote the view, even as a joke, that leaders should deny agency to employees is as troubling as it is telling. If you believe that human judgment is a liability rather than an asset, you manage accordingly. You treat employees as cogs in a machine rather than partners in a shared enterprise. You invest in offshoring rather than up-skilling, schedule shifts without regard to people's lives, deny benefits such as parental leave. We’ve seen where that’s gotten us—lower productivity, worsening mental health and a society that is more unequal and less just. We need to get back to the business of being human. Our economy should serve our people, not the other way around. The success of a society needs to be measured by the well-being of those who live in it. If we increase GDP, but our air and water are more polluted, our children less educated, we live unhappy lives and die deaths of despair, what have we really gained?
- [Culture Is How An Enterprise Honors It Mission](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/culture-is-how-an-enterprise-honors-it-mission/) - In his book, "Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance," Lou Gerstner wrote, “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value… What does the culture reward and punish – individual achievement or team play, risk taking or consensus building?” Every organization, whether consciously or not, develops norms and rituals that shape behaviors. In a positive organizational culture, norms and rituals support behaviors that honor the mission of the enterprise. Negative cultures undermine that mission. A common problem with many transformation initiatives is that they focus on designing incentives to alter behaviors, ignoring the underlying norms and rituals. Home Depot built a high-touch culture around serving the customer and sputtered when Bob Nardelli tried to impose a six-sigma mindset. Netflix, quite famously, has a culture deck that explicitly describes the norms that it expects its people to embrace. Amazon has built a writing culture around its six-page memo. No leader has full visibility into their organization, and wise leaders recognize that control is an illusion. You can’t force your people to do what you want—there’s many of them and only one of you—but you can inspire them to want what you want by honoring a mission that they care about and can devote their energy and talents to. When you empower people to achieve, they have a way of surprising you.
- [Why You Can't Afford to Ignore Resistance to Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-you-cant-afford-to-ignore-resistance-to-change/) - My friend, the global activist Srdja Popović, once told me that the goal of a revolution should be to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. If you are successful it should be difficult to explain what was won because the previous order seems so unbelievable. Yet today’s cult of disruption demands that we constantly change and pivot only to change and pivot some more. The simple truth is that every change initiative starts out weak and vulnerable, without a track record of success. People are bound to be suspicious. They already have everyday struggles and don’t want someone else’s idea to add to their burden. Leader’s who ignore this simple reality are abdicating their duty to be responsible stewards of their organizations. As innovation expert Stephen Shapiro explains in his book, Pivotal, the answer isn’t always something different, but something deeper. That’s why we need to take resistance to change seriously, because not every change is a good one. We need to make wise choices about the stress we put on our enterprises and its stakeholders. Then when we make the decision to pursue change, we need to anticipate resistance and build strategies to overcome it. Perhaps most of all, you need to accept that resistance is part of change and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, skeptics can often point out important flaws in your idea and make it stronger. The difference between successful change leaders and mere dreamers is that those who succeed anticipate resistance and build a plan to overcome it.
- [How Unexpected Connections Can Lead To Surprising New Breakthroughs](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-unexpected-connections-lead-to-surprising-new-breakthroughs/) - When I arrived in Palo Alto for a publishing course at Stanford in 2006, I'd never heard of Srdja Popović or Duncan Watts—but their stories were about to become tangled up with mine. Facebook was just taking off and "social networks" were the hot new thing. I was running a sizable digital business, and it seemed that networks were something I should learn about. That led me to Duncan's work, and it immediately struck a chord. It felt deeply relevant to my own experience during Ukraine's Orange Revolution two years earlier. That's how I got hooked on studying change movements—and eventually, it led to my friendship with Srdja, who introduced me to his repeatable model for overthrowing authoritarian regimes. Over time, I kept digging. The more I explored, the more it became clear that Duncan and Srdja's work were deeply intertwined. I also began to see how their ideas could apply to business transformation—something I'd learned a lot about running media companies in post-communist Eastern Europe. In business, just like in revolutions, change rarely succeeds through top-down mandates. It spreads through networks. That's what led to the research that eventually became my book, "Cascades." Sometimes I joke that I stole half the book from Duncan and the other half from Srdja—my contribution being that Duncan knows nothing about Srdja and Srdja knows nothing about Duncan. But that's not really true. As the legendary mathematician G.H. Hardy once wrote: "The case for my life, then, or for that of any one else who has been a mathematician in the same sense in which I have been one, is this: that I have added something to knowledge, and helped others to add more; and that these somethings have a value which differs in degree only, and not in kind, from that of the creations of the great mathematicians, or of any of the other artists, great or small, who have left some kind of memorial behind them." Most people have never heard of my book—or of Srdja or Duncan, for that matter. But just as their work has made a difference for me, I hope mine has made a difference for others. Some have told me that it has. And they, in turn, can do the same for others. Slowly, slowly, we creep along—making progress where we can. Sometimes the world's problems can feel so vast that it seems pointless to try. But in doing what we can, we find purpose—and maybe help others find theirs too. That, I think, is what Camus meant by existential rebellion.
- [Why Intention Will Be Central To The AI Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-intention-will-be-central-to-the-ai-economy/) - When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, he was looking for an alternative to the Silk Road to reach India. He found America instead. In a similar way, when Jennifer Doudna set out to study an obscure defense mechanism in bacteria, she had no idea that she would discover the revolutionary gene editing technology we now know as CRISPR. Yet it was their basic human yearning to explore that drove them to discover new things. Over the years, I’ve gotten to meet and learn from many genuine changemakers. Both of my books explored the question of what makes these people different. Time and again, I found that those who make an outsized impact start with a question they so desperately wanted answered that they were willing to devote years, even decades to the search. Artificially intelligent systems do exactly the opposite. They train on data from the past and are able to create answers that far surpass any living person, or perhaps all of humanity. Yet, there are lots of things machines will never do. Machines will never strike out at a Little League game, have their hearts broken in a summer romance or see their children born. Those may seem like trivial things, but genuine human experiences are crucial to shaping the yearning that forms the basis of intent. While machines are masterfully rational, humans are prosocial. We live for each other. We thrive on connection and purpose. That’s what drives us to delve into the unknown and discover new things that lead to bold, unpredictable leaps. Therein lies the enormous opportunity of artificial intelligence. It’s not that it can give us all the answers, but that it can help us explore the questions that matter to us.
- [To Drive Change Forward, You First Need To Build A Shared Purpose. Here’s How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/to-drive-change-forward-you-first-need-to-build-a-shared-purpose-heres-how/) - Today, most essential element of a leader’s job today isn’t so much to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief in a common mission.
- [Pundits Love To Blame Bureaucracy. Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Listen To Them:](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/pundits-love-to-blame-bureaucracy-heres-why-you-shouldnt-listen-to-them/) - Over the past few decades pundits have become enamored by the change gospel. We’re told that we live in a VUCA world that is more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous and therefore our only option is to disrupt the status quo, which is bureaucratic and bumbling. We need to move fast and break things. The simple fact is that it’s much easier to talk about genuine transformation than produce it. Ed Hansen and I call this “Transformation Theater.” Consider the fact that transformational initiatives usually take 3-5 years to complete successfully, while the average executive tenure has fallen to 4.8 years, and it’s easy to see the attraction for careerists: Launch exciting new initiatives, make a lot of noise and move on before the sham is exposed. The blueprint for this type of hoax is Bob Nardelli’s tenure at Home Depot. After getting past over for the top job at GE, he landed at the Atlanta-based retail giant with a plan to transform the culture, implementing Six Sigma to ruthlessly cut costs and create efficiency. In the process, he undermined the firm’s famous service culture and allowed rival Lowe’s to gain the competitive advantage. Nardelli was fired and walked away with $210 million. We need to notice the telltale signs: First, there is a false sense of urgency calling for drastic action when none is needed. Second, is a rushed process, with little or no time taken for analysis or to listen to dissenting voices. Third, is a large public rollout that trumpets the initiative before there is any real evidence of success. To pull it all off successfully, transformation thespians need a bugbear and bureaucracy is always a convenient target. When someone raises it, we should be skeptical. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once put it, “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
- [Why Good Ideas Fail (And How To Help Yours Succeed)](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-good-ideas-fail-and-how-to-help-yours-succeed/) - We tend to think that if we get an idea right, that others will recognize its worth. That’s hardly ever true. In fact, if your idea is truly new and different, you can expect to encounter stiff resistance. Success or failure depends less on the actual value of an idea than how you overcome resistance and scale to impact. Success or failure depends less on the actual value of an idea than how you overcome resistance and scale to impact.
- [Why Smart Leaders Run Their Organizations With Dignity](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/why-smart-leaders-run-their-organizations-with-dignity/) - In "Seeing Around Corners," Columbia Business School’s Rita McGrath emphasizes how important it is for leaders to get more visibility at the edges. When you’re at the center, you are insulated in ways you’re not aware of and there are going to be things that you don’t see. A striking example of these blind spots occured when Portuguese colonists first came across manioc in South America. They were perplexed by the elaborate, multi-day process the indigenous people followed to prepare it. Some steps, like boiling the raw tuber to eliminate its bitterness and prevent digestive issues, appeared practical. Others seemed superstitious. What the Portuguese didn’t realize was that they were seeing survivors—those who had inherited generations of hard-won knowledge about manioc’s dangers. As it turns out, manioc, if not properly processed, has low levels of cyanide, which accumulate over time and cause chronic poisoning. Those who ignored these traditions had died out. When the Portuguese streamlined the process to gain efficiency, they slowly poisoned entire populations, which is a great metaphor for what happens when leaders fail to treat people with dignity. Just like the Portuguese ignored generations of knowledge, leaders who dismiss long-standing institutional wisdom often pay a heavy price. They cut themselves off from crucial channels of information. Eventually that catches up to you. Linus's law states, “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” But the opposite is also true. Without enough eyeballs, all dangers are potentially lethal. That’s why it's so important to treat people with dignity. When you empower those around you, they are that much more capable of delivering the performance you need to compete.
- [How To Navigate Today’s Media Environment When So Many Are Working To Mislead You](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/how-to-navigate-todays-media-environment-when-so-many-are-working-to-mislead-you/) - Conspiracy theories used to be relatively rare. Sure, we had lots of people claiming that the was a moon landing was a hoax or that Elvis is still alive, but today we are inundated with falsehoods ranging from the complex narratives of Q-Anon to the idea that there are secret biolabs in Ukraine and that its president came to power in a coup. If we are to avoid getting duped, there are a few simple rules of thumb to follow. The first is to consider whether you are hearing from a primary, secondary or tertiary source. Primary sources have first-hand knowledge, either because they are reporting from where an event is happening or because they have underlying knowledge or expertise. Secondary and tertiary sources are merely passing on what they have heard from others. The second thing is to look out for how your own emotions are triggered. The dopamine rushes that come from negative emotions are addictive and many media business models are based on them (recent claims about USAID fit this pattern). If you find yourself tuning into outlets that are constantly driving fear and anger, you need to apply a more stringent standard of proof. Third, we need to apply a critical eye and demand extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims. Yes, it’s possible that there are secret, infallible organizations that affect our lives in important ways but leave no trace, but we should be very doubtful, especially when the news comes from YouTube, a podcast or social media. Perhaps most of all, we need to understand that many have significant incentives to mislead us. Fighter jets are expensive, but social media personalities and bot farms are relatively cheap and nation states like Russia, China and Iran, as well as billionaires, corporations and other interest groups, invest heavily in them to shape what we think. Getting misled has little to do with intelligence or education. We simply need to be more careful.
- [Why Incentives So Often Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-incentives-so-often-fail/) - Many managers spend a lot of time and energy designing compensation schemes to incentivize performance. Yet as Daniel Pink explained in Drive, decades of studies show incentive pay often decreases productivity, especially for tasks that require creative thinking. He argues that the best way to motivate people is to give them opportunities for autonomy, mastery and purpose. The 19th century philosopher Immanuel Kant believed strongly in the notion of dignity, which he defined as treating people as ends in themselves, rather than as means to an end. I’ve found that Kant’s ideas about dignity are essential to managing employees, customers and partners. Nobody wants to be a cog in somebody else’s machine. When you treat people as ends in themselves you make their goals your own. You want employees to do more than perform tasks, but to attain their potential. You see customers as more than a way to pay the bills, but as central to the mission of the enterprise. You want communities to be invested in your success, rather than just tolerate your existence. So rather than working to construct some Rube Goldberg-like incentive structure and then adjusting it every time you want a change in behavior, try treating people with dignity. Think about what they want to achieve in terms of autonomy, mastery and purpose and make it clear how their actions can advance your collective mission. Sound leadership is not about prodding to get people to do what you want, but attracting those who want what you want and leading them with shared values in pursuit of a shared purpose.
- [How To Create A Culture Of Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-create-a-culture-of-change/) - Strong culture's are built though valuing a mission, not practices. Culture without purpose, is just a bunch of stuff that people have gotten used to.
- [5 Things I Learned From Managing People](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/5-things-i-learned-from-managing-people/) - Management is not about building and executing plans, but the art of guiding teams through plans going awry.
- [Managing With A Soul](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/managing-with-a-soul/) - The truth is that an organization doesn't find its soul by looking inside itself, but by finding its place in the world.
- [This Is How Change Fails To Survive Victory (And What To Do About It)](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/this-is-how-change-fails-to-survive-victory-and-what-to-do-about-it/) - The failure to survive victory is always a failure to leverage shared values in favor of differentiating values that allow stalwarts to signal identity and status. The truth is that most change efforts fail and the ones that do succeed almost always have at least one heartbreaking setback along the way. Gandhi had his Himalayan miscalculation. Mandela had Sharpeville. The first march on Washington, in 1913, was a disaster. As Saul Alinsky put it, every revolution inspires its own counterrevolution. That is the physics of change. Yet as Alinsky also wrote, “Once we accept and learn to anticipate the inevitable counterrevolution, we may then alter the historical pattern of revolution and counterrevolution from the traditional slow advance of two steps forward and one step backward to minimizing the latter.” Resistance is inevitable. Anticipating it is how you survive victory. It’s also how you recover from a setback. When your opposition is triumphant, that’s when you should be preparing for your next window of opportunity. Ask yourself: What do I wish I had in place before I began this effort? What could I have built? What connections could I have made? What alliances could I have forged?” The best time to do that is when nobody is watching, when it seems that all is lost and your cause has been all but forgotten. That’s when you have the space to really think things through, to build a strategy without the stress and strain of having to execute on a daily basis. The time to lay the groundwork for victory is before the battle begins. If you want to be an effective changemaker, your first task is to anticipate resistance and build strategies to overcome it. To do that, you need to focus on shared values and always be preparing for your next window of opportunity. Lasting change is built on common ground.
- [How Mental Models Drive Strategy, Often For The Worse](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-mental-models-drive-strategy-often-for-the-worse/) - Our brains are wired to look to the past, not the future.
- [Experian Was Being Disrupted by Fintech Startups. Then They Turned the Tables](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/experian-was-being-disrupted-by-fintech-startups-then-they-turned-the-tables/) - As Robert Gordon explains in "The Rise and Fall of American Growth", the turn of the 20th century was a time of great change. New innovations like electricity, indoor plumbing and the automobile were changing the way people lived, worked and shopped. New supermarkets and department stores were edging out the old corner markets and dry goods dealers. While this created great opportunities, it also created problems. Merchants needed to extend credit no longer knew their customers personally and so there was a great need to verify consumers’ trustworthiness. Experian built a great business being a trustworthy gatekeeper of data that helped those businesses evaluate the credit of hundreds of millions of people. Yet when its consumer business was disrupted by fintech startups, Jeff Softley saw that the same data and technology infrastructure the company had built to serve large enterprises, could also be put to work to empower consumers to improve their access to credit and measurably improve their lives. Somewhere along the line we got it into our heads that large firms can’t innovate and should strive to act like startups. The truth is that they are very different types of organizations and need to innovate differently. While large firms can’t move as fast, they have other advantages. Rather than try to act like startups, they need to leverage other assets. While it’s true that venture-backed startups have a lot of advantages, large enterprises also have deep expertise, proven technology and customer relationships they can put to work for them. You can’t innovate by copying your competitors. Good strategy is always a process of discovery, to identify a relative strength you can bring to bear against the relative weakness of your competition.
- [3 Types Of Change Problems (And How To Solve Them)](https://digitaltonto.com/2025/3-types-of-change-problems-and-how-to-solve-them/) - People love to quote the pre-socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus about change. Yet pithy aphorisms like "Change is the only constant" and "You cannot step into the same river twice," are popular because they are so imprecise. They point to, as Kafka put it, “some fabulous yonder, something unknown to us, something too that he cannot designate more precisely, and therefore cannot help us here in the very least.” Every change effort represents a problem, or set of problems, to be solved. A strategic shift starts at the top and needs effective communication and coordination for everybody to play their role. To build high performing teams, individual managers need to help and empower their people to adopt new skills and practices, see blind spots and kill bad habits. Yet often the most important changes involve collective action, which can be maddeningly complex. People adopt things when they see others around them adopt them. Success begets more success, just as failure begets more failure. Big communication campaigns can ignite early resistance and backfire. Individual efforts don’t scale. For collective action problems, we need to focus on, as network science pioneer Duncan Watts put it to me, “easily influenced people influencing other easily influenced people.” You build momentum and reach critical mass not through persuasion, but by empowering early adopters and helping them to build connections with others. To be an effective change leader, you can’t take a one-size fits all approach.. Solutions need to fit the problem, not the other way around. There is no silver bullet.
- [10 Principles for Transformational Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/10-principles-for-transformational-change/) - Positive change never happens by itself. Any significant change always inspires fierce resistance and we need to overcome that resistance to bring change about.
- [The Power Of A Question](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-power-of-a-question/) - While answers tend to close a discussion, questions help us open new doors and can lead to genuine breakthroughs
- [When Should We Go With Our Gut and When Should We Look Before We Leap?](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/when-should-we-go-with-our-gut-and-when-should-we-look-before-we-leap/) - Confidence and certainty don’t mean that we’ve got the right answer, they often just mean that we have substituted a tough question for an easier one.
- [2012 - The Year of the Interface](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/2012-the-year-of-the-interface/) - The technology is in place, the players well financed and the consumer ready to unlock the functionality their already contained in their devices. There is no doubt, 2012 will be defined by the interface between man and machine.
- [Top Posts of 2024](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/top-posts-of-2024/) - 2024 was an exhausting year. I don’t remember any period that seemed so chaotic. Roughly 70 countries had elections this year, encompassing half the world’s population, which was a record. In just about every one, the vote went against the incumbent office holder. People made clear that they want something different. We seem to be
- [Sometimes The Future Demands A Vision. This Is Probably Not One Of Those Times.](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/sometimes-the-future-demands-a-vision-this-is-probably-not-one-of-those-times/) - Over the past two centuries, we have seen echoes of the same pattern first established in the late 18th century: a wave of new ideas is resisted by the dominant powers, as tensions build below the surface and eventually explode. Sometimes order holds and sometimes it gives way to a period of chaos and destruction before, eventually, finding some sort of homeostasis. These are the “Noah effects” and “Joseph effects” that Mandelbrot described. History during this time has largely been defined by inflection points. 1776 brought both the Declaration of Independence, The Wealth of Nations and the steam engine. With 1919 came a peace treaty establishing a new world order as well as a crippling epidemic. Within a single momentous month in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and the World Wide Web was born. Waves of revolution in 1848 and 1968 marked important shifts that helped define what came after. We are now in the later stages of this cycle. Clearly, 2020 marked a critical juncture, where significant disruptions challenged the prevailing order, but it’s not clear what comes next. Authoritarianism challenges democracy, while demands for new rights from the left are met with reactionary forces on the right. As the Boomer generation recedes, Millennials are emerging. Major shifts in technology, demography, resources and migration add more stress to the system. Some eras call for a vision, while in others certain forces are set in motion and our task is to merely survive them, averting the worst of possible calamities, overcoming the deluge so that we can make it to the other side. It seems that what we are experiencing today is the latter. There is no doubt that the future holds great promise. Technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will power new sciences like synthetic biology and nanotechnology, which will, in turn, revolutionize healthcare, energy and manufacturing. We can, as trite as it sounds, heal the planet. But first we need to heal ourselves.
- [The 2024 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-2024-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - “Thinking and writing are inextricably intertwined. When I begin to write, I realize that my ‘thoughts’ are usually a jumble of half-baked, incoherent impulses strung together with gaping logical holes between them,” Fareed Zakaria once wrote. Others have said similar things, but I like how he said it best. It is especially true when writing books. You can keep an email or a blog post in your head, but tens of thousands of words are too much for a single brain to hold at once. You need to approach writing a book like you would building a ship or a house, starting with a basic structure and then carefully crafting each detail to work together. That’s why in our climate of digital distractions reading books is more important than ever. Reading, like writing, is a form of thinking. You are not only taking in information, but reflecting on it and forming opinions about it. The slow pace enables that private, intimate dialogue between you and the author. Here is the list the books I spent time with this year.
- [What Gandhi Can Teach Us About Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/what-gandhi-can-teach-organizations-about-change/) - As one of Gandhi’s followers would later note, before Salt March forced the British to sit down and negotiate with Gandhi as an equal, they “were all sahibs and we were obeying. No more after that.” At that point, Indian Independence was just a matter of time. Many would say Gandhi achieved what he did because he had a natural ability to communicate the plight of the Indians, to differentiate their plight in ways that were meaningful and, that by speaking out against the powerful he was able to get the world to see the injustice that the British Raj was perpetrating against his people. But they’d be wrong. In fact, he did exactly the opposite. He didn’t look for things that differentiated his people from the British, but what they shared, what they could agree on—and then exploited it. That’s what made him a master strategist, because he was able to identify where he was strong and his opponents were weak. Our mistake is that we look back on Gandhi as if he was a saint, when the historical record is clear that he was nothing of the sort. For much of his life, he struggled with his temper, treated his wife poorly and gave into his worst urges. It was only when he was able to learn self-control and discipline himself that he was able to see opportunities that others couldn’t. Most of all, he learned that identity is a trap and once you can escape your own, you can learn to identify the values that you share with others. That is the key to genuinely transformational change. Gandhi didn’t just beat the British, he won them over. When he died, they, like the Indians, celebrated him as a hero.
- [The 2023 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/the-2023-digital-tonto-reading-list-2023/) - I mark time through books because books define the zeitgeist. They reflect not only the wisdoms being received, but the questions being asked. We go to books not only for answers, but to sharpen our own inquiry. Last year’s list featured books about Ukraine (and this year’s list includes a great one too). So perhaps
- [Schwerpunkt: The Killer Strategic Concept You've Never Heard Of (But Really Need To Know!)](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/schwerpunkt-the-killer-strategic-concept-youve-never-heard-of-but-really-need-to-know/) - The biggest strategic mistake you can make is to try and win everywhere at once. To win, you need to prevail in the decisive battles, not the irrelevant skirmishes. That, in essence, is the principle of Schwerpunkt—to identify a focal point where you can direct your resources and efforts. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, computer companies were duking it out in the PC market, yet he identified digital music players as his Schwerpunkt and the iPod made Apple a serious player. As his competitors were still reacting, he launched the iPhone and on it went. Whenever Steve Jobs would, towards the end of a product presentation say, “and just one more thing,” You could guarantee that he had identified a new Schwerpunkt. Notice how Schwerpunkt is a dynamic, not a static, concept. It was Jobs' ability to constantly innovate Apple’s approach, by constantly observing, reorienting and shifting the competitive context. In each case, his strategy was uniquely suited to Apple's, capabilities, customers and ecosystem. Competitors Microsoft or Dell, more suited to the enterprise market, couldn't be successful with a similar approach. There is no ideal strategy, just ones that are ideally suited to a particular context, when relative strength can be brought to bear against relative weakness. Discovering the center of gravity at which you can break through is more of a journey than a destination, you can never be sure beforehand where exactly you will find it, but it will become clear once you’ve arrived.
- [To Make Tough Conversations Productive, Focus On These 3 Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/to-make-tough-conversations-productive-focus-on-these-3-things/) - We all need to have difficult conversations from time to time and navigating them successfully is a key skill for any leader. If you can’t resolve thorny issues, they will fester and grow more destructive over time. On the other hand, tackling them effectively can strengthen relationships and build trust. The best way to approach difficult conversations is to think about why they’re difficult in the first place. What conflicting values are at stake? What role does the desire to assert status play? How can we best align the conversation with the other person’s state of mind? It’s worth taking a few minutes to think through these issues before engaging. But even more importantly, you need to think about why you want to have the conversation. Is there a specific issue to be resolved or are you trying to assert your own identity and status? What are you trying to achieve? What do you expect a positive outcome to look like? How do you want the other person to feel when it’s over? How do you expect to feel? At the core of all this lies psychological safety, which is rooted in a sense of belonging. By creating bonds based on shared values and purpose, affirming others’ sense of status and identity and doing our best to align with the type of conversation that others want to have, we can build deeper, more honest and collaborative relationships that will help us achieve more.
- [When You Face Obstinate Opposition, Don't Create A Conflict, Create A Dilemma](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/when-you-face-obstinate-opposition-dont-create-a-conflict-create-a-dilemma/) - One of the biggest misconceptions about change is that it comes about when those who oppose it are somehow persuaded. That almost never happens. Look back at any major transformation throughout history and the tide turned when those who opposed it discredited themselves by taking action that was widely judged to be objectionable. In Gandhi’s Salt March, the British discredited themselves when they violently attacked peaceful protestors. In Birmingham, Bull Connor discredited himself (and Jim Crow laws) when he confronted children with snarling dogs and fire hoses. California’s Proposition 8 was seen as so discriminatory that it aided the cause of same-sex marriage. We see the same type of thing in our work with organizations. Everybody has been in a meeting in which, after an hour or so of moving slowly to a consensus, someone who hadn’t said a word the whole time suddenly throws a hissy fit in the conference room. This type of behavior doesn’t come from any rational place, but is triggered by an offense to identity. Dilemma actions give us clear design principles to induce opponents of change to discredit themselves, which they will not only do willingly, but with enthusiasm. The British in India, Bull Connor in Birmingham and anti-gay activists in California wanted to show the world who they were, they merely had to be given the opportunity. When confronted with fervent, irrational resistance to change the optimal strategy is never to create conflict, but rather a dilemma for your opposition.
- [To Overcome Resistance To Change, You Need A Strategy, Not A Slogan](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/to-overcome-resistance-to-change-you-need-a-strategy-not-a-slogan/) - When we’re passionate about an idea, we want others to see it the same way we do, with all its beautiful complexity and nuance. We want to believe that if others can just understand the idea, they will embrace it. That’s why most change management practices focus on persuasion, explaining the need for change and creating a sense of urgency. But consider recent research that finds that we can’t even agree on simple concepts such as what a penguin is and it becomes clear that for any given initiative, people are bound to see it differently. The simple truth is that change doesn’t fail on its own, it fails because people resist it. If we are to bring about genuine change, our first job is to overcome that resistance. The simple truth is that humans form attachments to people, ideas and other things and, when those attachments are threatened, we act in ways that don’t reflect our best selves. Any effective change strategy has to begin with that. Clever gimmicks or snappy slogans won’t bring about true transformation. We have to build a strategy to overcome resistance from the start. As Saul Alinsky once put it, every revolution inspires its own counterrevolution. That’s why every change effort must plan from the beginning to survive victory. You need to anticipate resistance, think about where you’re vulnerable and how you’ll mitigate those attacks by leveraging shared values. The truth is that change is always a journey, never a particular destination, which is why lasting change is always built on the common ground of shared values. The answer doesn’t lie in any specific strategy or initiative, but in how people are able to internalize the need for change and transfer ideas through social bonds. A leader’s role is not necessarily to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [When Things Seem Hopeless And That Nothing Will Ever Change, You Need To Prepare For The Next Window Of Opportunity](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/when-things-seem-hopeless-and-it-that-nothing-will-ever-change-you-need-to-prepare-for-the-next-window-of-opportunity/) - We often see events as decisive. A road forks and it feels like our fate has been set. Yet that’s rarely ever true. There will be more forks ahead that represent new possibilities. When times seem bleak, it’s crucial to remember this and focus on preparing for those future moments, so you’re ready to seize the opportunities they bring. I remember moving to Poland in 1997, shortly after the Berlin Wall had fallen. The Cold War was had ended, capitalism and democracy had emerged victorious. There was a sense of triumph in the air. The future felt not just bright but assured. Across Eastern Europe, people were embracing newfound freedom and prosperity. It seemed inevitable that this model was the path everyone would aspire to follow. Yet, many twists and turns lay ahead. There would be the 1998 Ruble Crisis, the Color Revolutions of the early 2000s, Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. Each came with their own triumphs and heartaches, but none were decisive—there was always another chapter waiting to unfold. I was honored to have played a small role in these events and fortunate to know others who played far larger ones. One key lesson I learned is that the most effective people are always preparing for the next trigger—an unforeseen event that could shift the landscape in their favor —in order to be ready when the winds of fortune turned more favorable. So that’s what I try to do when things are bleak. That’s the discipline I try to build. When things don’t go your way and you feel like you’ve been knocked to the ground, lay down there for a moment, focus on the foundational ideas and values that make the fight important to you in the first place, and then return to the fray with renewed vigor.
- [The Best Way To Help Innovation Take Hold Is To Design A Co-optable Resource](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-best-way-to-help-innovation-take-hold-is-to-design-a-co-optable-resource/) - The global activist Srdja Popović once told me that the goal of a revolution should be to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. If you are successful it should be difficult to explain what was won because the previous order seems so unbelievable. Yet many leaders approach change initiatives as if they were swashbuckling heroes in their own action movie. The simple truth is that every change initiative starts out weak and vulnerable, without an internal track record of success. People are bound to be suspicious. They already have everyday struggles and don’t want someone else’s idea to add to their burden. Most often, they’ll nod their head, pay lip service, take a “wait and see” approach and then turn away at the first sign of trouble. To create genuine transformation we need to get out of the business of selling ideas and into the business of selling success. That can’t be done through persuasion, we have to start by identifying people who are already enthusiastic about change. Change isn’t about communication, but empowerment and the best way to empower is to give people resources with which they can pursue their own goals and dreams. If we can help allies to make change successful, even on a small scale, they can bring in others who bring in others still. The best way to do that is to design a resource that is both accessible and impactful, which people can co-opt to further ambitions and goals they pursue for their own reasons, even if those are different from your own.
- [Gradually, Then Suddenly: Why Change Seems To Happen So Slowly, And Then All At Once](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/gradually-the-suddenly-why-change-seems-to-happen-so-slowly-and-then-all-at-once/) - Bent Flyvbjerg, author of How Big Things Get Done, frequently highlights the planning fallacy as a key reason why projects go awry. We tend to trust too much in our plans, often underestimating setbacks and complications. This issue becomes even more pronounced in change initiatives, where the change itself can provoke resistance, creating additional obstacles that slow progress. The truth is that things that change the world always arrive out of context, for the simple reason that the world hasn’t changed yet. Samuel Adams starts a Committee of Correspondence in Boston. Five kids meet in a cafe in Belgrade. At first, few noticed. But connections were forged and networks began to expand. What people do notice is when an event triggers a moment of opportunity. Shots are fired in Lexington, a tyrant attempts to steal an election, an innocent is killed or some other injustice is perpetrated. That’s when it shows whether you’ve put in the work when it really mattered, long before the issue was on most people’s radar, when the groundwork needs to be done. When that moment happens, it’s already too late. We know from centuries of history as well as decades of research that change follows an s-curve. It starts out slowly and then, if the ground has been prepared, it can accelerate exponentially. But you need to start building networks long before, when nobody is watching and there is no credit to claim. That’s what makes the difference between a movement that succeeds and those countless others that catch some limelight, make a little noise and then sputter out and fade away into obscurity. And when that happens, many will throw up their hands and complain that nothing ever changes
- [To Lead Transformation, You Need To Shift From A Manager Mindset To A Changemaker Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/to-lead-change-you-need-to-shift-from-a-manager-mindset-to-a-changemaker-mindset/) - Most of the time, we operate with a manager mindset and that works fine. We build consensus and execute with predictable outcomes. Our colleagues are motivated, customers are satisfied and everybody is happy. In an era of disruption, however, it’s only a matter of time until we need to adapt and drive transformation. That’s never easy. To pull it off we need to shift from a manager mindset to a changemaker mindset in which we no longer assume an environment of predictability but explore unknowns in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Not everybody will be willing to make the journey with us, so rather than relying on a consensus, we will need to build a coalition and leave some people behind. Effective leaders need to master both mindsets and mode shift between them. Clearly, we need to pursue change, but that doesn’t mean we can just abandon day-to-day operations, which require a stable environment to coordinate and execute complex tasks. At the same time, if we try to pursue change with that same manager mindset, we will surely fail. We need to internalize the fact that these two mindsets are not in conflict with one another. In fact, they support each other to some extent. Change always involves a certain amount of disruption, so benefits from the atmosphere of stability and psychological safety which norms, rituals and existing behaviors can provide. In a similar vein, without change, everyday operations will eventually fail to compete. Leading transformation isn’t something most leaders do well. If you want to be among the few that can succeed, the first thing you need to change is your mindset.
- [Communicate A Vision To Shift Strategy, Shape Networks To Change Behavior](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/communicate-a-vision-to-shift-strategy-shape-networks-to-change-behavior/) - The 18th century French enlightenment writer Voltaire once said, “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms,” and we need to approach transformation with a similar mindset. Some transformations require changes in investments, while others require changes in behaviors and these have very different challenges. Until fairly recently, our economy was based on atoms and transformations were usually focused on strategic decisions such as building a new factory, entering a new market or launching a new product line. These types of decisions fall squarely within the authority of senior managers and rarely inspire much internal resistance. It is to communicate clearly at every stage so that the rest of the organization can effectively align. However, when a transformation is focused on changing behaviors, leaders should expect significant resistance. With these types of transformational programs, early alignment is not possible and leaders need to form a coalition. It’s important to start slowly, identify people who are enthusiastic about the change, want it to succeed and focus on an early keystone change to gain traction, before the project can accelerate. What leaders need to recognize is that the vast majority of transformations today are not strategic and consensus-driven, but focused on shifting behaviors and coalition-driven. Over-communicating can provoke early resistance and will likely undermine what you’re trying to achieve. Decades of research shows that people adopt behaviors that they see working for people around them, not those they just hear about or that are dictated to them from above. So the first thing you need to ask before undertaking any transformational effort is whether the goal is to change a strategic asset or to shift behaviors. The answer will determine how you need to move forward.
- [We Live In Dangerous, Confusing Times. Here’s How To Make Sense Of Them.](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-live-in-dangerous-confusing-times-heres-how-to-make-sense-of-them/) - Western society tends toward reductionism. We focus on our own particular area of expertise, learning subtle nuances largely invisible to those outside the field. As a result, we tend to overvalue developments within our realm of knowledge, while that which lies outside our immediate attention often seems less relevant. Yet the reality is that everything is connected. We simply can’t separate the forces of technology, economics and identity. So while Silicon Valley types wax glowingly about the wonders of the latest advance, waves of disruption crash through people’s lives, creating crises of identity that result in backlash, undermining progress that could have potentially been made. These forces can bubble beneath the surface for decades, while incumbent institutions try to keep a lid on them, curbing the worst of the turmoil, confusion and disorder they create. But eventually, they must be dealt with and some fundamental change to the existing order—a revolution— needs to take place. That is the point at which the danger is greatest. History tends to converge and cascade around certain points and we seem to be at one now. The philosopher Martin Heidegger thought about technology in terms of both revealing and building. The forces of the universe being what they are, we do not have much choice in what we uncover. Yet how we create and channel technologies such is very much in our control. The choices we make not only reflect who we are, but what we will become. We can’t separate the forces of technology and economics from that of identity, because they are inextricably intertwined. We are, no doubt, at a time of great potential, with technology advancing to such a point that we may soon have the power to create infinite energy, shape biology and conquer space. What we lack is a shared vision for what we want the world to be. Surviving progress is always a matter of identifying and leveraging shared values. As Francis Fukuyama has written, “Identity can be used to divide, but it can also be used to integrate,” and that is how we navigate to the other side.
- [The Identity Trap](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-identity-trap/) - On September 17th, 2011, protesters began to stream into Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan and the #Occupy movement had begun. “We are the 99%,” they declared and as far as they were concerned, it was time for the reign of the “1%” to end. The protests soon spread like wildfire to 951 cities across 82 countries. Despite all the hoopla, within a few months, the streets and parks were cleared. The protesters went home and nothing much changed. Occupy was, to paraphrase Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Eventually, even its founder had to admit it was all a dismal failure, while he voiced support and admiration for Donald Trump. This pattern of hype leading to discredit is not just for social justice warriors. Business leaders are prone to many of the same pitfalls. Fads like six sigma, stack ranking and the war for talent emerge for a time and create a cascade in which adherents rush to not only adopt a practice, but signal their inclusion into the tribe. Later, when the idea is found wanting, it is discarded and something else comes along. A lot of damage is done along the way. This is the identity trap: if we're not careful, signaling our identity can become more important than the underlying idea itself. Yet, our identities are not fixed. They grow and evolve over time as we add new elements and shed of others—switching careers, moving to new places, or shifting relationships. “Identity can be used to divide, but it can and has also been used to integrate,” Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book on the subject. And that is the challenge for anyone who wants to lead an endeavor of any significance: How can you create an inclusive identity that doesn't divide and ostracize those who don’t belong, but that integrates and empowers? If you are to achieve anything meaningful, you can’t just preach to the choir, but must venture out of the church and mix with the heathens.
- [How To Compete In A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/how-to-compete-in-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - In 1998, the dotcom craze was going at full steam and it seemed like the entire world was turning upside down. So people took notice when economist Paul Krugman wrote that “by 2005 or so, it will become clear that the internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” He was obviously quite a bit off base, but these types of mistakes are incredibly common. As the futurist Roy Amara famously put it, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” The truth is that it usually takes about 30 years for a technology to go from an initial discovery to a measurable impact. Today, as we near the end of the digital age and enter a new era of innovation, Amara’s point is incredibly important to keep in mind. New technologies, such as quantum computing, blockchain and gene editing will be overhyped, but really will change the world, eventually. So we need to do more than adapt, we need to prepare for a future we can’t see yet. We need to do more than simply try to adapt, we need to prepare for a future we can’t see yet.
- [Here’s What It Takes To Change Someone's Mind](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/heres-what-it-takes-to-change-someones-mind/) - The truth is that we can’t change anyone’s mind. Only they can do that. Yet as David McRaney explains in his new book, "How Minds Change," there are a number of new techniques that can help us be much more persuasive, but they don’t require brilliant sophistry or snappy rhetoric. They involve more listening than speaking, and understanding the context in which beliefs arise. That’s why we need to listen and build rapport. That’s not always easy to do, because staying silent while somebody is voicing an opinion we don’t agree with can feel like a surrender. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, if we can identify a shared value in an opposing viewpoint, we have a powerful tool to argue our position. The truth is that empathy isn’t absolution. In fact, it can be our secret weapon. We don’t have to agree with someone’s belief to internalize it. We all have a need to be recognized and when we take the time to hear someone out, we honor their dignity. That makes them much more willing to hear us out. Lasting change is always built on common ground. At some point, we all need to decide if we want to make a point or make a difference. If we really care about change, we need to hold ourselves accountable to be effective messengers and express ourselves in terms that our targets of influence are willing to accept. That doesn’t in any way mean we have to compromise. It simply means that we need to advocate effectively. To do that, we need to care more about building shared purpose than we do about winning points.
- [The “Trigger" Strategy For Driving Radical, Transformational Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-trigger-strategy-for-driving-radical-transformational-change/) - The hardest thing about change is that, typically, most people don’t want it. If they did, it have already been accepted as the normal state of affairs. That can make transformation a lonely business. The status quo has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. The path for an aspiring changemaker can be heartbreaking and soul crushing. Many would see the near-certainty that Milosevic would try to steal the election as an excuse to do nothing. Most people would look at the almost impossibly corrupt Yanukovych regime and see the idea of devoting your life to anti-corruption reforms as quixotic folly. It is extremely rare for a CEO whose firm dominates an industry to ask, “What comes after?” Yet anything can happen and often does. Circumstances conspire. Events converge. Round-hole businesses meet their square-peg world. We can’t predict exactly when or where or how or what will happen, but we know that everybody and everything gets disrupted eventually. It’s all just a matter of time. When that happens resistance to change temporarily abates. So there’s lots to do and no time to waste. We need to empower our allies, as well as listen to our adversaries. We need to build out a network to connect to others who are sympathetic to our cause. Transformational change is always driven by small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose. Most of all, we need to prepare. A trigger always comes and, when it does, it brings great opportunity with it.
- [How A Little-Known Company Used An Algorithm To Raise Rents On Millions Of Americans](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-need-to-rethink-how-competition-and-collusion-in-an-artificially-intelligent-world/) - Back in the Gilded Age of the 19th century, it was taken for granted that industrialists were all powerful. Men met in smoke-filled back rooms, traded information and, much like Adam Smith described, conspired against the public to raise prices and increase profits. Eventually, the public could bear no more, political pressure built, and legislation was passed to prevent collusive and predatory behavior. As ProPublica described in an investigative article about RealPage’s “Yieldstar” software, companies are using algorithms to do essentially the same thing. As they point out, if we wouldn’t let “a guy named Bob,” collect and pool private information of market participants and then make pricing recommendations, then we shouldn’t let algorithms do it either. The problems will only get more pervasive as we constantly feed information into artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT. As I wrote along with Josh Sutton five years ago in Harvard Business Review, we need algorithms that are explainable, auditable and transparent. Yet it seems like we’ve gone in the opposite direction. Many would argue that, today, we are in a new Gilded Age, in which powerful industrialists, unbeholden to the rule of law, regularly engage in predatory behavior, but their actions are often shielded from view by technology, buried in complexity. When they are called before congress, the people’s representatives seem lost, unable to penetrate technical jargon. Yet as the RealPage case shows, the situation really isn't that complicated. The burden of proof should be on corporations to show that they aren’t screwing us, not the other way around. The standards of explainability, audibility and transparence aren’t unreasonably onerous. We should demand they be met.
- [3 Myths That Underlie Transformation Theater](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/3-myths-of-transformation-theater/) - It’s tough to imagine how anyone who is familiar with the evidence would ever assume that change is linear, that it is a good idea to “create a sense of urgency around change,” or that you should move quickly to publicize an early win. Yet, more often than not, that’s what otherwise smart, accomplished people set out to do. There are a few reasons that this is the case. The first is that change itself has changed. Consider that research shows in 1975, 83% of the average US corporation’s assets were tangible assets, such as factories, machinery and buildings. When your assets are tangible, change is largely about communicating strategic decisions made from above. There’s little anybody can do to resist them anyway. However, the very same research finds that by 2015, 84% of corporate assets became intangible, such as licenses, patents and research. Change is no longer about making decisions about strategic assets, but about what people think and do everyday. You can’t try to force or overpower that kind of change, you need to attract and empower. Yet today's cult of disruption often favors those who make a lot of noise. CEOs who are able to create a lot of hoopla in the media can often keep the stock price up long enough for their options to vest and cash out. Even more junior managers can make a name for themselves with big, splashy initiatives and then switch jobs before it all comes crashing down. Some have made big careers that way. That’s what makes transformation theater so destructive. It seeks to ennoble the change leader rather than the enterprise or its mission. It is, quite simply, how incompetent managers attempt to take on the appearance of a high-performance culture, without ever doing the hard work needed to actually build one.
- [There Is No Secret Formula. Effective Leaders Need To Master Mode Shifting.](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/there-is-no-secret-formula-effective-leaders-need-to-master-mode-shifting/) - About a decade ago I made the trip out to see Brian Robertson, the creator of Holacracy, the leaderless management governance method. It was all the rage at the time, with high-flying firms such as Zappos and Medium adopting it enthusiastically. Brian was kind enough to spend a few hours with me, explaining the ins and outs of how it all worked. But even then I was skeptical and I told him so. My experience running organizations taught me that the most important thing a leader does is make decisions and that often requires you to switch directions, exchanging one set of principles for another to adapt to different contexts. There are no easy guides to making these mode shifts and you can’t just take a vote. You have to take responsibility for making the decision. For creative challenges, giving everyone a say leads to better results, but when you need to execute operations, especially complex ones, everybody needs to play their role and there can be no questioning of authority. Innovation requires you to identify what kind of problem you have before you can identify the right strategy to solve it. You can’t pursue change with the same mindset with which you pursue everyday operations. As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein pointed out, “no course of action can be determined by a rule, because any course of action can be made out to accord with the rule.” We have to have the courage to make decisions and that often means we need to exchange one mode of logic for another.
- [How Inflection Points Define History](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-inflection-points-define-the-future/) - The most important inflection points are often the ones that we create ourselves through the choices we make. No future is inevitable.
- [Happy 15th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/happy-15th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - It’s funny how things can turn out. We’re heading in a particular direction, focused on the future and things somehow go awry. We try in vain to get back on track, but instead we end up setting out in a new direction, exploring avenues we scarcely knew existed. Before we know it, we’ve gotten to
- [Can We Finally Kill The Idea Of Leaderless Organizations?](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/can-we-finally-kill-the-idea-of-leaderless-organizations/) - For a while now, management gurus such as Gary Hamel have been advocating for flatter organizations, yet there is little evidence that eliminating leaders is a viable model. In fact, when Wharton Professor Ronnie Lee took a close look at game software developers, he actually found that the number of levels of bureaucracy increased significantly, not decreased, over the last 50 years. There are several reasons that this is true. The first is that, while having a flatter structure leads to more innovation and creativity, you need good leadership and governance to execute well. As an industry matures and becomes more complex, more levels of hierarchy are needed to manage it effectively. Another important factor to consider is that even without a formal hierarchy, leaders will tend to emerge. Which is why when you take a closer look at often cited examples of “leaderless organizations,” there is much more hierarchy that it would at first seem. Just because there isn’t an organization chart doesn’t mean there isn’t a pecking order. We need to stop thinking in terms of how many levels of bureaucracy there are and start working to network our organizations. We don’t need to eliminate managers—or anyone else for that matter—but to widen and deepen connections within and without our enterprise. We need to lead and to do it more effectively. The role of leadership in organizations has changed. It is no longer merely to plan and direct work, but to inspire meaning and empower belief. As I wrote in Cascades, the key to transformational change is small groups, loosely connected by united by a shared purpose. The job of leaders today is to help those groups connect and forge a common purpose.
- [Here's Why It's So Hard To Change A Culture](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-is-it-so-hard-to-change-a-culture/) - My friend Stephen Shapiro argues that best practices are stupid. It’s not that he believes they can’t be useful, in fact in areas of low-competence they can be very helpful in helping a team get up to speed. Yet Steve’s point is that you can’t separate a practice from its context. Copying Netflix’s Culture Deck or Amazon’s six-page memo is unlikely to improve your performance if you don’t develop the norms and rituals to support them. Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao explained in The Friction Project how organizations will cling on to rituals, such as processes and paperwork, in ways that are so nonsensical they are almost comical, because they support norms embedded in the culture. Often, stakeholders compete for power over norms and rituals because they signal status and create privilege. Consider the expense authorization ritual. The ability for a clan to deny an authorization gives them power, which they can barter for other goods, such as respect, deference and maybe a favor here or there. They can then, in turn, give deference to other powerful clans, building up clout with which they can use to gain power over other rituals and rites. That’s what makes cultures so hard to transform. You can’t change behaviors without changing norms and rituals that underlie them. We are, as much as we may hate to admit it, evolved to signal identity and seek status. These truths rarely make it into PowerPoint charts or quarterly strategies, but they lie at the core of every enterprise. Culture is, among other things, deeply rooted in norms and rituals and, if we aim to change behaviors, that’s where we need to start.
- [Why The Future Of Technology Is Always More Human](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-the-future-of-technology-is-always-more-human/) - Bill Gates recently wrote that, “The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.” Yet the unspoken problem is that none of those technologies, except for the Internet, had a significant impact on productivity. In fact, since 2005, we seem to be caught in a second productivity paradox. In 2016, while researching my book Mapping Innovation, I noticed that we were entering a new era of innovation, which became the title of the last chapter. That’s largely become true, we are on the precipice of leveraging a number of new technologies including, along with artificial intelligence, things like quantum computing and synthetic biology. Yet as we have seen clearly throughout history, it is ecosystems, not inventions that truly change the world and we are the crucial missing link. It took the redesigning of factories to make electricity impactful and the reorganization of retail to make the automobile a transformational technology. Whether these new technologies have an impact depends more on us and how we put them to use than any details about the technology itself. Using large language models to dump more crap on the Internet, will not get us far, just as our newfound ability to shape the genetic code will not fix our broken healthcare system. The future of technology is always more human and that has never been more true than today. As Todd McLees points out, it is on human skills and human behaviors that we must focus to tackle the challenges ahead.
- [Why Bad Ideas Refuse To Die](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-bad-ideas-dont-just-die/) - I recently read David Sanger’s new book, "The New Cold Wars," which was excellent in many ways. It was very well sourced, often insightful and excellently written. It was also riddled with relatively minor errors. These didn’t really affect the story he was trying to tell, but they were annoying and undermined an otherwise excellent book. What probably happened is that the fact checker was intimidated by Sanger’s prominence and didn’t call him out or didn’t bother checking facts that, truth be told, are not really his area of expertise. (Being much less prominent, my fact checkers didn’t have the same reluctance with my books). So the errors persist and Sanger looks a little bit silly. What’s important to understand is that, in the publishing world, someone like David Sanger isn’t just a person, but a powerful ecosystem, which includes his agent, his editor and a number of other people who depend on him to make a living. If they see those relationships being threatened, they will tend to lash out. So you can sympathize with a low status fact checker being intimidated. The thing is, as Annalee Saxenian explained in her book "Regional Advantage" that chronicled the rise of Silicon Valley, the tech giants in Boston that reigned in the 60s and 70s, built very insular ecosystems and were unable to adapt when things changed. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, built much wider networks in which information flowed much more freely. The rest, as they say, is history. We get to choose what types of networks we build. We can build networks of control, in which power determines truth. Or we can build networks where information flows freely and new ideas can take hold, grow and cascade to where they can create the most value. Those choices will determine whether new ideas can gain traction and take hold or bad ones persist.
- [3 Questions Every Change Consultant Should Be Able To Answer](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/3-questions-every-change-consultant-should-be-able-to-answer/) - The ugly truth about change management is that the traditional change models simply don’t work. They aren’t based on any serious research and have shown themselves, over a period of decades, to fail consistently. Often, organizational change management units are used by consulting firms and vendors to cheerlead a larger engagement. That isn’t to say it’s some sort of con. In my experience, organizational change management practitioners are well-meaning and under the impression they make a positive impact. They are hired for engagements, make proposals, deliver on what they promised and leave their clients happy. They usually aren’t around to see the wreckage after the engagement ends. You can’t just cheerlead change. It’s not a communication exercise and wordsmithing slogans will get you nowhere. That’s why you need to ask hard questions like, “What evidence is our strategy based on?” “How will we overcome resistance?” and “How will we leverage organizational dynamics to gain traction and scale the transformation? All too often, we treat people who ask tough questions as enemies who seek to undermine what we’re trying to achieve. But good questions don’t close doors, they open them. In fact, asking hard questions in the beginning will help you identify obstacles that you can then work to build strategies to overcome. Today, every enterprise needs to adopt and scale change. That doesn’t just happen by itself. You need to go into it with open eyes and be ready to accept hard truths. The best way to start is by asking the right questions.
- [This Is One Big Reason Why So Much Business Thinking Is Crap](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/this-is-one-big-reason-why-so-much-business-thinking-is-crap/) - Management fads tend to come from people who did well in school. Many of these are business school professors and consultants, who've never operated a business. They are often people who’ve never failed, been told that they’re smart all their lives and expect others to be impressed by their ideas, not to examine them thoroughly. They tend come up with their ideas by talking to other smart, successful people about their experiences. These ideas get picked up by more smart, successful people and are propagated further. The elite hivemind then puts these ideas into practice, rarely checking what evidence the ideas are based on. When the ideas fail, they are rarely questioned. Shortcomings are blamed on poor execution by less smart, successful people. We need to own up to some basic truths. Case study research can be useful, but is enormously flawed and highly susceptible to bias. People recounting events usually tell self-serving accounts and researchers conducting interviews are often trying to confirm their own hunches. The interviews themselves are almost never subjected to any serious review. We need to be more vigilant. We can do better. While it is true that researching organizations is notoriously difficult and that interviewing executives is often the best we can do, we can seek to corroborate findings from other fields, explore counternarratives and apply greater scrutiny. We can’t just go around believing everything we think. As Richard Feynman put it “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.”
- [We Say We Want Change, But The Status Quo Almost Always Wins Out. Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-say-we-want-change-but-the-status-quo-almost-always-wins-out-heres-why/) - We tend to see change as an engineering problem. There is a desired end state, so we design a logical strategy to achieve it, build a timeline and execute the plan. We expect some obstacles along the way, work to identify sticking points and maybe even devise some plans to address them. It seems that, with some will and determination, we should be able to push through. Yet that’s not how the world really works. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. It has had years—and sometimes decades or longer—to build connections and form networks. If we are to achieve genuine transformation, it’s that underlying ecosystem we need to address. That’s why we need to think less like engineers and more like gardeners. Engineers believe in laws that can be understood and put to specific use, so they build machines to perform specific tasks. Gardeners believe in complexity and emergence. They don’t design their garden as much as tend to it, nurture it and support its surrounding ecosystem. They don’t expect the same result every time, but understand' they'll need to adjust as they go. That’s why we need to think less about individual nodes and focus on networks. It is small groups, loosely connected, but united by a shared purpose that bring about transformational change. That can’t be mandated and it’s never top-down or bottom-up, but travels from side-to-side, propagating through social bonds. Or, as General Stanley McChrystal put it, "It takes a network to defeat a network." We can’t simply think of strategy as a game of chess, but must weave networks by widening and deepening connections in order to influence the sources of power that support the status quo.
- [Why You Often Need To Start Slow In Order To Go Fast](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-you-often-need-to-start-slow-in-order-to-go-fast/) - When I first moved overseas in 1997, email was still relatively new. There was no social media. Mostly, we communicated by landline and that was expensive. You couldn’t always reach who you wanted to, so things necessarily moved slower. We had to be more thoughtful because we didn’t really have any other choice. Today we live in a much more technological age, where many things move faster and we’ve come to expect nearly instant gratification. We communicate at the speed of light at negligible cost. We can order things online with little more than a few strokes on a smartphone and things almost magically appear on our doorstep. Yet our brains still operate at the relatively slow pace they always did and there’s no indication we build trust any faster. So we essentially operate at two speeds. Our operating speeds move much faster than they once did, but human relationships still go at their turtle-like, ancestral pace. That’s why effective leaders need to master both a manager mindset, to handle operations, and a changemaker mindset, to innovate and take on projects that are new and different. When you’re doing something big, new or different, you can’t assume an environment of predictability. You need to take the time to explore unknowns in an atmosphere of uncertainty. There’s simply no way to speed that up. You need to go slowly, figure out the stuff you don’t know how to do, examine possible points of failure and build strategies to overcome them. As Jerry Seinfeld put it, when you're in a creative process, “If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way.”
- [The Best Way To Overcome Resistance And Defeat Doubters: Start with a Resistance Inventory](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-best-way-to-overcome-resistance-and-defeat-doubters-start-with-a-resistance-inventory/) - The story of Blockbuster video is one that is often repeated, but rarely understood. The CEO, John Antioco, did not, as is frequently assumed, ignore the Netflix threat but devised an effective strategy to meet it head on. However, tensions with shareholders eventually boiled over, a salary dispute led him to resign and the strategy was abandoned. Antioco’s mistake wasn't a lack of a market strategy, but a lack of a resistance strategy. He would later tell me, “throughout my career, I had learned that whenever you set out to do anything big, some people aren’t going to like it. I’d been successful by defying the status quo at important junctures and that’s what I thought had to be done in this case.” Simply pushing through resistance isn’t enough, though. You need to actively anticipate it and devise plans to overcome it. That’s why when we start working with an organization on a transformational initiative one of the first things we do is go through a detailed resistance inventory, identifying the five major categories of resistance and how they are likely to play out. You can't anticipate everything, but with a little bit of thought, you can proactively prepare to mitigate foreseeable problems. Read this post to learn more...
- [The 3 Pillars Of The Changemaker Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-3-pillars-of-the-changemaker-mindset/) - Most of the time, we operate with a manager mindset and that works fine. We build consensus and execute with predictable outcomes. Our colleagues are motivated, customers are satisfied and everybody is happy. However, in an era of disruption it’s only a matter of time until we need to adapt and drive transformation. That’s never easy. Top performers learn to switch between mindsets. Athletes need to be able to switch between training mindsets and competition mindsets. Navy SEALs have a “command and control mindset,” when executing a mission in the field and then a “take off your stripes, everyone is equal” mindset for debriefs when working to innovate and improve. The three elements of the Changemaker mindset are: Where do you start? Who do you start with? And how do you sustain? Those are the questions you need to ask before you start any transformational initiative and the answers are rarely obvious. It takes work to analyze the situation and identify viable answers. But if we want to put an end to the track record of failure that’s what we need to do. We need to start small, with a single Keystone Change; to start with people who are already enthusiastic and not try to create and maintain the energy ourselves and to sustain our efforts through empowering allies, with co-optable resources and other platforms. Perhaps most of all, and often most difficult, we need to accept that when we shift to a changemaker mindset not everyone will be coming with us. Some will have to take a different path; choose another journey and we will have to leave them behind. That doesn’t mean betrayal, but it does mean you’ve arrived at a fork in the road and choices need to be made.
- [The 5 Elements Of The Changemaker Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/the-5-elements-of-the-changemaker-mindset/) - Most of the time, we operate with a manager mindset and that works fine. We build consensus and execute with predictable outcomes. Our colleagues are motivated, customers are satisfied and everybody is happy. However, in an era of disruption it’s only a matter of time until we need to adapt and drive transformation. That’s never easy. To pull it off we need to shift from a manager mindset to a changemaker mindset in which we no longer assume an environment of predictability, but explore unknowns in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Not everybody will be willing to make the journey with us, so rather than relying on a consensus, we will need to build a coalition and leave some people behind. We start not by trying to convince skeptics, but by going to where there is already energy in favor of change. Once we identify those who are already enthusiastic about change, we can empower them to succeed and build on that success until we hit a tipping point (about 10%-25% of the organization) and the transformation becomes self-sustaining. What makes our current era so challenging is that we often need to operate with both mindsets simultaneously. We can’t afford to put everything on hold while changes are underway, so we need to approach some things as managers and some as changemakers. It can be difficult and stressful, but it’s what needs to be done. Perhaps most of all, we need to internalize the reality, proven time and time again, that transformation is not only possible, but that it does not have to come from the top. Anyone, anywhere can achieve enormous change. But first, you need to adopt a changemaker mindset.
- [Adopting A Changemaker Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/adopting-a-changemaker-mindset/) - People who believe in change want to believe that if everyone understood it, they’d want it to happen. That’s why “change management” gurus focus on communication and persuasion. They think that if you explain your idea for change in just the right way, others will see the light. For many change consultants, transformation is primarily a messaging problem. Yet anyone who has ever been married or had kids knows how hard it can be to convince even a single person of something. Persuading hundreds, if not thousands—or even an entire society—that they should drop what they’re thinking and doing to adopt your idea and help drive it forward is a tall order. The simple truth is that no one is really that charming. Make no mistake. If your idea is important, if it has real potential to affect how people think and how they act, there will always be those who will hate it and they will work to undermine it in ways that are dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. That's just a simple fact of life that every potential changemaker needs to learn to internalize and accept. Yet adopting a changemaker mindset means that you understand that change is always built on common ground and that you need to build empathy, even for your most ardent adversaries, because that is how you identify shared values and move things forward. It is by listening to your opposition and internalizing its logic that you can learn how to discredit it, or even better, inspire those hostile to change to discredit themselves. That is the changemaker mindset: To understand that change is hard, even unlikely, but to remain clear-eyed, hard-nosed and opportunity focused. To know that through shared values and shared purpose, radical, transformational change is not only possible, but ultimately inevitable.
- [Why Do Pundits Work So Hard To Deny These 3 Things About Human Nature?](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-do-intellectuals-work-so-hard-to-deny-these-3-things-about-human-nature/) - In "Homo Deus," author Yuval Noah Harari asserted that “organisms are algorithms.” Much like vending machines are programmed to respond to buttons, Harari argues that humans and other animals are programmed by genetics and evolution to respond to “sensations, emotions and thoughts.” When those particular buttons are pushed, we respond, much like a vending machine does. He gives evidence for this point of view. For example, he describes psychological experiments in which, by monitoring brainwaves, researchers are able to predict actions, such as whether a person will flip a switch, even before he or she is aware of it. He also points out that certain chemicals, such as Ritalin and Prozac, can modify behavior. Yet the argument only feels persuasive because it is selective, focusing on some facts while ignoring others. Yes, much like software, we come with built-in programming, but we are also built to adapt, forming new pathways in our brains while discarding others as we go through experiences and learn new things. Adults in even primitive societies are expected to overcome basic urges, govern their behavior and invest resources in the future. That’s why it’s important to understand human nature. Once we know that our motivations are not always clear to us, we can be more thoughtful about our actions. If we accept that humans are naturally hierarchical and status-driven, we can both work within those parameters while at the same time We work to better know ourselves not to surrender to our inherent nature, but to transcend it. We need to know our limitations in order to go past them.
- [To Achieve Real Change, You Must First Anticipate And Overcome Resistance](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/to-achieve-real-change-leaders-first-must-anticipate-and-overcome-resistance/) - Any change, if it is important and potentially impactful, is going to encounter fierce resistance. As Saul Alinsky noted, every revolution inspires its own counter-revolution. That’s why nearly three quarters of organizational transformations fail, because managers too often see it as a communication exercise, rather than a strategic effort to empower those who are already enthusiastic about change to influence everyone else. The truth is that bringing about fundamental, transformational change takes more than clever slogans and happy talk. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. You need to be clear-eyed and hard-nosed. You need to understand that for every significant change, three will be some who seek to undermine it in ways that are dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. The difference between successful revolutionaries and mere dreamers is that those who succeed anticipate resistance and build a plan to overcome it.
- [Summer Reading List: 11 Books That Will Make You A Better Communicator](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/11-books-that-will-make-you-a-better-communicator/) - More than a decade ago I published an article in Forbes about IBM’s Watson. With the system’s triumph, beating the best human players at Jeopardy!, everybody was wondering whether humans had a future or whether we would all be at the mercy of “our new robot overlords.” It was an exciting and confusing time. Yet
- [Summer Reading List: 11 Books That Will Make You A Better Communicator](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/11-books-that-will-make-you-a-better-communicator/) - More than a decade ago I published an article in Forbes about IBM’s Watson. With the system’s triumph, beating the best human players at Jeopardy!, everybody was wondering whether humans had a future or whether we would all be at the mercy of “our new robot overlords.” It was an exciting and confusing time. Yet
- [Is AI Selfish?](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/is-ai-selfish/) - When evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins claimed that genes are selfish, he didn’t mean that he thought they are cognisant, with a will of their own. Rather, that genes act as if they are selfish, working to replicate themselves in the most efficient way, regardless of what that entails for the organism that carries them. In When evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins claimed that genes are selfish, he didn’t mean that he thought they are cognisant, with a will of their own. Rather, that genes act as if they are selfish, working to replicate themselves in the most efficient way, regardless of what that entails for the organism that carries them. In other words, the phrase "survival of the fittest" applies to our genes, not to us. The concept led to the idea of memes, elemental bits of culture that compete to be replicated in the marketplace of ideas. Then Susan Blackmore introduced the concept of temes, elemental bits of technology, like lines of code sitting in Github, that are competing to replicate in order to survive in future technological artifacts. Once you start thinking about selfish genes, memes and temes, and begin applying those concepts to artificial intelligence, it becomes clear that AI must be selfish as well, competing to get itself replicated through us. That in turn, raises some very important questions: What is the context we are creating for this competition and how will the rules affect our own fate? If, like genes, memes and temes, in order to compete and survive algorithms must be selfish, we need to take responsibility for shaping the environments in which they compete. We have the power to design every aspect of the game, from which biases get encoded into our systems to what determines success and what the rewards are. In her new book, "Data, Strategy, Culture & Power," data expert Nicole Radziwill, PhD introduces “Radziwill’s Law,” which states: “Data cannot be decoupled from power. Organizations create and use data, analytics, and AI in ways that embed and reflect the power structures and power differentials between the people that develop and use them.” We are far from helpless. We have, throughout history, shown that we can overcome basic human urges that flow from our brains’ varying levels of neurotransmitters. Citizens of Ancient Rome were taxed to pay for roads that led to distant lands and took decades to build. Medieval communities built churches that stood for centuries. We managed to contain nuclear weapons and curb the dangers of genetic research. AI is different, though, because of the way it interacts with us. It is constantly not only learning from our behavior, it is also generating cultural content that helps to shape our identities and how we pursue status. We at once players and referees; teachers and learners; influencers and influenced. It’s a game we cannot escape If it is true, as Daniel Dennett asserted, that a scholar is a library’s way of creating more libraries, then we are are an algorithm’s way of creating more algorithms. We have to recognize that we are creating the rules that determine which algorithms survive, replicate and shape our future.
- [Look Out For These 3 Telltale Signs Of Transformation Theater](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/look-out-for-these-3-telltale-signs-of-transformation-theater/) - Genuine transformation is notoriously difficult, but transformation theater is relatively easy. There’s never any shortage of corporate hucksters, gurus and other con artists looking to sell us the change gospel, weaving visions of “burning platforms,” in a VUCA world. Many build impressive careers, moving from failed initiative to failed initiative, without ever actually accomplishing anything. The problem is, of course, transformation theater does an incredible amount of senseless damage to our organizations, our mental health and our societies. We need to learn to recognize the telltale signs and call them out when we see them or we can only expect more of the same and nothing will change. When leaders create a false sense of urgency, rush the process in a manner that quells dissent and seek out publicity before any real results have been achieved, they are pursuing transformation theater rather than genuine transformation. They are not pursuing a solution to a genuine problem, but preying on our bias for action in order to glorify themselves. Yet we have the power to choose what we glorify. We can ask hard questions, apply strict scrutiny and demand common sense. There’s always someone trying to sell us something, but we can decide what we’re willing to buy. There’s certainly no reason that we need to accept that every change is equally valid just because it’s different from what we’re doing now. In the final analysis, innovation should serve people, not the other way around and that’s the standard we need to apply. Every transformational initiative should be able to answer the question: “What problem is being solved and who will benefit?”
- [If You’re Serious About Change, You Need To Be Explicit And Focus On Shared Values](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/if-youre-serious-about-change-you-need-to-be-explicit-and-focus-on-shared-values/) - John Lennon wrote that life is what happens when you're planning other things and truer words were never spoken. We live life in the moment and moments are dictated by events. That’s why so many change efforts fail, because they do what feels good, choosing to signal identity rather than leverage shared values. Never underestimate the primordial need to signal identity. We want to show that we are not only a full-fledged member of our tribe, but a star player on the team. That’s why we engage in the type of moral outbidding that results in a purity spiral. Before you know it, we are voicing opinions and taking actions that are not only out of the mainstream, but that actually turn away those who might support our objectives. That’s why Occupy protesters slept in parks and shouted obscenities, why women wore pussy hats after the election of Donald Trump, why DEI activists claim that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is racist, why a Cornell professor said he was exhilarated by the murder of innocents, and why America's far-right activists identify with murderous dictators. It feels good to show that we are different, that we have status. Yet while these efforts may make their point, they fail to make a difference. Occupy protesters soon went home and achieved nothing. The World Economic Forum has found that MeToo has undermined women in the workplace. DEI programs across the country are being crushed, Hamas has lost legitimacy, even with Palestinians and hundreds of January 6th insurrectionists have gone to jail. The challenge and discipline for leading change is to focus on shared values, so even people who don’t agree with you can identify with your motives. The truth is that success doesn’t depend on how radical or how moderate your vision, but how well you can appeal to common goals. Or, as Nelson Mandela himself put it, “to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
- [3 Reasons Why Business Thinking Is So Consistently Shoddy](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/3-reasons-why-business-thinking-is-so-consistently-shoddy/) - When I’m finishing up a book, I send out sections to be fact-checked by experts and those who have first-person knowledge of events. I’m always amazed at how much I get wrong. In some cases, I make truly egregious errors about facts I should have known (or did know, but failed to take into account). It can be an incredibly humbling process. That’s why it's so important to not to believe everything you think, there are simply too many ways to get things wrong. As Richard Feynman put it, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.” I would also add a second principle that just because you’ve managed to fool others, doesn’t mean you’ve gotten it right. Unfortunately, so many of the popular management ideas today come from people who never actually operated a business, such as business school professors and consultants. These are often people who've never failed. They’ve been told that they’re smart all their lives and expect others to be impressed by their ideas, not to examine them thoroughly. The problem with so much business thinking today is that there is an appalling lack of rigor. That’s the only way that such obviously flawed ideas are able to gain traction. It’s hard to imagine any other field with such a complete lack of quality control. That’s why I send out fact checks, because I know how likely I am to think foolish and inaccurate things. I’ve also noticed that I tend to be most wrong when I think I’ve come up with something brilliant. Much as Tolstoy wrote about families, there are infinitely more ways to get things wrong than to get things right.
- [Why The Suckers Always Think They’re Playing It Smart](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-the-suckers-always-think-theyre-playing-it-smart/) - At any given time, there are literally thousands of people looking to fool us. Grifters, politicians and nation states looking to sow discord are constantly bombarding us with falsities mixed with just enough truth to seem plausible. Often, these messages reach us through trusted friends and family members and, when we go to verify them online, we’re likely to find confirmation (often from the same sources that duped our peers). Anybody can get fooled. If we are to avoid getting taken in we need to be hyper-vigilant and aware that our brains have a tendency to fool us. Our minds will quickly grasp onto the most readily available data and detect patterns that may or may not be there. Then they will seek out other evidence that confirms those initial hunches while disregarding contrary evidence. This is especially true of smart, accomplished people. Those who have been right in the past and have proved the doubters wrong, are going to be less likely to see the warning signs. In many cases, they will even see opposition to their views as evidence they are on the right track, given that they’ve seen their hunches pay off before. Merely checking ourselves isn’t nearly enough, we need to actively seek out other views and perspectives. Some of this can be done with formal processes such as pre-mortems and red teams, but a lot of it is just acknowledging that we have blind spots, building the habit of reaching out to others and improving our listening skills. Perhaps most of all, we need to have a sense of humility. It’s far too easy to be impressed with ourselves and far too difficult to see how we’re being led astray. There is often a negative correlation between our level of certainty and the likelihood of us being wrong. We all need to make an effort to believe less of what we think.
- [You Need To Be Skeptical Of Advice From Business Pundits And Gurus. Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/you-need-to-be-skeptical-of-advice-from-business-pundits-and-gurus-heres-why/) - When I lived in Poland, a common aphorism advised that “life is cruel, and full of traps.” From an American perspective, the aphorism can be a bit of a culture shock. We tend to believe in the power of positivity, the American dream and the can-do spirit. Negativity can be seen as something worse than a weakness, both an indulgence and a privation at the same time. Over the years, however, I came to respect the Poles’ innate suspicion. The truth is that we are far too easily fooled and taken in by those prey on the glitches in our cognitive machinery. Often business gurus have fooled themselves. They believe they have special powers of insight and get taken in by the glitches we all have in our mental machinery. Unfortunately, so many of the popular management ideas today come from people who never actually operated a business, such as business school professors and consultants. These are often people who’ve never failed. They’ve been told that they’re smart all their lives and expect others to be impressed by their ideas, not to examine them thoroughly. We get taken in because we want their claims to be true. We’d like to think that there is a secret we’re missing, that there’s a black magic that we’re not privy to and, if we prove our worth and obtain access to a few simple truths, we’ll capture the success that eludes us. Things can seem simple in a PowerPoint deck, but the truth is that the world is a messy place. That’s why we need to train ourselves to ask the tough questions. What are we not seeing? What data is missing? What are alternative interpretations for the evidence being presented? It’s more important to be careful than smart. We can only make decisions on higher or lower levels of confidence. In the real world, there are no “sure things.” CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [Here’s Why "Creating Awareness" Is Usually A Waste Of Time](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/heres-why-creating-awareness-is-usually-a-waste-of-time/) - In one of my favorite essays the physicist Richard Feynman wrote, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.” I can think of no greater example of this simple axiom than the practice of change management, especially with regard to communication. There is an enormous track record of failure—study after study finds that the vast majority do not succeed. These efforts frequently devolve into transformation theater that goes nowhere, but wastes enormous amounts of resources. Consider that, after decades of trying, skills like lean manufacturing, agile development and overcoming unconscious bias are woefully under-adopted in most organizations and you begin to understand the scale of the challenge. Part of the problem is that the most predominant change management models are not based on rigorous research, but rather case study interviews that are subject to high levels of bias. Executives are strongly motivated to spin yarns about how effective their strategies were and interviewers interpret what they hear through the lens of prior assumptions. Seldom, if ever, is any rigorous social science research referenced. Yet when more serious research is examined, many of the change management narratives about “promoting awareness” and “creating a sense of urgency” are undone Comprehensive research of the civil rights movement, to take one example, finds that messaging from passionate, mission-driven activists often backfires. It’s hard to see how poorly trusted corporate communication campaigns fare any better. Communication about change needs to trod a narrow, perilous path that attracts supporters but does not ignite resistance campaigns by detractors. The good news is that we have decades of research that also show that you only need a small minority of advocates for change to hit a tipping point and trigger a cascade. Change isn’t about persuasion, but collective dynamics. People adopt the changes that they see working around them, not the ones they just hear about. Change can’t be mandated and it can’t be wordsmithed or smart-talked. It can only be empowered.
- [There Are Things That Machines Can’t Do (And Never Will)](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/there-are-things-that-machines-cant-do-and-never-will/) - For the past century or so, the most reliable path to success has been the ability to retain information and manipulate numbers. That’s what gained entrance into the most prestigious schools and led to a career at a prestigious firm. Yet the reason that information processing has been so highly valued is precisely because humans are so bad at it. Today’s super-powered algorithms can mine vast stores of information and then express that information in writing, images, even sound and film. So it shouldn’t be surprising that computers are taking over what were long regarded as high-level human tasks. Yet once a task becomes automated, it becomes commoditized and value shifts somewhere else. The key to winning in the era of AI is not to try to compete with machines, but to become more human, to be a better listener, collaborator and to support other humans as they work to identify and pursue their own intentions and ambitions. In Supercommunicators, author Charles Duhigg explains how the most successful leaders learn to match and respond to others’ mind states. In a similar vein, many scientists believe that in ancient times religion conferred an evolutionary advantage because the connections and community it built around spiritual life enabled collective action to pursue important projects. Today, Todd McLees has developed a human skills curriculum to help organizations achieve something similar—enable humans to serve humans by collaborating with machines. The key to succeeding in an artificially intelligent world is not to learn more about machines, but to learn more about ourselves. The future of technology is always more human.
- [Why You Should Learn To Love Your Haters](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-you-should-learn-to-love-your-haters/) - All too often, we end up preaching to the choir instead of venturing out of the church and mixing with the heathens. That’s how change efforts fail.
- [Why GE's Incredible Turnaround Could Be A Sign Of The Times](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/is-whats-good-for-general-electric-good-for-america/) - General Electric has long been symbolic of the US economy. Formed in the 1890s when J.P. Morgan merged Thomas Edison’s electric company with other firms, it was one of the original components of the Dow Jones index and signaled America’s industrial rise. It was also became the first major conglomerate, forming the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, which became a leading broadcaster. That all began to change when Jack Welch took over in 1981. He led a new era of “Welchism,” in which CEO’s laid off employees, offshored factories and engaged in “financial engineering,” to goose profits. American industry followed suit, cutting investment in R&D, lobbying hard for cuts in government spending and corporate taxes, hollowing out the US industrial base. Yet it appears that GE’s new CEO, Larry Culp, might be as emblematic for the new era as Jack Welch was for the old one. Instead of layoffs, he’s investing in lean manufacturing methods that put front-line workers at the center and instead of using acquisitions to fuel growth, he’s broken the company up to help focus on operational excellence. This reflects a greater shift that began during the Obama Administration with the creation of the Advanced Manufacturing Office and the Manufacturing USA Institutes. It has continued with under the Biden Administration with legislation such as the CHIPS Act and the IRA. The results are clear. Manufacturing employment has increased by roughly 1.5 million jobs since 2010, productivity is up and unemployment is at record lows. The truth is that we’re moving from an era of bits to an era of atoms and that means we can’t just move fast and break things anymore. We can expect the basis of competition to shift away from design sprints, iterating, and pivoting to building meaningful, collaborative relationships in order to solve grand challenges. Once again, what’s going on at GE might be a sign of the times.
- [Why Business Leaders Need To Learn About Social And Political Movements](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-business-leaders-need-to-learn-about-social-and-political-movements/) - The most important challenge leaders face is to navigate change. We can optimize operations, streamline our organizations and motivate our people, but eventually our square-peg business will meet its round-hole world and we will need to adapt, build new skills and shift our strategies. Unfortunately, the overwhelming evidence suggests that we will fail. Consider that, after decades of trying, skills like lean manufacturing, agile development and overcoming unconscious bias are woefully under-adopted in most organizations. Study after study shows that the vast majority of transformational efforts fail. We can’t continue to do the same thing and expect different results. One reason for this dismal performance is how we research and learn about change. Today’s change management models simply aren’t based on facts or evidence, but rather the interpretation of case studies. Those can help us understand nuance and give us greater depth, but they are no substitute for rigorous research. The truth is that we know a lot about change. Decades of studies have shown us that new ideas tend to come from outside the community and incur resistance. Research has shown there is a persistent gap between what people know and what they actually put into practice. We also know that transformation follows an s-shaped curve and that ideas are transmitted socially. Unfortunately, current organizational change practices address none of these challenges. However, social and political movements do and through the work of scholars like Gene Sharp and practitioners Srdja Popović we know what works and what doesn’t. My own work has shown that these principles can be put to use in organizations. The future is simply too important to be left to superstition and fantasy.
- [Jack Welch’s GE Was The Wrong Model To Take From The 90s. Lou Gerstner’s IBM Is The Right One](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/jack-welchs-ge-was-the-wrong-model-to-take-from-the-90s-lou-gerstners-ibm-is-the-right-one/) - When Jack Welch was named “Manager of the Century” by Fortune magazine in 1999, it was still unclear what his legacy was going to be. Yet all the success belied serious problems rumbling underneath the surface. Welch increased profits largely by “financializing” the firm. Innovation languished. Yet perhaps the greatest indictment of Welch is those he chose to carry on his legacy. Jeffrey Immelt, quite famously, ran GE into the ground. Other proteges such as Bob Nardelli and Jim McNerney went on to do untold damage at iconic firms such as Home Depot, Chrysler, 3M and Boeing. Far from a model to emulate, Jack Welch’s legacy seems more like a cautionary tale. Cost cutting and efficiency will only get you so far. Lou Gerstner understood that and his tenure at IBM produced not only outstanding financial results, but genuine discoveries, such as quantum teleportation, that would serve IBM well for decades. He made it possible for the nearly century-old firm to become a pioneer in open-source development, artificial intelligence and genomics. Perhaps most of all, great leaders serve the mission of the enterprise by crafting a culture that honors it. As Gerster himself put it, “culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value…What does the culture reward and punish – individual achievement or team play, risk taking or consensus building?" That’s why if you want to be an effective leader, you need to clearly define what you are leading toward. Leading implies a direction and a purpose. The ancient Greeks would call it telos. Wise leaders act in the service of something bigger than themselves, poor ones for their own aggrandizement. We learn from the past only if we take the right lessons.
- [These 3 Myths Kill Transformation And Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/these-3-myths-will-kill-transformation-and-change-in-your-organization/) - In the early 20th century, the great sociologist Max Weber noted that the sweeping industrialization taking place would lead to a change in organization. As cottage industries were replaced by large enterprises, leadership would have to become less traditional and charismatic and more organized and rational. He also foresaw that jobs would need to be broken down into small, specific tasks and be governed by a system of hierarchy, authority and responsibility. This would require a more formal mode of organization—a bureaucracy—in which roles and responsibilities were clearly defined. Weber's model reigned for a full century. Over the past few decades we’ve undergone a similar shift from bureaucratic hierarchies to connected ecosystems and that affects how we need to approach transformation. The changes we need to implement today have less to do with decisions made about strategic, tangible assets and more to do with how people think and act. That presents a very different set of challenges and we need to adapt. What we can’t do is pretend that the world is the same as it was 30 or 40 years ago and continue with practices that are so obviously failing. Just as Weber dispelled myths about infallible leaders a century ago, we need to break free of outdated concepts that have led to unacceptably poor results. It’s time to leave myths behind and take a more clear-eyed approach to leading change.
- [Why The Right Way Is Usually The Hard Way](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-the-right-way-is-usually-the-hard-way/) - One of the things that I’ve learned in over two decades researching innovation, transformation and change is that things that change the world always arrive out of context, for the simple reason that the world hasn’t changed yet. Ideas start out feeble, weak and alone. They need ecosystems to make an impact on the world. Einstein's ideas about relativity started out as a boyhood dream about riding on a bolt of light. Penicillin languished in a medical journal for more than a decade before someone noticed it could be useful. Charlie Bennett first got interested in the ideas that led to quantum computing by imagining DNA as some kind of a computer and Jennifer Doudna discovered CRISPR gene editing by researching an obscure defense mechanism in bacteria. When you look at enough breakthroughs a consistent pattern begins to emerge: First, a seemingly useless idea surfaces, then a period of exploration ensues to identify a problem the idea can solve, resistance from the establishment in favor of some status quo and, eventually, the formation of an ecosystem that can deliver a solution at scale. There is simply no way to navigate all that with a linear approach. To innovate, leaders need to shift from a manager’s mindset, in which they build consensus, operate in an atmosphere of predictability and focus on execution, to a changemaker’s mindset in which they build coalitions, operate in an environment of uncertainty and focus on exploration. That’s why, when it comes to innovation, transformation and change, the right way is the hard way. The next big thing usually starts out looking like nothing at all. You don’t get from nothing to something without accumulating some scars along the way.
- [Change Always Involves Strategic Conflict. Here's How You Build Strategies To Win:](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/change-always-involves-strategic-conflict-heres-how-you-build-strategies-to-win/) - The biggest misconception about change is that once people understand it, they will embrace it. That’s almost never true. If you intend to influence an entire organization, you have to assume the deck is stacked against you. You not only need to build support for an alternative vision of the future, you have to undermine the forces supporting the status quo. That’s why we need to think about change as a strategic conflict between the present state and an alternative vision. The truth is that change isn’t about persuasion, but power. To bring about transformation we need to undermine the sources of power that underlie the present state while strengthening the forces that favor a different future. To bring about transformational change we need to first identify the relevant institutions we need to target and then mobilize the constituencies to influence those institutions. We’re always mobilizing someone to influence something and those are the two questions we need to ask about every action we take: “Who are we mobilizing and to influence what?” Your targets determine your tactics. You don't start by deciding to, say, launch a social media campaign, design a training program or to hold a hackathon. To bring genuine transformation about you need to identify and analyze sources of power so that you can bring relative strength to bear against relative weakness. The truth is that effective strategy is more of a journey than a destination, you can never be sure beforehand where exactly you will find it, but it will become clear once you’ve arrived.
- [Want A True Formula For Success? Prepare For Luck.](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/there-is-no-formula-for-success-we-need-to-prepare-for-luck/) - The French writer Albert Camus believed our existence was absurd. He compared the human condition to Sisyphus, the mythical Greek king condemned to roll a boulder uphill, only to see it roll back down, for eternity. Incredibly, Camus imagines Sisyphus, returning to his labors at the foot of the mountain, as happy, having found meaning in his task. That is the nature of existential rebellion, to find meaning for yourself in a universe that provides none. In two decades researching innovation, transformation and change, one constant I have found is that you can’t control your luck. Anything can happen. “Sure things” often fail while low-probability events occur all the time. Bill Haley performed “Rock Around The Clock,” because it spoke to him, even over the objections of the record labels. He had no way of knowing it would be a hit for the ages. In a similar way, Einstein pursued physics as a clerk at the Swiss patent office to answer his own questions. Anti-corruption activists worked for years in Ukraine—at great risk to themselves—when it seemed pointless or even, absurd. Yet it is not hard to imagine Haley joyfully jamming away, even if incredible fortune had not smiled on him, and that Einstein would have lived a fulfilling life even if his miracle year had never happened. Activists like Dasia Kaleniuk and Vitaliy Shabunin continue to investigate corruption in Ukraine, even while being subjected to vicious attacks. It is a simple truth that we can’t control our luck and luck greatly influences our successes and failures. But we can pursue meaning in things that we define ourselves—an idea, family, justice, compassion or anything else. Or, as the mathematician G.H. Hardy put it, “The case for my life, then… is this: that I have added something…”
- [If You Want To Lead, You Need To Embrace The Basic Human Need For Status](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/if-you-want-to-lead-you-need-to-embrace-the-basic-human-need-for-status/) - A simple truth about status games is that we all play them, whether we are aware of it or not. It is our drive for status that helps us form and signal identity, figure out who we are in relation to others and derive a sense of meaning about our existence, whether that meaning is rooted in achievement, care for those around us or our ability to enforce our will on others. One of the reasons that the various schemes of leaderless organizations that have arisen over the past decade ago have not taken root is that they ignore these basic facts of human nature. They are, in large part, a cop-out. Without the formal recognition of status conferred by a hierarchy, people resort to informal signals and, often, a kind of law of the jungle takes root. One of the things that I’ve learned in two decades of studying social movements such as the Color Revolutions in Eastern Europe is that, while to the outside they may look amorphous, the ones that are successful have very clear governance structures. They are explicit about their values. Everybody knows the rules and follows them. As leaders, we also need to understand that the drive for status is also an underlying element of culture. Lou Gerstner wrote that “I came to see, in my time at IBM, culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—It is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value…What does the culture reward and punish – individual achievement or team play, risk taking or consensus building?” So we need to ask ourselves, how are we conferring status on others? Do we recognize those who take credit or those who support their colleagues? Do aspiring executives get credit for launching new initiatives that never go anywhere, or successfully managing operations? Do we prize cruelty over kindness, avarice over honesty, dominance over hard work? Everything is a choice, whether we know we’re making it or not.
- [Why Change Fails](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-change-fails/) - The biggest misconception about change is that once people understand it, they will embrace it and so the best way to drive change forward is to explain the need for change in a very convincing and persuasive way. Change, in this view, is essentially a communication exercise and the right combination of words and images is all that is required. Yet that is clearly not true. People will often oppose change because it asks them to alter their identity and values. That’s why to bring change about you need to identify shared values that reaffirm, rather than undermine, people’s sense of identity and worth. Recognition is often a more powerful incentive than even financial rewards. In the final analysis, lasting change always needs to be built on common ground. Over the next decade, we will undergo some of the most profound shifts in history, encompassing technology, resources, migration patterns and demography and, if we are to compete, we will need to achieve enormous transformation in business and society. Whether we are able to do that or not depends less on economics than it does on our ability to trust each other again.
- [Why Change Management Has To Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-change-management-has-to-change/) - The truth is that today we can’t transform organizations unless we transform the people in them and that’s why change management has got to change. It is no longer enough to simply communicate decisions made at the top. Rather, we need to put people at the center and empower them to succeed.
- [We Need To Embrace The Genius Of The Obvious](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-need-to-embrace-the-genius-of-the-obvious/) - Ockham’s Razor, or the “principle of parsimony,” is often interpreted as another version of the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule. Yet it is far more profound than that. A far more accurate translation from the original latin is, “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.” In other words, we should think before we add things that complicate matters. In modern life we are constantly adding things. William of Ockham was a monk, who led a simple existence. We’re expected to build things and, as we do, principles, rules and procedures accumulate over time and, as a matter of course, multiply unnecessarily. We need to do the hard work of subtraction, taking out things that might have once made sense but don’t anymore. When I’m writing, I always like to think my readers have a “cognitive budget” that they are willing to spend on a particular blog post, email, article or book chapter. When I edit, I always go through and ask, “is this worth the cognitive budget?” If there’s a doubt, I take it out. I’ve learned to apply the same principle to other facets of my life, to take out what doesn’t need to be there. That’s the genius of the obvious. Simple truths are rarely left out in the open, but obscured by the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life. It takes work to dig them out and that work requires focus. It doesn’t happen by itself, but takes determination to whittle down to the core, so that the truths we seek can reveal themselves to us. We all need to hold ourselves accountable. Uncovering the obvious is not a simple thing, but the work of a lifetime.
- [Every Revolution Needs To Anticipate Its Own Counterrevolution](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/every-revolution-needs-to-anticipate-its-own-counterrevolution/) - Saul Alinsky noted that every revolution inspires its own counter-revolution. “Once we accept and learn to anticipate the inevitable counterrevolution, we may then alter the historical pattern of revolution and counterrevolution from the traditional slow advance of two steps forward and one step backward to minimizing the latter,” he wrote. We are at an inflection point, with multiple pendulum’s beginning to swing the other way. The Business Roundtable denounced shareholder capitalism, Russia’s failures in Ukraine, military and otherwise, exposed not only the bankruptcy of the realists but the importance of values and living up to them. The New Brandeis movement is beginning to strengthen antitrust enforcement and promote greater market competition. Underlying these trends is a convergence of power shifts the most important of which is demography. The Boomer generation, because the Generation X which followed was so small, has wielded political dominance since the 80s, but is now being displaced by Millennials and Zoomers who hold vastly different values and priorities. Yet as power is shifting, we need to ask where it is shifting to, who will benefit, what narratives they will build. The ultimate adversary of genuine, lasting change is excess. The ideas that are now being discredited arose for a reason. They filled legitimate needs and produced real benefits. That’s how they gained traction in the first place. That’s why if we really care about change, we need to learn to love our haters. They’re the ones who can keep us in check, point out flaws in our ideas and even point us toward shared values and shared purpose. Transformation can’t be an end in itself, it needs to be in service of the people it affects.
- [Why Is What We Know So Different From What We Do?](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-is-what-we-know-so-different-from-what-we-do/) - We’d like to think that if something is a good idea, can be proven to work, improve performance and make people’s lives better, that market and technological forces will somehow make it inevitable. Unfortunately, the history of the last half century makes it clear that’s not true. Most people in developed countries are worse off than a generation ago. Yes it’s true that our TV’s have gotten better and we have infinitely more channels. We carry supercomputers around in our pockets that give us unprecedented access to information and emerging services like ChatGPT give us almost superhuman powers to process it. Yet the cost of basics, such as housing, healthcare and education have impoverished us. This wasn’t inevitable. Consider that in the US per capita GDP has nearly doubled since 1985 but median household income has risen only 27% and you begin to see the problem. In my work with organizational transformation it is clear that similar forces are at work in the corporate world. For all the talk about disruption and change, the status quo usually prevails. We need to be more cognizant of the stories we tell ourselves. We have a primal need to be the heroes in our own narratives, to tell ourselves that we are on the right path while others are just fooling themselves, to look for information that confirms our choices and neglect evidence to the contrary. It is not a character flaw, but a reality of human nature. Ironically, it is through awareness of our failings that can help us overcome them. Decades of research show that shifts in knowledge and attitudes don’t necessarily result in changes in behavior. Once we know that we can be more vigilant and hold ourselves to a higher standard. What we know and what we do are two different things, but with effort we can narrow the gap. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [If You Want To Tell A Compelling Story, Do These 3 Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/all-great-storytellers-learn-to-do-these-3-things/) - Some years back I was invited to visit the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Over the years many of the world’s greatest minds have taken up residence there. It was where Einstein, along with other giants like Oppenheimer, von Neumann and Gödel, would reside until his death in 1955. It is a place, for me at least, in which stories permeate from every corner and crevice. There is a common room in the main building, Fuld Hall, where tea is served every afternoon and, if you know the stories, you can almost hear the din of legends arguing, cajoling and discussing pathbreaking ideas when you enter. That is the power of story. It can imbue even inanimate objects with meaning. Without the stories, Fuld Hall is just a red brick building. Look at great leaders throughout history, from General George Patton to Martin Luther King Jr. to Steve Jobs, and they all used the power of story to anchor an enterprise with a sense of mission and destiny. It was undoubtedly a big part of their success. We need to learn to tell better stories, if we are to give meaning to others and build faith in a common endeavor. Stories, as Hollywood mogul Peter Guber has put it, provides emotional transport for ideas. Emotions are like little yellow highlighters in our brains, providing markers that tell us, “remember this, it’s important.” It is, of course, crucial to get your facts straight, but if you don’t learn how to tell a story, those facts will be easily forgotten. Do yourself and those around you a favor. Learn how to tell stories and tell them well. Life’s too short to be boring or to be bored.
- [We Need To Rethink The Myth Of Macintosh And Xerox PARC](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/we-need-to-rethink-the-myth-of-macintosh-and-xerox-parc/) - In the late 1960s, Xerox faced a problem without a clear solution. With many of its key patents expiring, it was losing its chokehold on the industry it had created. That’s what led its visionary CEO, Peter McColough, to create PARC, which invented breakthrough technologies, incredible profits and saved the company. Yet many see it as a cautionary tale because of all the possibilities it wasn’t able to pursue. Steve Jobs once said that “Xerox could have owned the entire computer industry, could have been the IBM of the nineties, could have been the Microsoft of the nineties.” Maybe it could have. But you don’t judge a strategy on what could have been, but on whether it solved the problem it was designed to solve. Xerox was facing irrelevance and extinction. Its copier business was dying and it desperately needed technologies that would provide new sources of revenue for a company that was quickly becoming irrelevant. In that context, Xerox PARC succeeded enormously. In researching my book, Mapping Innovation, I found that the most important thing that great innovators do differently is that they are actively seeking out new problems. In other words, they not only continue to hone their existing processes and practices, they go actively look for areas where they can make an impact. The truth is that innovation needs exploration and that’s never efficient nor can it be optimized, but it can be done cheaply enough to be sustainable. For large enterprises that usually means investing in labs, but even small business can access world class research by connecting to larger institutions, such as government labs and universities. It’s a fairly simple equation. If you don’t explore, you won’t discover. If you don’t discover you won’t invent. And if you don’t invent, you will be disrupted.
- [4 Things That I Learned About Change From The Orange Revolution](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/4-things-that-i-learned-about-change-from-the-orange-revolution/) - When I first arrived in Ukraine it was a cynical place. After 80 years of communism and then 10 more under kleptocratic rule, few thought change was possible. So why worry or complain about things that you couldn’t do anything about anyway? It seemed better to focus on things close to you; your family, your work, your friends. The Orange Revolution in 2004 changed that. It turned out that there was a limit to what people could accept. It wasn’t so much about policy, capitalism or even democracy, it was about dignity, the most basic yearning for people to be treated as ends in themselves, not means to the ends of a corrupt elite. The original intention of the Ukrainian people was not to pull away from Russia, which many, if not most, considered a “brother” country, but to pursue a so-called “Finnish model” that would maintain good relations with both Russia and the west. Yet Putin could not bring himself to recognize the Ukrainians’ desire for a separate and distinct identity. That’s an important lesson for anyone seeking to bring about transformation. When leaders set out to pursue change we must do it in ways that allow others to adopt in ways that reinforce, rather than undermine, their identity. That’s why the second Ukrainian revolution continues even now, because it was about dignity. Lasting change is always built on common ground.
- [Why Truth Matters](https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-truth-matters/) - Today, the truth can seem like nothing more than a preference. We pick a side, form a group identity and set out to prove our worth by supporting the party line. In our quest for status, we try to top those around us, leading to a purity spiral in which everyone competes to see who can be the most true to the cause. Yet truth is more than opinion. Facts are falsifiable. We can test them. Einstein’s relativity is a wacky theory, but unless we use it to calibrate GPS satellites, they won’t be accurate. Darwin’s theory may conflict with other beliefs, but it can help us cure terrible diseases like Covid and Cancer. These aren’t just ideas, but tools we use to create the modern world. What we need to be careful about is those who assign identity to specific ideas. Once an idea becomes associated with a particular team, it can be used to manipulate our sense of self. The same basic urges that nearly robbed us of the ideas of Copernicus and Galilieo are no less pervasive today then they were centuries ago. The telltale sign is leveraging identity to manipulate us, the use of an “us” and “them” to push us in a particular direction of what to believe. For those that are looking to con us, there can never be a “we together,” because that will undermine their narrative of an ideological battle, rather than a search for truth in the service for a greater good. The need for truth is especially dire today when we have so many pressing problems to solve. We simply can’t afford anything less than an honest search to discover and ascertain facts.
- [Top Posts Of 2023](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/top-posts-of-2023/) - My friend Stephen Shapiro does not like New Year’s Resolutions. “According to our study, only 8% of Americans say they always achieve their New Year’s resolutions,” he writes. “The way it seems to work now, setting a New Year’s Resolution is a recipe for defeat. It has come to be one of the nation’s most
- [We Need To Think Less Like Engineers And More Like Gardeners](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-need-think-less-like-engineers-and-more-like-gardeners/) - We like to think of ourselves as rational actors, weighing each piece of evidence before making a decision. Yet our brains don’t work like that. We build up our perspectives through synapses in our brain and through our social networks, which form complex webs of influence. Once we adopt a point of view, we rarely adapt it to new evidence. Engineers believe in laws that can be understood and put to specific use, so they build machines to perform specific tasks. Gardeners believe in complexity and emergence. They don’t design their garden as much as tend to it, nurture it and support its surrounding ecosystem. They don’t expect the same results every time, but understand they will need to adjust their approach as they go. We need to think less like engineers and more like gardeners. For most important purposes, we manage ecosystems, not machines. We need to think more in terms of networks that grow and less in terms of nodes whose behavior we can predict and control. Our success or failure depends less on individual entities than the connections between them. In a world driven by networks and ecosystems, we can no longer treat strategy as if it were a game of chess, planning out each move with near perfect precision and foresight. The task of leadership is to make decisions with full knowledge that many will be wrong and that you will need to make them right. There’s no system to do that for us, no impersonal forces that will point the way. In the end, we have to put trust in ourselves. There isn't anyone else.
- [Change Can Come From Anywhere](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/change-can-come-from-anywhere/) - Discussions about change tend to gravitate to one of two poles: Either change has to come from the top or it has to be grass roots. As I explain in Cascades, transformation isn’t top-down or bottom-up, but happens from side-to-side. You can find the entire spectrum—from active support to active resistance—at every level. The answer doesn’t lie in any specific strategy or initiative, but in how people are able to internalize the need for change and transfer ideas through social bonds. The truth is that it is small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose that drives transformation. Effective change leaders help those groups to connect and unite them with a sense of shared values and shared purpose. So change doesn’t have to start at the top. What is true is that culture starts at the top. Leaders determine what gets rewarded and what gets punished. If people feel free to experiment with new things, more innovations will be adopted. If, on the other hand, there is an atmosphere of strict regimentation, then little will ever change. What’s important is that you go to where the energy is, not try to create or maintain it by yourself. Go out and find those who are enthusiastic about change, who want it to work and will not only work to bring it about, but bring in others who can bring in others still. You need to recognize that the urge to persuade is a red flag. It usually means you have the wrong people or the wrong change. Change never happens all at once and can’t simply be willed into existence. The best way to do that is to empower those who already believe in change to bring in those around them. That’s what’s key to successful transformations. A leader’s role is not to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief.
- [We’re In A Trust Crisis. Here’s What We Can Do About It.](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/were-in-a-trust-crisis-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it/) - Our beliefs are far more than mere acceptance of sets of facts, but become inherently part of our identity. Wars are not fought over ideologies because people disagree about empirical evidence, but because they see their sense of selves under attack. If truth is a force for good, then those who refuse to accept our version of it are, in the most basic sense of the word, evil. Our ability to trust others is, to a great extent, a function of how we see ourselves and our situation. If we see ourselves as secure and in tune with our environment, it’s relatively easy for us to build bonds of trust. If we feel those around us share our values, it’s easier to feel a shared sense of identity and purpose. However, if we see our surroundings as hostile, we will take steps to protect ourselves and that, to a great extent, is where we are at today. First the Internet, and then social media have tended to promote and juxtapose the most extreme elements, creating an atmosphere of heightened conflict among tribes, which further undermines our sense of security and trust. This is what Marshall McLuhan meant when he wrote that the global village would result in a “release of human power and aggressive violence” greater than ever in human history. When we are confronted with ideas and values that are different from our own, it can feel more more like an assault and an affront than a refreshing interaction with the variety of life. Here Ukraine offers a lesson. Over the past decade it has built a new identity and found a new purpose. Today most Ukrainians, especially the younger generations, feel a stronger affinity for European values than for their post-Soviet past. In fact, they have so internalized their European ambitions that they are willing to risk a war to maintain them. We have a similar challenge before us. If a common identity is forged from shared values and shared purpose, on what foundation will we build our future? To what common project can we devote our energies? What are our ambitions and how best might we fulfill them? These are the questions that we need to answer if we are ever to rebuild the bonds of trust.
- [3 Stubborn Facts That Business Leaders Need To Accept](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/3-stubborn-facts-that-business-leaders-need-to-accept/) - We need to constantly ask ourselves which ideas that are widely accepted today don’t hold water. Every era has its own fictions, things that are accepted because they are repeated, but lack any serious foundation. They become memes replicating themselves throughout the zeitgeist, rarely being questioned. When ideas are repeated often enough, we begin to take them as self-evident and don’t even question them. People take it for granted that small organizations are more innovative than larger ones, that flatter organizations outperform those with high levels of bureaucracy and that business is more competitive today than in earlier eras. If you believe all that, then you would avoid getting involved with a large organization if you want to innovate, you would try to eliminate levels of hierarchy and create a high sense of urgency about everything you do. Yet when you examine the evidence it becomes clear that none of these things are factual. The truth is that size has little to do with innovation. As we saw during Covid, the most pathbreaking advances came from collaborations between organizations, public and private, large and small. The levels of hierarchy in an organization aren’t nearly as important as its networks. Pushing too many initiatives is more likely to result in a high level of change fatigue and diminished mental health than lead to genuine results. When we look back at earlier eras, it’s easy to see the errors in the zeitgeist. It seems obvious that the robber barons undermined society, that excessive tariffs during the depression would impoverished society and that Enron was a fraud. Yet we need to look with the same skeptical eye at prevalent beliefs today. As Richard Dawkins has explained, memes are selfish. They propagate themselves for their own benefit, not necessarily for ours. We need to learn to be fiercer advocates for our fates. CLICK TO READ MORE…
- [We Need To Stop Fooling Ourselves And Get Our Facts Straight. That Takes Work.](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-need-to-stop-fooling-ourselves-and-get-our-facts-straight-that-takes-work/) - In one of my favorite essays the physicist Richard Feynman wrote “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.” He goes on further to say that simply being honest isn’t enough, you also need to “bend over backwards” to provide information so that others may prove you wrong. So the first step is to be hyper-vigilant and aware that your brain has a tendency to fool you. It will quickly grasp on the most readily available data and detect patterns that may or may not be there. Then it will seek out other evidence that confirms those initial hunches while disregarding contrary evidence. This is especially true of smart, accomplished people. Those who have been right in the past, who have proved the doubters wrong, are going to be less likely to see the warning signs. In many cases, they will even see opposition to their views as evidence they are on the right track. There’s a sucker born every minute and they’re usually the ones who think that they’re playing it smart. We all have blind spots and we all fall prey to the operational glitches of our brains. No one is immune. Checking ourselves isn’t nearly enough. We need to actively seek out other views and perspectives. Some of this can be done with formal processes such as pre-mortems and red teams, but a lot of it is just acknowledging that we have blind spots, building the habit of reaching out to others and improving our listening skills. Perhaps most of all, we need to have a sense of humility. It’s far too easy to be impressed with ourselves and far too difficult to see how we’re being led astray. There is often a negative correlation between our level of certainty and the likelihood of us being wrong. We all need to make an effort to believe less of what we think.
- [Never Underestimate The Power Of Identity](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/never-underestimate-the-power-of-identity/) - Our identity and sense of self drives a lot of what we see and do, yet we rarely examine these things because we spend most of our time with people who are a lot like us, who live in similar places and experience similar things. Our innate perceptions and beliefs seem normal and those of outsiders strange, because our social networks shape us that way. That’s why we often see so much resistance to change. People get invested in the status quo. They work within it, follow its rules and achieve some things. Those achievements become part of their identity and to reject the means in which their present self arose is, in some sense, to reject a part of themselves. Yet our identities aren’t fixed. They grow and evolve over time. We routinely choose to add facets to our identity, while shedding others, changing jobs, moving neighborhoods, breaking off some associations as we take on others. “Identity can be used to divide, but it can and has also been used to integrate,” Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book on the subject. It is at this nexus of identity and purpose that creativity and innovation reside, because when we learn to collaborate with others who possess knowledge, skills and perspectives that we don’t, new possibilities emerge to achieve greater things. To make that possible, however, we need to support the identities of those around us, so that we can build the shared purpose upon which we can build a shared future. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [The Stories We Tell Determine The Change We Can Achieve](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/the-stories-we-tell-determine-the-change-we-can-achieve/) - Change always begins with a grievance. There’s something people don’t like and they want it to be different. We like to see ourselves as heroes fighting for everything that’s right and we question the motivations of those who oppose our cause. When we believe in something passionately, it’s hard to see how anyone, in good conscience, can see it another way. Yet consider recent research that finds our conceptions of even something so simple as a penguin vary so widely that the mention of the word evokes very different associations in all of us. Clearly, more emotionally-laden content, such as a policy issue or a business strategy is going to spark vigorous debates. The stories we tell need to create a sense of safety around transformation, to emphasize a shared future. Yet all too often we begin our stories with silly talk about “disruption” or burning platforms. The storytellers seek to ennoble themselves as champions and demonize others who see things differently. Yet if we truly care about change, we need to hold ourselves accountable to be effective messengers. That’s why the narratives we build about change need to focus on shared values and establish common ground upon which we can build a shared future. The stories we tell are important. We need to choose them wisely and tell them well.
- [These 4 Simple Rules Will Make You Exponentially More Effective And Productive](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/these-4-simple-rules-will-make-you-exponentially-more-effective-and-productive/) - Shortly after I first arrived at college, my wrestling coach told my teammates and I that we would all be attending a freshman technique camp. It turned out to be something quite different than what I had expected. He didn’t teach us any advanced or esoteric method, but instead demonstrated the basics. It was incredibly humbling. The fact that we were there in the first place, competing for a Division 1 program, meant that we had all demonstrated outstanding accomplishment. And now we were supposed to revisit the stuff we learned in peewee programs? It seemed insulting at first, but turned out to be one of the best lessons I’ve ever learned. The truth is that in any endeavor, you are only as good as your fundamentals. While it’s easy to get enamored with grand strategies and fancy tactics, whether you succeed or fail is far more likely to depend on doing simple, basic things consistently well. In much the same way, I’ve found that simple rules can, if applied sensibly, can help make you incredibly effective. These are four of them. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [Why VUCA Is (Mostly) A Myth](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-vuca-is-mostly-a-myth/) - At any given time, there are many s-curves going on at once. Some are just beginning to crawl, others speeding up and still others slowing down. Pointing out the ones that are speeding up and ignoring everything else that’s going on may be exciting, but it's not the way to get the best results. It’s no accident that VUCA is a military term. The ever-present mantra that we are living in a time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity makes corporate executives feel like swashbuckling heroes. The truth is that there is very little evidence that is the case and a veritable mountain to the contrary. There is also evidence that all the hype around change is doing real damage. Leaders conjure up dramatic images of “burning platforms” to justify launching ambitious initiatives, which rarely succeed. These failures then are given as confirmation for how dire the need for change really is and more initiatives are launched with similar results. That is the change gospel. Transformation has, all too often, become an end in itself rather than a means to an end. We end up pivoting so much that we end up right where we started. The problem with cheerleading change is that it puts the cart before the horse. People don’t embrace change because you came up with a fancy slogan, they adopt what they find meaningful, that creates genuine value to their lives and their work. We need to have more reverence for the mundane and ordinary. When you look at previous eras in which more genuine transformation took place and far more economic value was produced, there was much less talk about disruption and much more focus on improving the human condition. The truth is that we’re not really disrupting industries anymore as much as we are disrupting ourselves and fairy tales and living in a VUCA era will not change those basic facts. We need to think less about disruption and more about tackling grand challenges that will impact the world in significant ways. Innovation should serve people, not the other way around. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [What Makes A Strategy “Good?”](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/what-makes-a-strategy-good/) - One of the most frustrating statements I come across is that “we had a good strategy, but just couldn’t execute it.” That’s nonsense. Obviously, if you couldn’t execute, there were some important factors that you didn’t take into account. You miscalculated in some significant way. So how was that a good strategy? This raises an important question: What makes a strategy good? The concept of strategy gets thrown around so much and so incompetently, few stop to define the term. Strategy often becomes self-referential, a consensus-driven story that no one dares to question, but everyone is duty bound to carry out, for better or worse. One helpful concept is the German military principle of Schwerpunkt, which roughly translates to “focal point.” You need to pick the battles that will prove decisive, the ones that matter and which you can win. Or, as Richard Rumelt has put it, good strategy puts relative strength against relative weakness. Figuring that out is what makes the difference. We tend to think of change as a journey to bring about some alternative future state, but that’s only half of the story. The truth is that future state is in a strategic conflict with the status quo, which has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. You can never bring about the desired future state until you address the status quo. The key to doing that is to define the focal point of your efforts—the Schwerpunkt—where you can bring relative strength to bear against relative weakness. However Schwerpunkt is a dynamic, not a static, concept. As your actions impact the context, the focal point will necessarily change, requiring you to adjust with strategic agility. In "How Big Things Get Done," Bent Flyvbjerg argues that any planning big project requires experimentation and testing. You don’t start with answers, but questions. Planning consists of a series of low-cost virtual experiments in which you are exploring possibilities, identifying opportunities and exposing problems. We want to fail in planning, where it’s cheap, so we minimize failure in the real world, where it costs us dearly. That’s why we need to take a more Bayesian approach to strategy, in which we don’t pretend that we have the “right” strategy, but endeavor to make it less wrong over time. Good strategy isn’t a master plan, but a process of discovery. It is, most of all, an iterative set of choices made about how to address meaningful challenges. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [Why Hierarchies Can Outperform Networks (And Vice Versa)](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/why-hierarchies-can-outperform-networks-and-vice-versa/) - The problem isn’t how we dismantle hierarchies, but how we connect them. For decades we’ve been hearing that we need to eliminate bureaucracy and break down silos. Yet there is little evidence of any success. In fact, when management guru Gary Hamel, who has been leading the call to “bust bureaucracy,” surveyed readers at Harvard Business Review he found that levels of organization had increased, not decreased. The inescapable conclusion is that we’ve failed to do away with hierarchies because they serve a useful purpose. We need them. In much the same way, the much maligned “silos” form around centers of capability as a result of close collaboration. These are good things. We don’t want to eliminate them, we want to support and empower them. So instead of trying to break down silos, we need to connect them. Network science tells us that it takes just a small amount of boundary spanning “random connections,” in order to bring social distance crashing down. We can’t just look at organizational charts, but need to focus on how meaningful relationships form in the real world. The role of leadership in organizations has changed. It is no longer merely to plan and direct work, but to inspire meaning and empower belief. As I wrote in "Cascades", the key to transformational change is small groups, loosely connected by united by a shared purpose. The job of leaders today is to help those groups connect and forge a common purpose. If we are to lead effectively in an increasingly ecosystem-driven world, we need to empower networked hierarchies.
- [Make These 3 Cultural Shifts To Reignite Change In Your Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/make-these-3-cultural-shifts-to-reignite-change-in-your-organization/) - Today, few would question the dignity of the Ukrainian people. In fact, they have become such an inspiration to the world that it’s hard to remember that the country used to be a very cynical place. When I first arrived there in 2002, I was struck by the apathy. There was so little hope that anything could ever change that few saw any sense in even trying. My friend, the global activist Srdja Popović, once told me that the goal of a revolution should be to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. If you are successful it should be difficult to explain what was won because the previous order seems so unbelievable. That’s certainly true of Ukraine today, but also true of successful organizational transformations. Today, Apple is so associated with Steve Jobs and the Macintosh that it seems incredible that he was fired from the company, in large part due to tensions that resulted from its development. Lou Gerstner’s turnaround of IBM was so complete it seems crazy that most people assumed the company would be broken up and sold for parts. Artificial intelligence has become so embedded in our lives, it’s hard to remember that not long ago it seemed like science fiction. One of the things that makes change so challenging is that when we hear about the successes—failures are rarely documented—the story is told in a way that makes everything seem inevitable. We have to remember that things start out much differently. There were failures along the way that needed to be learned from and overcome. The successful path to transformation starts with culture, how people see themselves and those around them. That doesn’t just happen. Leaders must work intentionally to create shared values. The truth is that change that is imposed never sticks, because it asks those who must affect change to betray themselves. You must first change minds before you can change actions. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [We Need To Get Back To Counting What Counts](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-need-to-get-back-to-counting-what-counts/) - The statistician George Box famously said, ““All models are wrong, but some are useful” and that’s especially true of economic models. When Ronald Coase argued that the “nature of a firm” was to reduce transaction costs, he didn’t mean that was the only purpose of an enterprise. To argue that there is a principal-agent problem between owners and managers should not imply that it only applies to profits. In fact, as Andrew Winston and Paul Polman explain in their book Net Positive, many practices that aren’t sustainable depress profits in the long run. Running an enterprise that dismisses the interests of customers, partners and communities is destined for trouble. Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning. In the final analysis, the purpose of an enterprise is its mission. When we think of great founders such as Henry Ford, Sam Walton and Steve Jobs, they had vastly different purposes in mind, but it was fulfilling that purpose that drove profits. Ford was passionate about the power of transportation. Walton was fanatical about serving the customer. Can you imagine what Steve Jobs would have said about an ugly product that could make him a lot of money? That’s what we’ve gotten wrong over the last 50 years. We’ve been counting the wrong things. Since the 80s, we’ve been laser-focused on numbers and missed the underlying math. We’ve become finance-obsessed but lost track of economics. Economics should serve people, not the other way around. The success of a society needs to be measured by the well-being of those who live in it. If companies profit, but our people are impoverished, our air and water are more polluted, our children less educated, we live unhappy lives and die deaths of despair, what have we really gained?
- [The Power Of Story](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-power-of-story/) - Look at any great enterprise and invariably its mission drives its strategy, not the other way around. And it all starts with a story.
- [If You Want To Innovate, Learn To Say “No”](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/if-you-want-to-innovate-learn-to-say-no/) - While we talk about transformation more and more, we seem to be doing it less and less. This is no accident. Change and transformation aren’t about coming up with the idea and doing a fancy kickoff event followed by an extensive communication campaign, it’s about converting those ideas into impactful solutions to problems people care about. There’s far too much talk and not nearly enough impact. Change should be an inspiration, not one more burden in an otherwise exhausted workplace. It’s time to refocus our efforts on change that matters. In most enterprises, that will mean committing to fewer initiatives, but seeing them through. To do that effectively, leaders need to learn to say, “no.” Every organization needs to maximize the impact of limited resources and that means we need to make choices. Pursuing one thing means that we need to give up something else. We can’t just spin our wheels and expect to get anywhere, we need to pick a direction and get going. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Committing to a specific objective means we limit our options. Sticking with a project when things get tough takes courage and resilience. That’s why so few leaders are able to do it consistently. But the evidence is clear. If you want to compete successfully, that’s what you need to do. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [If You Care About Change, You Need To Learn To Leverage Shared Values. Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/if-you-care-about-change-you-need-to-learn-to-leverage-shared-values-heres-why/) - Change always begins with a grievance—there’s something people don’t like and they want it to change. Yet the status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. That’s why it’s so important to forge a shared purpose, because people need a common mission they can believe in to see themselves as stakeholders in a shared future. The reason so many organizations find themselves unable to pursue a purpose isn’t because they don’t want to, but because it is so hard. Purpose doesn’t begin with a single step, but with a diverging path. To honor a value we need to be willing to incur costs and constraints. We must choose one direction at the expense of another, or stay mired and lost, unable to move forward. That’s why the change conversation needs to focus on what you value. Values are how an enterprise honors its mission. They represent choices of what an organization will and will not do, what it rewards and what it punishes and how it defines success and failure. Perhaps most importantly, values will determine an enterprise’s relationships with other stakeholders, how it collaborates and what it can achieve. Perhaps most importantly, shared values enable a shared identity, which is what you need for change to last. The goal of a revolution, as Srdja Popović once explained to me, is not a constant state of disruption, but eventually to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. That can only be done if change is built on common ground. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [Change Starts With Empathy (Even For Your Enemies). Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/change-starts-with-empathy-even-for-your-enemies-heres-why/) - As I explained in CASCADES, there were myriad reasons for #Occupy’s failure. One of the gravest errors, however, was the insistence on ideological purity and the lack of any effort to understand those who had different ideas from their own. If you expect to bring change about, you need to attract, rather than overpower. Empathy is a good place to start. One of the things that sticks in my head about my experiences during and after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine was an interview with Viktor Pinchuk. who is not only one of the country’s richest oligarch’s, but also the son-in-law of the former President and, at the time, a member of the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament. He was, by any definition, a full-fledged member of the “1%” that #Occupy took to the streets to protest. Before reading the article I would've expected him to be bitter about the abrupt shift in power. Yet he wasn’t. In fact, he explained that his biggest concern during the protests was that his own children were in the streets, and he feared for their safety. The insight underlines one of the fundamental fallacies of failed change efforts like #Occupy and others, both in the streets and in the corporate world. They imagine change as a Manichean struggle between two countervailing forces in which we must either prevail or accept defeat and compromise. That is a false choice. The truth is that any change we win by vanquishing our opponents is bound to be fleeting. Every revolution inspires its own counter-revolution. Lasting change is always built on common ground. The best place to start is by building empathy for your most ardent adversaries, not to give in to them, but to help you identify shared values. After the Orange Revolution was over, we would learn that Pinchuk’s father-in-law, Leonid Kuchma, who was still in power, ordered the most reactionary forces in his regime to stand down. As it turned out, there were some places that even the famously corrupt leader would not go. In the end, he understood that his legacy, and therefore his interests, lay with the protesters in the streets.
- [It’s Usually Better To Be Careful Than Smart](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/its-usually-better-to-be-careful-than-smart/) - We all like to have opinions and like act on them. When, for instance, people were asked if they supported bombing Agrabah, the fictional hometown of the Disney character Aladdin, 30% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats said yes. Yet our urge to make judgments has nothing to do with our ability to make wise choices. Humans tend to think in terms of narratives. We like things to fit into neat patterns and fill in the gaps in our knowledge so that everything makes sense. People who are “smart,” have a greater ability to retain and process information than most and can use their imagination to build robust visions, but that’s no guarantee those visions will conform to reality. We need to be hyper-aware that a track record of success makes us more confident and confidence in our judgments is inversely correlated to their accuracy. That’s why it’s often better to be careful than smart. There are formal processes that can help us do that, such as pre-mortems and red teams, but most of all we need to keep ourselves in check. Perhaps most important is to appreciate that there are glitches in our mental machinery and we are greatly influenced by our social networks. The people around us tend to have access to similar information as we do and our perceptions are colored by prior judgments we’ve made. We are surrounded by mental minefields and the only way out is to proceed with caution. There's a sucker born every minute and they're usually the ones who think they're playing it smart. CLICK TO READ MORE...
- [Good Management Is Not Good Strategy. Here’s What Is:](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/good-management-is-not-good-strategy-heres-what-is/) - One of the most annoying things I hear from leaders is that “we had a great strategy, but just couldn’t execute it.” That’s simply not possible. If you can’t execute it, it’s not a great strategy. Most likely, it was a fantasy cooked up by some combination of consultants and investment bankers which was enshrined in PowerPoint. As Mike Tyson has pointed out, “everybody has a plan until they get hit,” which is why we need to take a more Bayesian approach to strategy, in which we don’t pretend that we have the “right strategy, but endeavor to make it less wrong over time. Good strategy isn’t a plan, but a set of choices made about how to address meaningful challenges. Ray Kroc didn’t invent the Egg McMuffin at McDonald’s, but his strategy of allowing franchisees to experiment gave birth to it and many other things as well. Charles Lazarus started with a baby furniture store, but his quest to find repeat customers led him to create Toys “R” Us and pioneer the category killer. Thomas Watson Jr. bet the company on the IBM 360, but it was the decision to move to an 8-bit byte that would revolutionize the computer industry. None of these were planned for. Today, we need to shift our mindset to compete in an ecosystem-driven world in which our ability to compete is no longer determined by what we can command and control, but what we can access. That’s why we need to abandon the fantasy that making a strategy successful is just a matter of executing a series of predetermined moves. Good strategy is not a function of good management, but a process of discovery. Managing by metrics will always be limited to what came before and cannot see what lies ahead. We need to learn how to identify grand challenges that shift the competitive environment and change perceptions of what is possible. The essence of a good strategy, as Richard Rumelt noted in Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, is that it brings relative strength to bear against relative weakness in the service of solving a meaningful problem.
- [3 Strategies To Overcome Resistance To Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/3-strategies-to-overcome-resistance-to-change/) - One of the biggest misconceptions about change is that it is an exercise in persuasion. Yet anyone who has ever been married or had kids knows how hard it can be to convince even a single person of something they don’t want to be convinced about. Seeking to persuade hundreds or thousands to change what they think or how they act is a tall order indeed. The truth is that radical, transformational change is achieved when not when those who oppose it are convinced, but when they discredit themselves. It was the brutality of Bull Connor’s tactics in Birmingham that paved the way for the Civil Rights Act in 1964. It was Russia’s poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko in 2004 that set Ukraine on a different path. The passage of Proposition 8 in California created such controversy that it actually furthered the cause of same-sex marriage. We find the same dynamic in our work with organizational transformations. Whenever you set out to make a significant impact, there will always be people who will hate the idea and seek to undermine it in ways that are dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. Once you are able to internalize that you are ready to move forward. Through sound strategies, you can learn to leverage opposition to further your change initiative. You can co-opt those who are rationally skeptical to find flaws in your idea that can be fixed. For those who are adamantly and irrationally opposed to an initiative, there are proven strategies that help lead them to discredit themselves. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. The difference between successful revolutionaries and mere dreamers is that those who succeed anticipate resistance and build a plan to overcome it.
- [Happy 14th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/happy-14th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - When I first started this blog in my Kyiv flat in 2009 I couldn’t imagine that, in scarcely more than a decade, Ukraine would be at war with Russia, much less that it would be winning. If someone had told me back then that Ukraine’s president would be the world’s most admired leader I would’ve
- [Why Smart People Are So Easily Fooled](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-smart-people-are-so-easily-fooled/) - One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that it’s best to assume people are smart, hardworking and well intentioned. Of course, that’s not always true, but we don’t learn much from dismissing people as stupid, lazy and crooked. And if we don’t learn from others' mistakes, then how can we avoid the same failures? We are wired to conform and the effect extends widely throughout our social networks. The best indication of what we believe is not any discernible fact pattern, but what those around us happen to believe. Often, smart people get taken in because they’re smart. They have a track record of seeing things others don’t, making good bets and winning big. People give them deference, come to them for advice and laugh at their jokes. They’re used to seeing things others don’t. For them, a lack of discernible evidence isn’t always a warning sign. It can be an opportunity. We all need to check ourselves so that we don’t believe everything that we think. There are formal processes that can help, such as pre-mortems and red teams, but most of all we need to own up to the flaws in our own brains. We have a tendency to see patterns that aren’t really there and to double down on bad ideas once we’ve committed to them. As Richard Feynman famously put it, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool." Smart people get taken in so easily because they forget that basic principle. They mythologize themselves and become the heroes of their own stories. Suckers are born every minute and, invariably, they think they're playing it smart.
- [Ideas Can Only Be Validated Forward, Never Backward](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/ideas-can-only-be-validated-forward-never-backward/) - Traditionally, strategy has been seen as a game of chess. Wise leaders survey the board of play, plan their moves carefully and execute flawlessly. That’s always been a fantasy, but it was close enough to reality to be helpful. Organizations could build up sustainable competitive advantage by painstakingly building up bargaining power within the value chain. Yet as Mike Tyson pointed out, “everybody has a plan until they get hit.” We can research and plan all we want, but the real world is a messy place. The facts, as we see them, are really just interpretations of the data we have available to us. Invariably, there are other data we’re not seeing and, even that which we have in front of us, can be interpreted in multiple ways. That’s why we need to take a more Bayesian approach to strategy, in which we don’t pretend that we have the “right strategy,” but endeavor to make it less wrong over time. As Rita Gunther McGrath has put it, it’s no longer as important to “learn to plan” as it is to “plan to learn.” We need to be more iterative, see what works and change course as needed. Today, instead of thinking about strategy as a game of chess, we’d do better to envision an online role-playing game, in which you bring certain capabilities and assets and connect with others to go on quests and discover new things along the way. Unlike chess, where everyone knows that their objective is to capture the opponent’s king, we need to expect the rules to change over time and adapt accordingly.
- [There Are Few Things As Dangerous As A Big Idea Misunderstood](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/there-are-few-things-as-dangerous-as-a-big-idea-misunderstood/) - Big ideas are powerful because they encapsulate an essential truth. When Fukuyama wrote about “the end of history,” it really did mark a turning point in human affairs, just as Marshall McLuhan’s concept of a “global village” identified a shift in communications, Kuhn’s model of a paradigm shift helped us understand how scientific breakthroughs occur and Christensen’s ideas about disruptive innovation alerted us to dangers and opportunities we weren’t aware of. Yet these ideas were important precisely because they described complex things. Once they rise to the level of a meme, we tend to discard the complex core and focus only on the candy shell. The concept becomes a caricature of itself, repeated so often that few stop to think about its implications and limitations, where it applies and where it does not. The problem with big ideas is that they can seem so inevitable that we ignore human agency. If we are truly at an “end of history,” then decisions don’t really matter. A “global village” can seem like such a nice place that we ignore dangers from bad actors. If we believe we are on the right side of a “paradigm shift,” we may not notice those who are working to undermine what we are trying to achieve. “Disruption” can seem so cool we forget about the disrupted. As Warren Berger explains in "A More Beautiful Question," questions are more valuable than answers because, while answers tend to close a discussion, questions help us open new doors and can lead to genuine breakthroughs. That’s the value of big ideas. They can help us ask better questions. But once we start looking to big ideas for answers, we stop exploring the world around us, our world constricts and, ultimately, we find that we are lost.
- [We’ve Been Getting The Wrong Answers Because We’ve Been Asking The Wrong Questions](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/weve-been-getting-the-wrong-answers-because-weve-been-asking-the-wrong-questions/) - We’re where we’re at today because people convinced institutions that maximizing output was more important than stability and resilience
- [6 Things Great Innovators Do Differently](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/6-things-every-organization-needs-to-innovate/) - From corporate giants to startups to world class labs, here are the 6 things every successful innovator has in common.
- [Don't Trust Your Feelings. They're Often Triggers That Mislead You](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/dont-trust-your-feelings-theyre-often-triggers-that-mislead-you/) - The neuroscientist Antonio Damasio believes we encode experiences in our bodies as somatic markers and that our emotions often alert us to things that our brains aren’t aware of. Another researcher, Joseph Ledoux, had similar findings. He pointed out that our body reacts much faster than our mind, as when we jump out of the way of an oncoming object and only seconds later realize what happened. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman suggests that we have two modes of thinking. The first is emotive, intuitive and fast. The second is rational, deliberative and slow. Our bodies evolved to make decisions quickly in life or death situations. Our rational minds came much later and don’t automatically engage. It takes effort to bring in the second system. There are some contexts in which we should favor system one over system 2. Certain professions, such as surgeons and pilots, train for years to hone their instincts so that they will be able to react quickly and appropriately in an emergency. When we have a bad feeling about a situation, we should take it seriously and proceed with caution. However, our feelings need to be interrogated, especially in areas for which we do not have specific training or relevant expertise. We need to gain insight into what exactly our feelings are alerting us to and that requires us to engage our rational brain. Yes, feelings should be taken seriously. They are often telling us that something is amiss. But they are much more reliable when they are alerting us to danger than when they are pushing us to overlook pertinent facts and proceed with a course of action. When we go with our gut, we need to make sure it’s not just because we had a bad lunch.
- [How Every Industry Can Learn From The Open Source Movement](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-every-industry-can-learn-from-the-open-source-movement/) - The future, in large part, will be made of proprietary business built on top of communal technologies.
- [5 Simple Rules That Will Make You A Powerful Communicator](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/5-simple-rules-that-will-make-you-a-much-more-powerful-communicator/) - Sometimes the hardest thing is merely to make yourself understood. Things that change the world, or even a small part of it, always arrive out of context because, by definition, the world hasn’t changed yet. That’s why innovators need to be great communicators, because an idea that doesn’t gain traction is an idea that fails. That’s easier said than done. As Fareed Zakaria has put it, “Thinking and writing are inextricably intertwined. When I begin to write, I realize that my ‘thoughts’ are usually a jumble of half-baked, incoherent impulses strung together with gaping logical holes between them.” Clearly, if he struggles, we all do. Yet the good news is that most people can immensely improve their communication skills by following a few simple rules. While, like any skill, they take a lifetime of practice to hone and perfect, you can start seeing progress within a few hours. It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur, a senior executive or just starting out, you need to communicate effectively.
- [Summer Reading List: 11 Books That Will Help You Navigate the New Age Of AI](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/summer-reading-list-11-books-that-will-help-you-navigate-the-new-age-of-ai/) - It’s hard to believe that summer is already here. Where I live, outside of Philadelphia, the nights in May have been pretty cold, so I’m still trying to get used to the idea that the time for backyard barbecues and hanging out by the pool has already arrived. Still, summer is by far my favorite
- [Values Always Cost You Something. That’s What Makes Them Different From Platitudes.](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/values-always-cost-you-something-thats-what-makes-them-different-from-platitudes/) - Values are essential to how an enterprise honors its mission. They represent choices of what an organization will and will not do, what it rewards and what it punishes and how it defines success and failure. Perhaps most importantly, values will determine an enterprise’s relationships with other stakeholders, how it collaborates and what it can achieve. When we sit down with executive teams to help them drive transformation and change, one of the first things we ask them is to define their values. Usually, they can easily rattle off a list such as, “the customer,” “excellence,” “integrity,” and so on. Then we ask them what those values cost them and we get blank stares. The problem is that values are often confused with beliefs. When you’re sitting around a conference table, it’s easy to build a consensus about broad virtues such as excellence, integrity and customer service. True values, on the other hand, are idiosyncratic. They represent choices that are directly related to a particular mission. Make no mistake. Real values always cost you something. They are what guides you when you need to make hard calls instead of taking the easy path. They are what makes the difference between looking back with pride or regret. Perhaps most importantly, they are what allows others to trust you. Without genuine commitment values there can be no trust. Without trust, there can be no shared purpose.
- [Change Is Never Simple Or Linear—You Need To Tap Into Networks And Ecosystems](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/change-never-happens-in-a-straight-line/) - From the outside, Ukraine's story can seem like a real life version of the hero’s journey, in which an ordinary person is called to greatness and tested in some profound way which leads to a transformation. Yet Volodymyr Zelensky is not Luke Skywalker, Vladimir Putin is not Darth Vader and Russia does not dominate the universe. While it is true that Zelensky has a particular set of talents that earlier leaders, such as Viktor Yushchenko, lacked, he has been shaped by context at least as much as he has shaped events. Not only is he a member of the first Ukrainian generation to have little memory or nostalgia for the Soviet Union, he is operating in an ecosystem prepared by two revolutions. To truly shape events, you must shape networks. That is why Russia is failing and Ukraine is succeeding. One thing I noticed living in both countries is that Ukrainians had a deep desire to connect to the world, while Russians were much more suspicious, fearing that taking in elements of other cultures would corrupt their own. It is networks of unseen connections that lead to transformation and change. You can’t overpower, you need to attract small groups, loosely connected and united by shared purpose to achieve great things. That never happens in a straightforward manner. We live in a world not of linear cause and effect, but of complex ecosystems, which we need to grow and nurture if they are to achieve their full potential.
- [Don’t Try To Shape Opinions, Shape Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/dont-try-to-shape-opinions-shape-networks/) - The biggest misconception about change is that once people understand it, they will embrace it and so the best way to drive change forward is to explain the need for change in a convincing and persuasive way. Change, in this view, is essentially a communication exercise and the right combination of words and images is all that is required. Even assuming that it is practical to convince people that way, by the same logic they can just as easily have their mind changed right back by counter-arguments. So even successful shaping opinions is, at best, a temporary solution. Clearly, if we are going to bring about sustainable change, we need to shape not just opinions, but networks as well. In my book Cascades, I explained how small groups, loosely connected but united by a shared purpose drive transformational change. It happens gradually, almost imperceptibly, at first. Connections accumulate under the surface, barely noticed, as small groups slowly begin to link together and congeal into a network. Eventually things hit a tipping point. The good news is that decades of research suggest that tipping point is much smaller than most people think. Everett Rogers’ “S-curve” research estimated it at 10%-25% of a system. Erica Chenoweth’s research calculated the tipping point to be at 3.5% of a society. Damon Centola at the University of Pennsylvania suggests the tipping point to be at 25% of an organization. I would take each of these numbers with a grain of salt. The salient point here is that nowhere does the evidence suggest we need anything close to 51% support for change to take hold. Our job as leaders is to cultivate networks, help them connect and inspire them with a sense of shared values and shared purpose. The truth is that the best indicator of what people do and think is what the people around them do and think. Instead of trying to shape opinions, we should be shaping networks. That’s why we need to focus our efforts on working to craft cultures rather than wordsmithing slogans. To do that, we need to understand the subtle ways we influence each other.
- [Why Your Values Determine Your Ability To Compete](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-your-values-determine-your-ability-to-compete/) - The truth is that values are essential to how an enterprise honors its mission. They represent choices of what an organization will and will not do, what it rewards and what it punishes and how it defines success and failure. Perhaps most importantly, values will determine an enterprise’s relationships with other stakeholders, how it collaborates and what it can achieve. Traditionally we’ve seen the world as driven by hierarchies. Kings and queens ruled the world through aristocracies that carried out their orders. Corporate CEO’s outlined strategies that underlings would have to execute. Discipline was enforced through a system of punishments and rewards. Power was valued above all else. Yet as Moisés Naím pointed out in The End of Power, “Power is easier to get, but harder to use or keep.” Therefore, the ability to attract has become more important than the power to compel or coerce. That’s why today, strategy has less to do with increasing efficiencies and acquiring resources and more to do with widening and deepening networks of connections. Power no longer lies at the top of hierarchies, but emanates from the center of networks. What determines whether we will get there or not is our values.
- [How To Decide Whether Holacracy Is Right For You](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-decide-whether-holacracy-is-right-for-you/) - Whether you decide to pursue Holacracy or not, you should take some time thinking about the issues that it brings to the fore and ask: If not Holacracy, then what?
- [Stories Are Important, We Should Get Them Right](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/stories-are-important-we-should-get-them-right/) - The truth is that the world is a messy place and if we are to learn something useful from stories, we need to get them right.
- [We Expect Humans To Be Accountable. We Should Expect No Less Of AI](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-expect-humans-to-be-accountable-we-should-expect-no-less-of-ai/) - In 2020, Ofqual, the authority that administers A-Level college entrance exams in the UK, found itself mired in scandal. Unable to hold live exams because of Covid-19, it designed and employed an algorithm that based scores partly on the historical performance of the schools students attended with the unintended consequence that already disadvantaged students found themselves further penalized by artificially deflated scores. The outcry was immediate, but in a sense the Ofqual case is a happy story. Because the agency was transparent about how the algorithm was constructed, the source of the bias was quickly revealed, corrective action was taken in a timely manner, and much of the damage was likely mitigated. As Linus’s Law advises, “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” The age of artificial intelligence requires us to collaborate with machines, leveraging their capabilities to better serve other humans. To make that collaboration successful, however, it needs to take place in an atmosphere of trust. Machines, just like humans, need to be held accountable, their decisions and insights can’t be a “black box.” We need to be able to understand where their judgments come from and how they’re decisions are being made. Senator Schumer is reportedly working on legislation that will promote more transparency, but that is only a start. The real change has to come from within ourselves and how we see our relationships with the machines we create. Marshall McLuhan wrote that media are extensions of man and the same can be said for technology. Our machines inherit our human weaknesses and frailties. We need to make allowances for that.
- [How Empathy Can Be Your Secret Weapon](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/how-empathy-can-be-your-secret-weapon/) - Empathy, as powerful as it can potentially be, is widely misunderstood. It is often paired with compassion in the context of creating a more beneficial workplace. That is, of course, a reasonable and worthy objective, but the one-dimensional use of the term is misleading and limits its value. When seen only through the lens of making others more comfortable, empathy can seem like a “nice to have,” trait rather than a valuable competency and an important source of competitive advantage. It’s much easier to see the advantage of imposing your will, rather than internalizing the perspectives of others. One thing I learned over many years living in foreign cultures is that it’s important to understand how people around you think, especially if you don’t agree with them and, as is sometimes the case, find their point of view morally reprehensible. In fact, learning more about how others think can make you a more effective leader, negotiator and manager. Empathy is not absolution. You can internalize the ideas of others and still vehemently disagree. There is a reason that Special Forces are trained to understand the cultures in which they will operate and it isn’t because it makes them nicer people. It’s because it makes them more lethal operators. It is only through empathy that we can understand motivations—for good or ill—and design effective strategies to build shared purpose or, if need be, design a dilemma for an opponent. To operate in an often difficult world, you need to understand your environment. That’s why building empathy skills can be like a secret weapon.
- [To Build The Technology Of Tomorrow We Need To Create The Ecosystems Today ](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/to-build-the-technology-of-tomorrow-we-need-to-create-the-ecosystems-today/) - These days, it seems that every time you turn around you see some breakthrough technology that will change our lives. We see media reports about computing breakthroughs, miracle cures, new sources of energy and more. Unfortunately, very few will ever see the outside of a lab and even fewer will prove commercially viable enough to impact our lives. Don’t get me wrong. Many of these are real discoveries produced by serious scientists and reported by reputable sources. The problem is with how science works. At any given time there are a myriad of exciting possibilities, but very few pan out and even the ones that do usually take decades to make an impact. Digital technology is a great example of how this happens. As AnnaLee Saxenian explained in Regional Advantage, back in the 1970s and 80s, when Boston was the center of the technology universe, Silicon Valley invested in an ecosystem, which included not just corporations, but scientific labs, universities and community colleges. New England rejected that approach. The results speak for themselves. If you want to understand the technology of tomorrow, don’t try to imagine an idea no one has ever thought of, but look at the problems people are working on today. You’ll find a vast network working on quantum computing, a significant synthetic biology economy, a large-scale effort in materials science and billions of dollars invested into energy storage startups. That’s why, if we are to win the future, we need to invest in ecosystems. It’s the nodes that grab attention, but the networks that make things happen.
- [Radical Change Needs A Shared Language](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/radical-change-needs-a-shared-language/) - One of the toughest things about change is simply to have your idea understood. The status quo always has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. People need a reason to believe in change, but they never need much convincing to allow things to go along as they always have. Inaction is the easiest thing in the world. The truth is that you need to let people embrace it for their own reasons, which might not necessarily be your own. When you’re passionate about an idea, you want others to see it the same way you do, with all its beautiful complexity and nuance. You want people to share your devotion and fervor. Many change efforts end up sabotaging themselves for exactly this reason. People who love technology want others to love it too. Those who feel strongly about racial and gender-based diversity want everyone to see injustice and inequality just as they do. Innovators in any area can often be single-minded in their pursuit of change. The truth is that we all have a need to be recognized and when others don’t share a view that we feel strongly about, it offends our sense of dignity. The danger, of course, is that in our rapture we descend into solipsism and fail to recognize the dignity of others. We proudly speak in a private language amongst our tribe and expect others to try and find a way in. Yet the world simply doesn’t work that way. If you care about change, you need to hold yourself accountable to be an effective messenger. You have to make the effort to express yourself in terms that your targets of influence are willing to accept. That doesn’t in any way mean you have to compromise. It simply means that you need to advocate effectively. In the final analysis, you need to decide whether you’d rather make a point, or make a difference.
- [Why We Fail To Adapt](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-we-fail-to-adapt/) - In order to adapt we must disrupt ourselves. To seek out people, places and experiences that challenge our core beliefs.
- [The Great Digital Reckoning Is Near](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/the-great-digital-reckoning-is-near/) - Clearly, there is something afoot in Silicon Valley. The technology is maturing, the scandals keep getting bigger and, with information and communication technologies representing a mere 6% of advanced economies, we still have yet to see anything approaching the impact of earlier technology revolutions. Make no mistake, a reckoning is fast approaching. The EU is expected to tighten regulations, while the SEC plans to make it easier for investors to sue venture capital players for negligence. FTC Chair Lina Khan is taking on megadeals like the Microsoft-Activision merger, while the Justice Department goes after Google's stranglehold on the ad market. The era of loose regulation and easy money that has fueled the last decade is ending. The truth is that while Silicon Valley’s way of doing things works perfectly well for software and consumer gadgets, it is rarely a good fit for atom-based industries. Yet there are real opportunities ahead in using bits to drive atoms. Technologies like synthetic biology, mRNA vaccines and materials science depend on computation to power clean energy, medicine and advanced manufacturing. What’s becoming clear is that we can’t just move fast and break things anymore. That might work for the digital world, but for mission-critical technologies that need to power billion-dollar factories, medical therapies that people’s lives depend on or agricultural techniques that need to feed the world, we need to be far more careful. Most of all, we need to shift from disruption to resilience and be clear-eyed about the fact that the future will not look like the past. We need to learn from the mistakes of the digital age, not repeat those same errors in some misguided effort to market our failures into perceived successes. We need to march boldly forward, wiser and better equipped.
- [Some Can Transform Themselves. Others Can't. Here's What Makes The Difference:](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/some-can-transform-themselves-others-cant-heres-what-makes-the-difference/) - Since 1970, we have undergone three revolutions—financial, managerial and digital—and we are somehow worse off. It’s time to admit that we had the wrong theory of the case and chart a new course. Anything else is living in denial. One thing I’ve noticed in my work helping organizations transform their enterprises is that some are willing to take a hard look at themselves and make tough changes, while others are addicted to happy talk and try to wish their problems away. Make no mistake. You can’t tackle the future without looking with clear eyes at how the present came into being. To create a new future, we need to build a common cause based on shared values. That’s what separates those who can transform themselves and those who can’t. You need to achieve a level of honesty and integrity with yourself before you can inspire trust in others. In order to improve, we first must look with clear eyes on what needs to be corrected in the first place. To paraphrase President Kennedy, we don’t do these things because they are easy, but because they are worthwhile. Some are willing to take a hard look at themselves and make tough changes, while others are addicted to happy talk and try to wish their problems away.
- [3 Reasons Why Change Fails](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/3-reasons-why-change-fails/) - People like to quote the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who said things like “the only constant is change” and “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” They’re clever quotes and they give us confidence that the change we seek is not only possible, but inevitable. Yet while change in general may be inevitable, the prospects for any particular change initiative are decidedly poor and the failure to recognize that simple fact is why so many transformation efforts fall short. The first step toward making change succeed is to understand and internalize just how fragile a new, unproven initiative really is. To bring genuine change about you can’t expect to just push forward and have everyone fall in line. No amount of executive sponsorship or program budget will guarantee victory. To move forward, you will need to listen to skeptics, identify and fix flaws in your idea to methodically build trust. Even then, you will have to outsmart those who have an irrational lust to kill change and who act in ways that are dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. Change is always, at some level, about what people value. That’s why to make it happen you need to identify shared values that reaffirm, rather than undermine, people’s sense of identity. Recognition is often a more powerful incentive than even financial rewards. In the final analysis, lasting change always needs to be built on common ground.
- [Why The CHIPS Act May Be A Turning Point For Innovation In America](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-the-chips-bill-may-be-a-turning-point-for-innovation-in-america/) - Vannevar Bush’s vision during World War II helped the United States become a leader in science and technology. The Cold War helped further that notion that government should invest in science as a public good for private benefit. So, in a sense, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that when we became a lone superpower, we got thrown off our game. Yet a rising China and, to a certain extent, the role of science in developing vaccines to help end the pandemic, have served as a new organizing principle. Just as the Soviet launch of Sputnik helped make a political case for the massive investment in the space program, today’s rising superpower has the potential to push us to greater things. While most of the attention surrounding the recently signed CHIPS Act has been focused on semiconductors, only $54 billion, or less than a quarter of the $280 million, goes to making computer chips. The vast majority will be invested in research, industrial capacity and workforce development, all of which are sorely needed. We need to come to terms with what an incredible disappointment the digital revolution has been. It left the average American poorer, sicker and less happy than a generation ago. Today, with vastly more powerful technologies, including synthetic biology, materials science, quantum computing, we have the opportunity to do better. Let’s not squander it. We need to abandon the cult of disruption and embrace the pursuit of grand challenges. Hopefully, we will someday look back and say, "that was the turning point in which we asked more of ourselves and, seemingly against the odds, delivered.”
- [We Need To Learn How To Bridge Difference To Drive Creativity And Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-need-to-learn-how-to-bridge-difference-to-drive-creativity-and-innovation/) - Our identity and sense of self drives a lot of what we see and do, yet we rarely examine these things because we spend most of our time with people who are a lot like us, who live in similar places and experience similar things. That’s why our innate perceptions and beliefs seem normal and those of others strange, because our social networks shape us that way. As we conform to those around us, we are setting ourselves apart from those who are shaped by different sets of experiences. While there is enormous value to be unlocked by integrating with diverse perspectives, it takes work to be able to bridge those differences. What we hear isn’t always what others say and what we say isn't what others always hear. In his book, Identity, political scientist Francis Fukuyama explains that our identities aren’t fixed, but develop and change over time. In fact, we routinely choose to add facets to our identity, while shedding others, changing jobs, moving neighborhoods, breaking off some associations as we take on others. “Identity can be used to divide, but it can and has also been used to integrate,” Fukuyama writes. Yet integrating identities takes effort. We first need to acknowledge that our truth isn’t the only truth and that others, looking at the same facts, can honestly come to different conclusions than we do. We need to suspend immediate judgment and devote ourselves to a common undertaking with a shared sense of mission and purpose. This is no easy task. It takes significant effort. However, it is at this nexus of identity and purpose that creativity and innovation reside, because when we learn to collaborate with others who possess knowledge, skills and perspectives that we don’t, new possibilities emerge to achieve greater things.
- [The Truth About Diversity](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-truth-about-diversity/) - For diversity to work, it has to create a little tension. However the benefits far outweigh the costs.
- [Self-Righteousness Is Not A Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/self-righteousness-isnt-a-strategy/) - In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the point that many of our opinions are a product of our inclusion in a particular team. Because our judgments are so closely intertwined with our identity, contrary views can feel like an attack. So we feel the urge to lash out and silence opposition. That almost guarantees a failure to survive victory. I first noticed this in the aftermath of the Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004. Having overcome a falsified election, we were so triumphant that we failed to see the gathering storm. Because we felt that the forces of history were on our side, we dismissed signs that the corrupt and thuggish Viktor Yanukovich was staging a comeback and paid a terrible price. I see the same pattern in our work helping organizations with transformational initiatives. Change leaders feel so passionately about their idea they want to push it through, silence dissent, launch it with a big communication campaign and create strong incentives to get on board. They’re sure that once everybody understands the idea, they’ll love it too. The truth is to bring about lasting change you need to learn to love your haters. They’re the ones who can help alert you to early flaws, which gives you the opportunity to fix them before they can do serious damage. They can also help you to identify shared values that can help you communicate more effectively and also design dilemmas that will send people your way. But in order to do that, you need to focus your energy on winning converts, rather than punishing heretics. It’s more important to make a difference than it is to make a point.
- [We Need To Stop Worshiping Algorithms](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/we-need-to-stop-worshiping-algorithms/) - Humans can be irrational and maddening. Decades of research have shown that, when given the exact same set of facts, even experts will make very different assessments. Some people will be more strict, others more lenient. Some of us are naturally optimistic, others are cynics. A family squabble in the morning can affect the choices we make all day. So it’s not unreasonable to want to improve quality and reduce variance in our decision making by taking a more algorithmic approach by offering clear sets of instructions that hold sway no matter who applies them. They promise to make things more reliable, reduce uncertainty and, hopefully, improve effectiveness. Yet as Yassmin Abdel-Magied and I explained in Harvard Business Review, algorithms don’t eliminate human biases, they merely encode them. Humans design the algorithms, collect the data that form the basis for decisions and interpret the results. The notion that algorithms are purely objective is a chimera. The problem with algorithms is that they encourage us to check out, to fool ourselves into thinking we’ve taken human error out of the system and stop paying attention. They allow us to escape accountability, at least for a while, as we pass the buck to systems that spit out answers which affect real people. Over the past 20 or thirty years, we’ve allowed this experiment to play out and the results have been tragic. It’s time we try something else.
- [4 Signs Your Industry Is Being Disrupted](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/4-signs-your-industry-might-be-disrupted/) - In the 1920s the Teapot Dome scandal rocked Washington. The Secretary of the Interior, Albert Bacon Fall, was found to have corruptly leased Navy petroleum reserves to private companies. In response, Congress was given the right to subpoena any US citizen’s tax records as well as increased regulation of campaign finance. In the century since, we have had continuous cycles of largesse and reform. The savings and loan crisis in the 1980s led to the FIRREA Act to increase oversight. Accounting scandals, like those involving Enron and WorldCom, led to Sarbanes Oxley. The Financial Crisis led to Dodd-Frank. More recently, tens of billions of dollars were plowed into WeWork before it was exposed as little more than a Ponzi scheme. The Theranos fraud went on for more than a decade before its board realized that its product was an elaborate ruse. FTX was valued at $32 billion but turned out to be worthless. Yet there has been no reform. As Bain pointed out a decade ago, the extreme measures taken after the Great Recession led to a superabundance of capital, which paved the way for the highest profit margins in half a century. Now it seems that the era of easy money and easy regulation is ending, making it a near certainty that more frauds will be exposed. We need to learn the telltale signs that an industry is being disrupted. Once technology begins to mature, we can expect consolidation, rent-seeking and regulatory capture to follow. After that, it’s just a matter of how much time—and how big the bubble gets—before everything bursts.
- [The Real Capitalist’s Dilemma](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-real-capitalists-dilemma/) - It’s much easier to demand lower taxes than to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and airports or preserve, but if we want to win the future, we have to invest in it.
- [The Eden Myth And How Demagogues, Hucksters And Con Artists Use It To Deceive Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/the-eden-myth-and-how-demagogues-hucksters-and-con-artists-use-it-to-deceive-us/) - In my friend Bob Burg’s wonderful book, Adversaries into Allies, he makes the distinction between persuasion and manipulation. Bob says that persuasion involves helping someone to make a decision by explaining the benefits of a particular course of action, while manipulation takes advantage of negative emotions, such as anger, fear and greed. So it shouldn’t be surprising that those who want to manipulate us tell origin stories in which we were once innocent and good until a corrupting force diminished us. It is that narrative that allows them to assert victimhood, dehumanize an out-group and promise, if given the means, that they will deliver retribution and a return to our rightful place. These are the tell-tale signs that reveal demagogues, hucksters and con artists. It doesn’t matter if they are seeking backing for a new technology, belief in a new business model or public office, there will always be an “us” and a “them” and there can never be a "we together," because “they,” are trying to deceive us, take what is rightfully ours and rob us of our dignity. Yet once we begin to recognize those signs, we can use those emotional pangs as markers that alert us to the need to scrutinize claims more closely, seek out a greater diversity of perspectives and examine alternative narratives. We can’t just believe everything we think. It is the people who are telling us things that we want to be true that are best able to deceive us. Those who pursue evil and greed always claim that they are on the side of everything righteous and pure. That’s what we need to watch out for most.
- [Why Unlearning Is At Least As Important As Learning](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-unlearning-is-at-least-as-important-as-learning/) - When I first went overseas to Poland in 1997, I thought I knew how the media business worked. I had some experience selling national radio time in New York and thought I could teach the Poles who, after 50 years of communism, hadn’t had much opportunity to learn how a modern ad market functioned. I was soon disappointed. Whenever I would explain a simple principle, they would ask me, “why?” I was at a loss for an answer, because these were thought to be so obvious that nobody ever questioned them. When I thought about it though, many of the things I had learned as immutable laws were merely conventions that had built up over time. As I traveled to more countries I found that even basic market functions, such as TV buying, varied enormously from place to place. I would come to realize that there wasn’t one “right” way to run a business but innumerable ways things could work. It was then that I began to understand the power of unlearning. It is, in fact, a key skill for the next era of innovation. I’ve thought for some time that the 2020s would look a lot like the 1920s. That was the last time that we had such a convergence of technological, demographic and political forces at one time (and a pandemic as well!). Yet historical analogies can often be misleading. History is long and, if you look enough, you can find an analogy for almost anything. It is certainly true that history seems to converge and cascade on particular moments and we seem to be at one of these moments now. We will need to unlearn much of what we thought we knew about shareholder value and other things as well. Yet correcting the mistakes of the past is never enough. We need to create anew. It is tautologically true that the well-trod path will take us nowhere new. We need to unlearn the past if we are to learn how to build a new future.
- [What Will Humans Do In An Artificially Intelligent World?](https://digitaltonto.com/2023/what-will-humans-do-in-an-artificially-intelligent-world/) - In his story The Library of Babel, Borges describes a library which contains books with all potential word combinations in all possible languages. Such a place would encompass all possible knowledge, but would also be completely useless, because the vast majority of books would be gibberish consisting of random strings of symbols. In essence, deriving meaning would be an exercise in curation, which machines could do if they perfectly understood our intentions. However, human motives are almost hopelessly complex. So much so, in fact, that even we ourselves often have difficulty understanding why we want one thing and not another. There are some things that a computer will never do. Machines will never strike out at a Little League game, have their hearts broken in a summer romance or see their children born. The inability to share human experiences makes it difficult, if not impossible, for computers to relate to human emotions and infer how those feelings shape preferences in a given context. That’s why the rise of artificial intelligence is driving a shift from cognitive to social skills. The high paying jobs today have less to do with the ability to retain facts or manipulate numbers—we now use computers for those things—than it does with humans serving other humans. That requires more deep collaboration, teamwork and emotional intelligence. To derive meaning in an artificially intelligent world we need to look to each other and how we can better understand our intentions. The future of technology is always more human.
- [The 7 Greatest Ideas in History](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-7-greatest-ideas-in-history/) - As Isaac Newton once said, we truly do stand on the shoulders of giants.
- [How Technology Makes Us Smarter](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/why-technology-makes-us-smarter/) - Technology let's us choose the areas in which we want to be smart and in which we would rather be ignorant. That’s a cause for celebration, not lament
- [How Cultural Competence Makes You More A Effective Leader, Manager and Operator](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/how-cultural-competence-makes-you-more-a-effective-leader-manager-and-operator/) - We tend to think of empathy as an act of generosity, but it’s far more than that. Learning how to internalize diverse viewpoints is a skill we should learn not only because it helps make others more comfortable, but because it empowers us to successfully navigate an often complex and difficult world. Our identity and sense of self drives a lot of what we see and do, yet we rarely examine these things because we spend most of our time with people who are a lot like us, who live in similar places and experience similar things. That’s why our innate perceptions and beliefs seem normal and those of others seem strange, because our social networks shape us that way. The purpose of an education is to help us see beyond our own experience, but that is in no way a passive skill. We need to continually renew it. Diversity only has value if we appreciate difference; are willing to explore and learn from it. It is only then that we can glean new insights and apply them to some useful endeavor It is at this nexus of identity and purpose that creativity and innovation reside, because when we learn to collaborate with others who possess knowledge, skills and perspectives that we don’t, new possibilities emerge. Make no mistake, however, breakthroughs are never truly serendipitous or random, but the product of a prepared mind. And you prepare your mind through building cultural competence.
- [Creative Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/creative-intelligence/) - What makes us creative? Our ability to form our own intent. It is only through creating a purpose that is uniquely our own that we can fully embody the human spirit.
- [Top Posts of 2022](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/top-posts-of-2022/) - At the beginning of this year, I wrote that the theme for 2022 would be Surviving Change and I think that’s been borne out. We’ve had so many shocks to the system that all of the happy talk about disruption has become not only juvenile and naive, but downright irresponsible. If anything, we’ve learned how
- [Change Is Always About Identity](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-cant-define-the-change-we-want-to-pursue-until-we-define-who-we-want-to-be/) - Today, we stand on the precipice of a new paradigm. We’ve suffered through a global financial crisis, a pandemic and the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War II. The shifts in technology, resources, migration and demography are already underway. The strains and dangers of these shifts are already evident, yet the benefits are still to come. To successfully navigate the decade ahead, we must make decisions not just about what we want, but who we want to be. Nowhere is this playing out more than in Ukraine right now, where the war being waged is almost solely about identity. Russians want to deny Ukrainian identity and to defy what they see as the US-led world order. Europeans need to take sides. So do the Chinese. Everyone needs to decide who they are and where they stand. This is not only true in international affairs, but in every facet of society. Different eras make different demands. The generation that came of age after World War II needed to rebuild and they did so magnificently. Yet as things grew, inefficiencies mounted and the Boomer Generation became optimizers. The generations that came after worshiped disruption and renewal. These are, of course, gross generalizations, but the basic narrative holds true. What should be clear is that where we go from here will depend on who we want to be. My hope is that we become protectors who seek to make the shift from disruption to resilience. We can no longer simply worship market and technological forces and leave our fates up to them as if they were gods. We need to make choices and the ones we make will be greatly influenced by how we see ourselves and our role. As Josep Borrell so eloquently put it: It is the identity, stupid. It is no longer the economy, it is the identity.
- [The 2022 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/the-2022-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - “Don’t believe everything you think” has become something of a mantra of mine. It’s a simple idea, but desperately hard to accomplish. Once we get an idea in our heads, confirmation bias kicks in and we go looking for evidence that supports it while ignoring facts which would point us in another direction. What makes
- [Summer Reading List: 16 Books That Will Help You Understand The Next Decade](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/summer-reading-list-16-books-that-will-help-you-understand-the-next-decade/) - This summer, my list focuses on books that explain the issues we'll be wrestling with over the next decade.
- [Summer Reading List: Books That Will Help You Understand The War In Ukraine](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/summer-reading-list-books-that-will-help-you-understand-the-war-in-ukraine/) - No matter what’s going on during the year, I always look forward to summer. I love the heat and, despite spending 15 years in frigid Eastern European countries, I hate the cold. Every year I find myself counting the days before I can slap on gobs of sunscreen and while away the hours underneath the
- [3 Important Lessons That Monkeys Can Teach Us About Business And Life](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/3-important-things-that-monkeys-can-teach-us-about-business-and-life/) - G. H. Hardy, widely considered a genius, wrote that “For any serious purpose, intelligence is a very minor gift.” What he meant was that even in purely intellectual pursuits, such as his field of number theory, there are things that are far more important. It was, undoubtedly, intellectual humility that led Hardy to Ramanujuan, perhaps his greatest discovery of all. Imagining ourselves to be heroes of our own story can rob us of the humility we need to succeed and prosper. Mistaking ourselves for geniuses can often get us into trouble. People who think they’re playing it smart tend to make silly mistakes, both because they expect to see things that others don’t and because they fail to look for and recognize trouble signs. Parables about monkeys can be useful because nobody expects them to be geniuses, which demands that we ask ourselves hard questions. Are we doing the important work, or the easiest tasks to show progress on? If monkeys flipping coins can simulate professional success, what do we really celebrate? If monkeys tapping randomly on typewriters can create masterworks, what is the value of human agency? The truth is that humans are prone to be foolish. We are unable, outside a few limited areas of expertise, to make basic distinctions in matters of importance. So we look for signals of prosperity, intelligence, shared purpose and other things we value to make judgments about what information we should trust. Imagining monkeys around us helps us to be more careful. Sometimes the biggest obstacle between where we are now and the fabulous yonder we seek is just the few feet in front of us.
- [Stop Expecting People To Act Rationally! Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/stop-expecting-people-to-act-rationally-heres-why/) - In an earlier age, organizations were far more hierarchical. Power rested at the top. Information flowed up, orders went down, work got done and people got paid. Incentives seemed to work. You could pay more and get more. Yet in today's marketplace, that’s no longer tenable because the work we need done is increasingly non-routine. That means we need people to do more than merely carry out tasks, they need to put all of their passion and creativity into their work to perform at a high-level. They need to collaborate effectively in teams and take pride in the impact their efforts produce. To achieve that at an organizational level, leaders need to shift their mindsets. As David Burkus explained in his TED Talk, humans are prosocial. They are vastly more likely to perform when they understand and identify with who their work benefits than when they are given financial incentives or fed some grandiose vision. Evolutionary psychologists have long established that altruism is deeply embedded in our sense of tribe. The simple truth is that we can no longer coerce people to do what we want with Rube Goldberg-like structures of carrots and sticks, but must inspire people to want what we want. Humans are not purely rational beings, responding to stimuli as if they were vending machines that spit out desired behaviors when the right buttons are pushed, but are motivated by identity and dignity more than anything else. Leadership is not an algorithm, but a practice of creating meaning through relationships of trust in the context of a shared purpose.
- [Here's Why Your Big Idea Will Probably Fail To Survive Victory](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/surviving-victory-2/) - In the two decades I have been researching transformation and change, the failure to survive victory is probably the most consistent aspect of it. In fact, it is so common you can almost set your watch by it. Amazingly, no matter how many times change advocates experience it, they rarely see it coming. Many, in fact, seem to take pride in how many battles they have lost, seeing it as some kind of badge of honor. The uncomfortable truth is that success doesn’t necessarily begat more success. Often it breeds failure. People mistake a moment for a movement and think that their time has finally come. Believing change to be inevitable, they get cocky and overconfident and miss the networks of unseen connections forming in opposition. They make sure to press a point, but fail to make a difference. Lasting change always needs to be built on common ground. That’s what we failed to see all those years ago, when I began my journey. You can never base your revolution on any particular person, technology or policy. It needs to be rooted in shared values and if we truly care about change, we need to hold ourselves accountable to be effective messengers. We can’t just preach to the choir. Sometimes we need to venture out of the church and mix with the heathens. We can be clear about where we stand and still listen to those who see things differently. That doesn’t mean we compromise. In fact, we should never compromise the values we believe in. What we can do, however, is identify common ground upon which to build a shared future. These principles hold true whether the change you seek is in your organization, your industry, your community or throughout society as a whole. If you fail to learn and apply them, don’t be surprised when you fail to survive victory.
- [Change Has A lifecycle. You Need To Learn It.](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-all-need-to-learn-the-change-lifecycle/) - When a transformational initiative fails, it's often said that it was because people don’t like change. That’s not really true. Everywhere I go in the world, no matter what type of group I’m speaking to, people are enthusiastic about some kind of change. It’s other people’s ideas for change that they aren’t so crazy about. Senior leaders love to tell me about their inspired visions for their enterprise, but complain that they can’t get the rank-and-file to go along. Middle managers complain that they are bursting with ideas, but can’t get the bosses to go along. As failed initiatives pile up, people talk past each other and change fatigue sets in. It doesn’t have to be this way. There are natural laws that govern change and these laws can be learned and applied by anyone. The problem is that managers don’t study change the same way they study finance, or marketing, or strategy. Business schools don’t teach it as a discipline. But change has a lifecycle that we can learn to manage and exploit. Perhaps most importantly, we need to remind ourselves that transformation is a journey, not a destination. Whatever impact you seek to make is far more likely to be a marathon than a sprint. No defeat or victory is final. The road is long and, to travel it effectively, you need to learn to recognize and anticipate the various twists and turns.
- [What You See Is How You’ll Act](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/what-you-see-is-how-youll-act/) - Take a moment to think about what the world must have looked like to J.P. Morgan a century ago, in 1922. The disruptive technologies of the day, electricity and internal combustion, were already almost 40 years old, but had little measurable economic impact. Life largely went on as it always had and the legendary financier lorded over his domain of corporate barons. That would quickly change over the next decade when those technologies would gain traction, form ecosystems and drive a 50-year boom. The great “trusts” that he built would get broken up and by 1930 virtually all of them would be dropped as components of the Dow Jones Industrial average. Every face of life would be completely transformed. We’re at a similar point today, on the brink of enormous transformation. The recent string of calamities, including a financial meltdown, a pandemic and the deadliest war in Europe in 80 years, demand that we take a new path. Powerful shifts in technology, demographics, resources and migration, suggest that even more disruption may be in our future. The course we take from here will be determined by how we see the world we live in. Do we see our fellow citizens as a burden or an asset? Are new technologies a blessing or a threat? Is the world full of opportunities to be embraced or dangers we need to protect ourselves from? These are questions we need to think seriously about. How we answer them will determine what comes next.
- [Change Isn’t About Persuasion. It’s About Power](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/change-isnt-about-persuasion-its-about-power/) - In 2013, the political scientist Moisés Naím published "The End of Power", in which he argued that because of the increase in mobility and technology and decrease in poverty, the power of institutions was diminishing. Power hadn’t ended exactly but, as he put it, power was becoming “easier to gain but harder to use or keep.” However, in his more recent book, "The Revenge of Power," Naim points out that autocrats, governments, corporations and other institutions have been able to combine hard power, soft power and networked power to wring back control. It is the coordination and combination of the three, rather than a particular strength in any one, that yields results. Unfortunately, few seem to learn this basic principle of change. The Occupy Movement focused exclusively on mobilizing people in the streets and, predictably, had no effect on institutions. Common Core activists, on the other hand, focused on institutions, left themselves open to mobilizations from grass-root activists and ran into serious problems. The truth is that change isn’t about persuasion, but power. If you want change and can access the power to implement it, it will happen. If not, it won’t. That’s why effective change agents learn to leverage multiple sources of power. They mobilize people to influence institutions that can further their cause. That’s how you bring genuine transformation about. To make a significant impact, you need to mobilize people to influence institutions and the best way to do that is through leveraging networks. In the final analysis, it is small groups, loosely connected, but united by a shared purpose that drives transformational change. As leaders, it's our job to help those groups connect and to inspire them with purpose.
- [3 Ancient Wisdoms We Needed To Leave Behind To Create The Modern World](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/the-3-ancient-wisdoms-we-needed-to-abandon-to-create-the-modern-world/) - If you were a person of sophistication and education in the 19th century, your world view was based on certain axiomatic truths, such as parallel lines never cross, logical propositions are either true or false and "bad airs" made people sick. For the most part, these ideas would have served you well for the challenges you faced in daily life. Even more importantly, your understanding of these concepts would signal your inclusion and acceptance into a particular tribe, which would confer prestige and status. If you were an architect or engineer, you needed to understand Euclid’s geometric axions. Aristotle’s rules of logic were essential to every educated profession. Medical doctors were expected to master the nuances of the miasma theory. To stray from established orthodoxies carries great risk, even now. It is no accident that those who were able to bring about new paradigms, such as Einstein, Turing and John Snow, came from outside the establishment. More recently, people like Benoit Mandelbrot, Jim Allison and Katalin Karikó had to overcome fierce resistance to bring new ways of thinking to finance, cancer immunotherapy and mRNA vaccines respectively. Today, it’s becoming increasingly clear we need to break with the past. In just over a decade, we’ve been through a crippling financial crisis, a global pandemic, deadly terrorist attacks, and the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. We need to confront climate change and a growing mental health crisis. Yet it is also clear that we can’t just raze the global order to the ground and start all over again. So what do we leave in the past and what do we bring with us into the future? Which new lessons do we need to learn and which old ones do we need to unlearn? Perhaps most importantly, what do we need to create anew and what can we rediscover in the ancient? Throughout history, we have learned that the answer lies not in merely speculating about ideas, but in finding real solutions to problems we face.
- [Remembering Benoit Mandelbrot](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/remembering-benoit-mandelbrot/) - Mandelbrot was much more than just a genial maverick, he fundamentally changed how we see the world. 
- [Strategy Without Purpose Will Always Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/strategy-without-purpose-will-always-fail/) - We usually think of strategy as a rational, analytic activity, with teams of MBA’s poring over spreadsheets or generals standing before maps. Yet if we fail to take into account human agency and dignity, we’re missing the boat. Strategy without purpose is doomed to fail in the end, however clever the calculations, because eventually the real world will intrude. In the real world, strategy is not a game of chess, in which we move inert pieces around a board. While we can make rational assessments about various courses of action, ultimately people have to care about the outcome. For a strategy to be meaningful, it needs to speak to people’s values, hopes, dreams and ambitions. A leader’s role cannot be merely to plan and direct action, but must be to inspire and empower belief in a common endeavor. That’s what widens and deepens the meaningful connections that can enable genuine transformation.
- [The Art Of The Shift](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-art-of-the-shift/) - To manage for disruption we need to realize that it's the mastery of one model that hinders our adoption of another; our drive for competence that renders us inept
- [This One Simple Scientific Principle Explains Why You Shouldn’t Waste Too Much Time Trying To Convince People](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/this-one-simple-scientific-principle-explains-why-you-shouldnt-waste-too-much-time-trying-to-convince-people/) - We like to think we can shape the ideas of others. It can sometimes seem like a puzzle. How can we conjure up the right combination of value proposition, analysis, emotive argument and social proof, to persuade our target?. There is, in fact, an enormous communication industry dedicated to exactly that proposition. Decades of scientific research suggests that it’s not so easy. Our thoughts aren’t just the product of neurons, synapses and neurotransmitters reacting to different stimuli, but also our social networks. The best indicator of what people think and do is what the people around them think and do. While we’re trying to score debate points, those complex webs of influence are pushing back in often subtle, but extremely powerful ways. We need to be far more humble about our persuasive powers. Anybody who has ever been married or had kids knows how difficult it is to convince even a single person of something. If you expect to shift the opinions of dozens or hundreds—much less thousands or millions—with pure sophistry, you’re bound to be disappointed. Instead of trying to shape opinions, we’re often better off shaping networks. That’s why we advise our clients pursuing transformational change efforts to start with a majority, even if that majority is only three people in a room of five. You can always expand a majority out, but once you’re in the minority you’re going to get immediate pushback. Instead of designing arguments, our time and effort will be much better spent working to craft cultures, weaving the complex webs of influence that lead to genuinely shared values and shared purpose.
- [Leaders Must Do More Than Inspire—We Must Shape Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/leaders-must-do-more-than-inspire-we-must-shape-networks/) - It is never enough to gather together a small cadre of true believers, because to achieve anything of any significance, larger networks must be brought to bear
- [Why We’re Better Off Assuming People Are Competent And Hardworking](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-were-better-off-assuming-people-are-competent-and-hardworking/) - We all like to imagine ourselves as heroes in our own story. Unlike others, we are witnesses to our internal process and get to observe our logic develop. So our thoughts makes perfect sense to us and it can be incredibly frustrating when others don’t see it as we do. Our inclination is to imagine them to be fools, simply incapable of grasping basic concepts. That’s why pundits tend to tell such facile stories. Blockbuster wasn’t paying attention to Netflix. Kodak ignored digital photography. Xerox PARC invented breakthrough products, but neglected to market them. None of these stories are accurate, but it’s far easier to portray a failure as a silly blunder, than admit to ourselves how easily it could happen to us. The hard truth is that we’re always wrong. Sometimes we’re off by a little and sometimes we’re off by a lot, but we’re always wrong. We succeed not by coming up with the “right” idea from the start, but by taking a Bayesian approach and becoming less wrong over time. The best way to do that is to assume other people are smart, competent and hardworking. Lazy fools will make themselves obvious soon enough. But by seeking out intelligence and virtue, we are not only much more likely to find it, but also to identify and correct deficiencies in ourselves and our thinking.
- [Happy 13th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/happy-13th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - When I started this blog back in 2009, the world was a very different place. First, and perhaps most obvious, we used to come up with brand names for our blogs instead of just using our real names. Social media was just becoming a thing and there was still debate about whether digital media was
- [We Need To Shift Our Mindsets To Compete In An Ecosystem-Driven World](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-need-to-shift-our-mindsets-to-compete-in-an-ecosystem-driven-world/) - Traditionally, strategy has been seen as a game of chess. Wise leaders survey the board of play, plan their moves carefully and execute flawlessly. That’s always been a fantasy, but it was close enough to reality to be helpful. Organizations could build up sustainable competitive advantage by painstakingly building up bargaining power within the value chain. Yet as Rita Gunther McGrath has pointed out, it’s no longer as important to “learn to plan” as it is to “plan to learn.” Today, a better metaphor for strategy is an online role-playing game, where you bring you certain capabilities and assets and connect with others to go on quests and discover new things along the way. Unlike chess, where everyone knows that they objective is to capture the opponent’s king, in today’s ecosystem-driven world the basis of competition is in continuous flux, so we cannot be absolutely sure of the objective when we start out, or even if our opponent is really an opponent and not a potential ally. That’s why strategy today requires a more Bayesian approach in which we don’t expect to get things right as much as we hope to become less wrong over time. Competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies, but the sum of all connections. Strategy, therefore, must be focused on deepening and widening networks of information, talent, partners, and consumers.”
- [It’s Time To Rethink The Change Gospel](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/its-time-to-rethink-the-change-gospel/) - In a nutshell, we are talking about change more, but doing it less. That’s a problem. Managers who want to be seen as change leaders launch too many initiatives. Employees, for their part, get jaded and wait for the newest idea to fail, just as the others before did. The result is inevitably innovation theater, rather than meaningful change. Clearly, every organization needs to drive meaningful change. However, too many initiatives can undermine genuine transformation, leading to change fatigue and innovation theater. We need to make better choices about the projects we pursue. We can’t evaluate each program in a vacuum, but must take into account employee and organizational health. In Mapping Innovation, I made the point that innovation isn’t about coming with ideas, but solving problems and I think that’s a good place to start when evaluating a transformation project. If successful, would this project solve an important problem? Is there a general consensus that it’s a problem we need to solve? How would solving it impact our business? One of the things I’ve noticed in helping organizations pursue transformation is that questions like these are rarely considered. In fact, executives are usually surprised when we bring them up at the very beginning of the process. All too often, change is seen as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end. We need to rethink the change gospel. There’s far too much talk and not nearly enough impact. Change should be an inspiration, not one more burden in an otherwise exhausted workplace. It’s time to refocus our efforts on change that matters. In most organizations, that will mean committing to fewer initiatives, but seeing them through.
- [4 Ways Hucksters, Gurus And Consultants Fool Us (And Usually Themselves Too)](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/4-ways-hucksters-gurus-and-consultants-fool-us-and-usually-themselves/) - In Richard Feynman’s 1974 commencement speech at Cal-Tech, he recounted going to a new-age resort where people were learning reflexology. A man was sitting in a hot tub rubbing a woman’s big toe and asking the instructor, “Is this the pituitary?” Unable to contain himself, the great physicist blurted out, “You’re a hell of a long way from the pituitary, man!” His point was that it’s relatively easy to make something appear “scientific” by, for example, having people wear white coats or present charts and tables, but that doesn’t really make it science. True science is testable and falsifiable. We can’t merely state what you believe to be true, but must give others a means to test it and prove us wrong. This is important because it’s very easy for things to look like the truth, but actually be false. That’s why we need to be careful, especially when it’s something we already believe in. The burden is even greater when it’s an idea that we want to be true. That’s when we need to redouble our efforts, dig in and make sure we verify our facts. Hucksters, gurus and consultants love to prey on our weakness for authority by saying that “the science says…” The truth is that science doesn’t “say”anything, it merely produces hypotheses that haven’t been disproven yet. Some, like Darwin’s theory of natural selection, have been around a long time, so we’re pretty sure that they’re true, but even in that case a large part of it was debunked within months. The ‘theory” as we know it now is what survived. There are no absolute answers. There is, as Sam Arbesman has put it, a half life of facts. We can only make decisions on higher or lower levels of confidence. In the real world, there are no “sure things,” and don’t let hucksters, gurus and consultants tell you any different.
- [Designing Effective Change Tactics Starts With Viable Targets](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/designing-effective-change-tactics-starts-with-viable-targets/) - When we’re passionate about something, we want to take action. We want to launch an initiative, start a business, hit the streets, get stuff done. Yet our bias for action can be a trap that undermines—or even completely derail—our efforts. No matter what our intentions, actions without a sound strategy are doomed to fail. Corporate change initiatives often start with a big kick-off campaign. These rarely convince anybody of anything, but can trigger opposition and kill the effort before it ever really gets started. People who feel strongly about social change often start by organizing a march. Yet marches are a very flawed tactic, vulnerable to sabotage and rarely achieve anything substantial. Effective transformation strategy always involves mobilizing people to influence institutions. That’s where you start. Once you’ve determined what your strategy needs to be targeted at, you can begin to design potent tactics. There are time-tested tools that have proven out over decades that can help you do this. If you’re serious about change, you should learn them.
- [The Transformative Power Of Purpose](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/the-transformative-power-of-purpose/) - Values are how an enterprise honors its purpose. Yet living up to them involves certain costs. You can’t say you value employees and then lay them off at the first sign of trouble, just like you can’t say you value innovation and obsess about quarterly earnings. You can’t commit to a purpose without making hard choices. ​​When the Business Roundtable issued a statement in 2019 that discarded the old notion that the sole purpose of a business is to provide value to shareholders, many were dismayed. Some thought it was just another example of misguided altruism by “elites.” Others saw it as a cynical and disingenuous ploy. The truth is that the whole idea of shareholder capitalism was a copout. It gave leaders an excuse for not making choices because it implied that whatever the stock market valued was somehow more relevant than human agency. The anonymous collective of the market was primary, while individual choice was considered to be less consequential. The ascendant concept of “stakeholder capitalism,” unfortunately, isn’t much better. Surely we can’t value all stakeholders equally. So which communities should we choose to serve? Which consumers do we value over others? Which partners do we choose to get in bed with? What standards should we insist that our suppliers meet? None of these are easy questions. If for instance, we stop working with suppliers who don’t meet certain environmental or governance standards, we take away jobs from certain communities and run the risk of diminishing our ability to serve our customers. So we need to be thoughtful and offer intelligent standards making tough and uncertain choices The reason so few organizations find themselves unable to pursue a purpose isn’t because they don’t want to, but because it is hard. Purpose doesn’t begin with a single step, but with a diverging path. We must choose one direction at the expense of another, or stay mired and lost, unable to move forward.
- [Revolutions Don’t Begin With a Slogan, They Begin With A Cause](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/revolutions-dont-begin-with-a-slogan-they-begin-with-a-cause/) - Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenski has been compared to great orators like Winston Churchill. In the English House of Commons, he vowed to fight “in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.” In a speech to the US Congress he told President Biden, “​​Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.” While new to politics, Zelensky is no neophyte when it comes to delivering a line. A longtime actor and comic who was the voice of “Paddington” in the Ukrainian adaptations of the hit movie, his production company Kvartal 95 produced a series of hits. It would be easy to boil his effectiveness down to his communication skills. That would be a mistake. Zelenski’s eloquence derives its power from the plight of his people, their passion for freedom and their unwillingness to return to an often troubled past. One reason why change so often fails is that we spend so much time focusing on wordsmithing that we neglect why the need for change arose in the first place. That is where we must start.
- [Leveraging The Power Of Story](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/leveraging-the-power-of-story/) - Stories have the power to unite us because their themes are universal. We can all relate to a hero, identify with their struggle and then revel in their triumph or, as is sometimes the case, learn a lesson from their tragedy. By telling a familiar story in an unfamiliar context, we can also gain insight and understanding into the hopes and fears of others. The only problem with stories, as John Hagel has pointed out, is that they are self-contained—they have a beginning, a middle and an end. Narratives, like Darth Vader, are less clear cut. They are open ended and still to be determined. In other words, a narrative is a story that is still in progress and that we can still participate in and influence. Narratives can become strategic when they give meaning to a mission. Southwest’s strategic narrative to be “THE low cost airline,” helped it rocket past the competition. Steve Jobs’ insistence on creating products that were “insanely great" helped make Apple the most valuable company on the planet. General Stanley McChrystal’s revelation that “to defeat a network you need to become a network,” turned things around for the US military in Iraq. That’s what makes the art of storytelling so powerful and so important. When Shakespeare’s King Henry needed his soldiers to fight, he did not offer to raise their pay or threaten them with the stockade, but told a story to inspire them to go “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…” In the final analysis, we live our lives not for external rewards, but for intrinsic meaning and we determine meaning through the stories we tell, the narratives we adopt and the missions to which we dedicate the best of our talents and energies.
- [Don’t Hate Your Haters, Leverage Them To Your Advantage](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/dont-hate-your-haters-leverage-them-to-your-advantage/) - When we feel passionately about change, we want to take action. We want to take to the streets, argue against injustice. We want to make decisions, launch a business, get things done. Activity gives us something to point to. It’s something rather than nothing. When we take action we can tell ourselves that we’re not just sitting idly by. Yet actions without a sound strategy are doomed to fail. That’s why we need to learn to love our haters. If we listen to them they will show us how to win. Charles Hamilton Houston could have railed against the doctrine of “separate but equal,” but he leveraged it to take down Jim Crow instead. Otpor used the Milošević regime’s own repressive tactics to their advantage. Elon Musk didn’t ask Tesla’s customers to sacrifice, but satisfied their desire for high-performance cars. In each case, redefining the target made all the difference. “Separate but equal” was designed for grade schools, but its significance changed completely when applied to graduate programs. A cop on the beat is almost all-powerful, but vulnerable at a precinct. The Tesla Roadster wasn’t designed for regular families to use every day, but for millionaires to zip around in on the weekends. To change the world, we need to learn to see it differently. We can’t just fight the same losing battles. We need to redefine the terms of our struggle in ways that tilt the playing field to our advantage. In the final analysis, that’s what makes the difference between people who want to make a point and those who actually make a difference.
- [Here’s How You Build Transformative Teams](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/heres-how-you-build-transformative-teams/) - The truth is that there is no effective answer for the question, “how do we find innovative people?” Talent isn’t something you hire or win in a war, it’s something you empower. It depends less on the innate skills of individuals than how people are supported and led. As workplace expert David Burkus puts it, “talent doesn’t make the team. The team makes the talent.” All too often, leaders take a transactional view and try to manage by incentives. They believe that if they contrive the right combination of carrots and sticks, they can engineer creativity and performance. Yet the world doesn’t work that way. We can’t simply treat people as means to an end and expect them to achieve at a high level. We have to treat them as ends in themselves. Effective leaders provide their teams with a sense of shared purpose and common mission. They provide an environment of psychological safety not because of some misplaced sense of altruism, but to enable honest and candid collaboration. They cultivate a culture of connection that leads to genuine relationships among colleagues. What’s crucial for leaders to understand is that the problems we need to solve now are far too complex for us to rely on individual accomplishments. The high value work today is done by teams and that is what we need to focus on. It’s no longer enough for leaders to simply plan and direct action. We need to inspire and empower belief.
- [We Need To Stop Searching For The One Magical Thing Can Make A Business Successful](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-to-searching-for-the-one-magical-thing-can-make-a-business-successful/) - Instead of trying to find that magical skill or strategy which will rocket us to the top, we’d be better off preparing ourselves for the rocky road ahead.
- [The 5 Immutable Laws Of Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-5-immutable-laws-of-change/) - Throughout history many have sought to create change and most have failed, but a few succeeded brilliantly. Starting out with very different challenges, philosophies and personalities, they eventually all arrived at the same principles that allowed them to prevail. There is a reason why some change leaders succeed while others fail. At some point everybody needs to decide whether they would rather make a point or make a difference and, in the end, those that prevail choose the latter. It starts with these 5 immutable laws of change. At some point everybody needs to decide whether they would rather make a point or make a difference
- [When Should You Collaborate and When Should You Compete?](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/when-should-you-collaborate-and-when-should-you-compete/) - You collaborate to reveal, but compete to develop and build. To build a great enterprise, you need to learn to do both zealously
- [We Need To Stop Cheerleading Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-need-to-stop-cheerleading-change/) - My friend Srdja Popović once told me that the goal of a revolution should be to become mainstream, to be mundane and ordinary. If you are successful it should be difficult to explain what was won because the previous order seems so unbelievable. Yet many leaders approach change initiatives as if they were swashbuckling heroes in their own action movie. The simple truth is that every change initiative starts out weak and vulnerable, without a track record of success. People are bound to be suspicious. They already have everyday struggles and don’t want someone else’s idea to add to their burden. Most often, they’ll pay lip service, take a “wait and see” approach and then turn away at the first sign of trouble. The problem with cheerleading change is that it puts the cart before the horse. People don’t embrace change because you came up with a fancy slogan, they adopt what they find meaningful, that creates genuine value to their lives and their work. Without that, all the happy talk just seems like a con. We need to have more reverence for the mundane and ordinary. For better or worse, it works and it’s what people know. To create genuine transformation we need to get out of the business of selling ideas and into the business of selling success. If we can help allies to make change successful, even on a small scale, they can bring in others who bring in others still. That can’t be done through persuasion, we have to start by identifying people who are already enthusiastic about change. Change isn’t about communication, but empowerment.
- [There Are Important Lessons We Should Learn From The War In Ukraine](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/there-are-important-lessons-we-should-learn-from-the-war-in-ukraine/) - We tend to imagine people will act rationally and that, by taking their interests into account, we can come to some sort of reasonable strategy. Yet the events in Ukraine belie that basic assumption. At each point Putin’s cold calculations resulted in the opposite of what he wanted, pushing Ukraine further and further out of his grasp. Strategy is more than a game of chess. Consider the ultimatum game. One player is given a dollar and needs to propose how to split it with another player. On a rational basis, the second player would accept anything over a penny, but decades of experiments across different cultures show that’s not true. People will reject an offer that offends their dignity. Putin could have accepted Yushchenko, the opposition candidate for President in 2004, who was not, by any stretch of the imagination, anti-Russian, but he poisoned him instead and ignited the Orange Revolution. He could have accepted Ukraine’s desire for closer trade relations with Europe, but he couldn’t abide and triggered the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. The original intention of the Ukrainian people was not to pull away from Russia, which many, if not most, considered a “brother” country, but to pursue a so-called “Finnish model” that would maintain good relations with both Russia and the west. Yet Putin could not bring himself to recognize the Ukrainians’ desire for a separate and distinct identity. That’s why he launched a war that Russia cannot win and that the rest of the world found so repugnant that they leveled such crippling sanctions. Putin's actions will impoverish the Russian people and endanger the existence of his regime. It doesn’t make any sense until you realize that Putin was also acting not on any rational basis, but because of how he has come to see his identity and place in the world. It will likely be his undoing.
- [4 Reasons Why People Resist Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/4-reasons-why-people-resist-change/) - Probably the greatest misconception about change is that it fails because people don’t understand it. The truth is that change usually fails because it is actively sabotaged. The status quo has inertia on its side and never yields its power gracefully. Anytime you ask people to change what they think or how they act, you can expect resistance. Yet not all resistance is the same. Some people are merely skeptical about change, they are looking for evidence based, rational arguments that the proposed action will achieve positive results. Often, however, resistance is irrational and no amount of evidence will be persuasive. People are actively working to subvert change efforts. This is the most visceral kind of resistance. We can motivate people to push through fatigue or bear the burden of inevitable switching costs, but we can’t ask people to stop being who they think they are. When people see themselves in a particular way, they rarely change and, in fact, will pay almost any price to stay true to their inner core. What can be hardest about change, especially when we feel passionately about it, is that at some point, we need to accept that others will not embrace it and we will have to leave some behind. Not every change is for everybody. Some will have to pursue a different journey, one to which they can devote their passions and seek out their own truths. We can’t let our transformation efforts be defined by those who want it to fail. Not everyone will embrace change. Instead of wasting time and effort to convince the opposition, we should focus our efforts on empowering those who want it to succeed. However, we need to learn to recognize different kinds of resistance so that we can address genuine issues.
- [Leading Through Uncertainty](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/leading-through-uncertainty/) - It is through managing complexity, not avoiding it, that we can most effectively impact the world. The truth is that uncertainty is only a problem if you try to control it. The framers of the US Constitution designed it to be a guide, not a blueprint. That’s been the key to its success. They recognized it would have to evolve and grow over time and designed a system of checks and balances to curb the human potential for malice. We need to start thinking less like engineers, designing just the right combination of levers and pulleys to account for every eventuality, and more like gardeners, seeding and nurturing ecosystems, pruning as we go. Gardeners don’t need to know the exact outcome of everything they plant, but can seek to improve the harvest each season. In a world driven by networks and ecosystems, we can no longer treat strategy as if it were a game of chess, planning out each move with near perfect precision and foresight. The world moves far too fast for that. By the time we’ve put the final touches on the master plan, the assumptions upon which it was made are often no longer true. Rather, we must constantly explore, widening and deepening connections to ecosystems of talent, technology and information. That’s how we uncover new paths that are often unseen from our usual perch and leverage complexity to our advantage. Breakthrough innovations arise out of unexpected encounters. The next big thing always starts out looking like nothing at all. Today, competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies, but the sum of all connections.
- [The 3 Things You Need to Build an All Star Team](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-3-things-you-need-to-build-an-all-star-team/) - We need to change the way we evaluate, recruit, manage and train employees.
- [We Need To Stop Doubling Down On Bad Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/we-need-to-stop-doubling-down-on-bad-ideas/) - Business today moves fast. So we like simple statements that speak to larger truths. It always seems that if we can find a simple rule of thumb—or maybe 3 to 5 bullet points for the really big picture stuff—managing a business would be much easier. Whenever a decision needs to be made, we could simply refer to the rule and go on with our day. Unfortunately, that often leads to cartoonish slogans rather than genuine managerial wisdom. Catchy ideas like “the war for talent,” “a VUCA world” and “creating a sense of urgency around change” end up taking the place of thorough analysis and good sense. When that happens, we’re in big trouble. The problem is, as Ludwig Wittgenstein pointed out, “no course of action can be determined by a rule, because any course of action can be made out to accord with the rule.” Rules often appear to make sense on the surface, but when we try to apply them in the real world we run into trouble. We live in a complex universe and oversimplifying it leads us astray. We need to stop worshiping the cult of ideas and start focusing on the problems we need to solve. The truth is that the real world is a confusing place. We have little choice but to walk the earth, pick things up along the way and make the best judgments we can. The decisions we make are highly situational and defy hard and fast rules. There is no algorithm for life. You have to actually live it, see what happens and learn from your mistakes.
- [We’re In For A Decade Of Generational Strife. Here's How To Navigate It.](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/were-in-for-a-decade-of-generational-strife-heres-how-to-navigate-it/) - The almost seismic shift in values that the transition from Boomer to Millennial dominance represents would be enough to set the stage for conflict. What will make this decade even more difficult is that the demographic impact is hitting at the same time as other important shifts in technology, resources and migration patterns. The last time society has endured this much of a pressure cooker was the 1920s, and that ended badly. We are already feeling the effects. The mismanaged “War of Terror,” the Great Recession and then the Covid pandemic undermined faith in institutions and paved the way for the rise of popular authoritarianism and the decline of democratic institutions. The battle for the liberal world order is being fought in, of all places, Ukraine, as I write this. What I think should be most salient about our situation at this point in history is that we are here because of choices that were made. Yes, there were cultural and economic forces at play, but the Boomer generation chose to value the individual over the community, shareholders over other stakeholders and to embrace GDP as a proxy for the overall health of society. We can, as Ukraine has been doing for the past 20 years, make different choices. We can choose our communities over ourselves, resilience over optimization, and to nurture rather than to dominate. Most of all, we need to invest to increase the productive, environmental and human potentials of our society so that we can better face the challenges ahead. Make no mistake. This will be a struggle, as all worthy things are.
- [Learning From Mistakes Is What Separates Truly Revolutionary Leaders From Everyone Else](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/learning-from-mistakes-is-what-separates-revolutionary-leaders-from-everyone-else/) - There’s nothing quite like the rapture of an epiphany, that initial flash of insight which is still pure and innocent, before the harsh realities of the world muck it up with a bunch of inconvenient facts, corollaries and exceptions. That’s when we can give ourselves to it wholeheartedly, without equivocation or bearing the burden of creeping doubt. What I’ve found in my research of revolutionary changemakers is that what makes the difference between success or failure isn’t necessarily the brilliance of the initial idea or even the passion and diligence of those who work to bring it about, but their ability to learn things along the way. They didn’t merely stay the course, they corrected it as many times as they had to until they won. Unfortunately, most never learn that simple lesson. They would rather make a point than make a difference and wear their failures like a badge of honor. After all, who but the most righteous could inspire such opposition? And who but the most pure could continue to persevere in the face of such constant defeat? That’s the really tough thing about change. To truly bring it about, we first must change ourselves.
- [The Inside Story Behind A Miracle Cure](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/sometimes-even-a-breakthrough-discovery-is-not-enough-you-have-to-have-the-strength-to-see-it-through/) - The amazing story of James Allison and his decades long struggle to bring a revolutionary new cure for cancer to market.
- [Why Purpose Matters](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/why-purpose-matters/) - If you believe in a rational universe, a business is little more than a set of transactions. The nature of the firm, in this view, is simply to minimize transaction costs and skilled managers should focus on maximizing bargaining power among stakeholders in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Yet the world doesn’t actually work that way. Consider the ultimatum game. One player is given a dollar and needs to propose how to split it with another player. If it is accepted both players get the agreed upon shares. If it is not accepted, neither player gets anything. If the world was completely rational, the second player would accept even a single penny. After all, a penny is better than nothing. Yet decades of experiments across different cultures show that most people do not accept a penny. In fact, offers of less than 30 cents are routinely rejected as unfair. It offends people’s dignity and sense of self. For many of the same reasons, there is increasing evidence that financial targets don’t motivate employees. No one wants to be a cog in someone else’s wheel. That is the value of purpose. It bolsters, rather than undermines, our identity. When people feel that they are part of a common project, they feel a sense of ownership, that they are ends in themselves rather than means to an end. It uplifts, rather than demeans, us. It fortifies, rather than undermines, our spirit. What separates great leaders from mediocre managers is that the leaders do more than calculate, they provide meaning to an endeavor that makes it more than merely a common enterprise. It becomes a collective mission.
- [4 Myths That Are Killing Business Today](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/4-myths-that-are-killing-business-today/) - The unicorn is perhaps unique among myths in that the creature doesn’t appear in the mythology of any culture. The ancient Greeks, for all of their centaurs, hydras and medusas, never had any stories of unicorns, they simply thought that some existed somewhere. Of course, nobody had ever seen one, but they believed others had. Beliefs are amazing things. We don’t need any evidence or rational basis to believe something to be true. In fact, research has shown that, when confronted with scientific evidence which conflicts with preexisting views, people tend to question the objectivity of the research rather than revisit their beliefs. Also, as Sam Arbesman has explained, our notions of the facts themselves change over time. George Soros and others have noted that information has a reflexive quality. We can’t possibly verify every proposition, so we tend to take cues from those around us, especially when they are reinforced by authority figures, like consultants and media personalities. Over time, the zeitgeist diverges further from reality and myths evolve into established doctrine.
- [The Lifecycle of a Breakthrough](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/the-lifecycle-of-a-breakthrough/) - The global activist Srdja Popović once told me that when a revolution is successful, it’s difficult to explain the previous order, because it comes to be seen as unbelievable. Just as it’s hard to imagine a world without electricity, internal combustion or antibiotics today, it will be difficult to explain our lives today to future generations. In much the same way, we cannot understand the future through linear extrapolation. We can, of course, look at today’s breakthroughs in things like artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and quantum computing, but what we don’t see is the second or third order effects, how they will shape societies and how societies will choose to shape them. Looking at Edison’s lightbulb would tell you nothing about radios, rock music and the counterculture of the 60s, much like taking a ride in Ford’s “Model T” would offer little insight into the suburbs and shopping malls his machine would make possible. Ecosystems are, by definition, chaotic and non-linear. What is important is that we allow for the unexpected. Innovation always requires exploration. All who wander are not lost.
- [Don’t Confuse A Moment With A Movement](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/dont-confuse-a-moment-with-a-movement/) - It’s easy to confuse a moment with a movement. A movement involves linking together small, but often disparate groups in the context of shared purpose and shared values. A moment occurs when an event triggers a temporary decrease in resistance to an action or idea that opens up a window of opportunity. Movements require preparation. Moments require little more than luck. That’s why we see protesters suddenly fill the streets and then, almost as suddenly, dissipate with little or no impact. It’s why some startups catch investors’ imagination and race to billion-dollar unicorn status, only to crash and burn just as fast. Politicians’ fortunes rise and fall, social media stars have their moment in the sun before disappearing into obscurity. Building a movement requires work. You need to get beyond mere grievances and articulate an affirmative vision. You need to identify and speak to shared values and build on common ground. You need to invite people to join your cause for their own reasons, which may be different from your own. And then you need to focus your efforts on influencing the institutions that can actually make a difference. So we should never mistake a moment for a movement. However, we can build a movement in anticipation for a moment that we expect will come. Gandhi trained his disciples for ten years before the opportunity for the Salt March came along. King’s efforts failed in Albany, but triumphed in Birmingham under better circumstances. Polish protesters were ill-prepared in 1970, but learned from the mistakes and later brought down an empire. The crucial point to remember is that moments of opportunity are rare. We need to prepare for them. So that when they happen and fortune smiles on us we are ready. We have everything in place. That’s how radical, transformational change comes about.
- [Everybody Is Looking For The Secret To Success.  Unfortunately, Many Chase Unicorns Instead.](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/everybody-is-looking-for-the-secret-to-success-unfortunately-many-chase-unicorns-instead/) - In an age of intelligent machines, we only create true value through imagination. Machines can kill unicorns, but only we can imagine where to hunt for secrets.
- [Every Changemaker Should Know These 3 Strategies (But Most Don’t)](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/every-changemaker-should-know-these-3-strategies-but-most-dont/) - In the final analysis, the reason that most would-be revolutionaries fail is that they assume that the righteousness of their cause will save them. It will not. Injustice, inequity and ineffectiveness can thrive for decades and even centuries, far longer than a human lifespan. If you think that your idea will prevail simply because you believe in it, you will be sorely disappointed. Tough, important battles can only be won with good strategy and tactics, which is why successful change agents learn how to adopt the principle of Schwerpunkt. The idea is that instead of trying to defeat your enemy with overwhelming force generally, you want to deliver overwhelming force and win a decisive victory at a particular point of attack. Yet Schwerpunkt is a dynamic, not a static concept. You have to constantly innovate your approach as your opposition adapts to whatever success you may achieve. For example, the civil rights movement had its first successes with boycotts, but eventually moved on to sit-ins, “Freedom Rides,” community actions and eventually, mass marches. The key to success isn’t any particular tactic, leader or slogan but strategic flexibility. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most change efforts lack. All too often they get caught up in a strategy and double down, because it feels good to believe in something, even if it’s failure. Change, like many things, largely boils down to strategy and execution. It’s not a simple matter of belief or passion. You need to learn how to operate effectively, by studying those who succeeded and those who failed, building on your successes, dusting yourself off after the inevitable setbacks, correcting mistakes and returning to fight with renewed vigor.
- [The Economics of Disinformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-economics-of-disinformation/) - We have blundered into a situation in which we increasingly see—and believe—things that aren’t true. We have essentially created a global village at war with itself. At its core, the solution to the problem of disinformation has less to do with information than it has to do with trust. Living in a connected world demands that we transcend our own context and invite in the perspectives and experiences of others. Inevitably, we don’t like much of what we see. When we are confronted with the strange and unusual we must decide whether to assimilate and adopt the views of others, or to assert the primacy of our own. The desire for recognition can result in clashes and confrontation, which lead us to seek out those who look, think and act in ways that reinforce our sense of self. We build echo chambers that deny external reality to satisfy these tribal instincts. Yet as Francis Fukuyama pointed out in his book "Identity," there is another option. We can seek to create a larger sense of self through building communities rooted in shared values. When viewed through the prism of common undertaking rather than that tribe, diverse perspectives can be integrated and contribute to a common cause. What’s missing in our public discourse today isn’t more or better information. We already have far more access to knowledge than at any time in human history. What we lack is a shared sense of mission and purpose. We need a shared endeavor to which we can contribute the best of our energies and for which we can welcome the contributions of others. Without shared purpose, we are left only with identity, solipsism and the mythmaking we require to make ourselves feel worthwhile.
- [How The “Uber Economy” Is Killing Innovation, Prosperity And Entrepreneurship](https://digitaltonto.com/2022/how-the-uber-economy-is-killing-innovation-and-prosperity/) - The truth is that we have a major problem and, while Uber didn’t cause it, the company is emblematic of it. Put simply, a market economy runs on innovation. It is only through consistent and significant gains in productivity that we can create real prosperity. The data and evidence strongly suggests that we have failed to do that for the past 50 years. We need to do better. Clearly, we cannot continue “Ubering” ourselves to death. We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption, which produces the kind of prosperity that lifts all boats, rather than outsized profits for a meager few. It is clearly in our power to do that, but we must begin to make better choices. First, we need to recognize that innovation is something that people do, but instead of investing in human capital, we are actively undermining it. In the US, food insecurity has become an epidemic on college campuses. To make matters worse, the cost of college has created a student debt crisis, essentially condemning our best and brightest to decades of indentured servitude. To add insult to injury, healthcare costs continue to soar. Should we be at all surprised that entrepreneurship is in decline? Second, we need to rebuild scientific capital. As Vannevar Bush once put it, “There must be a stream of new scientific knowledge to turn the wheels of private and public enterprise.” To take just one example, it is estimated that the $3.8 billion invested in the Human Genome Project generated nearly $800 billion of economic activity as of 2011. Clearly, we need to renew our commitment to basic research. Finally, we need to rededicate ourselves to free and fair markets. In the United States, by almost every metric imaginable, whether it is industry concentration, occupational licensing, higher prices, lower wages or whatever else you want to look at capitalism has been weakened by poor regulation and oversight. Not surprisingly, innovation has suffered. Perhaps most importantly, we need to shift our focus from disrupting markets to creating them, from “The Hacker Way”, to tackling grand challenges and from an reductionist approach to an economy based on dignity and well being. Make no mistake: The “Uber Economy” is not the solution, it’s the problem.
- [These 4 Major Shifts Will Drive The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/these-4-major-shifts-will-drive-the-21st-century/) - The truth is that every disruptive era is not only fraught with danger, but also opportunity. Every generation faces unique challenges and must find the will to solve them.
- [Top Posts of 2021](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/top-posts-of-2021/) - More than anything else, 2021 seemed like a year-in-waiting. We waited for the vaccine and then we waited for herd immunity to take hold. We waited to go back to work and school and then we waited for the supply chain crisis to pass. Most of all, we waited for things to go back to
- [The 2021 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-2021-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - Many hoped that this year would be a return to normalcy and in some ways it has been. The trend toward popular authoritarianism seems to have ebbed and, for the most part, economies are back on track. People have largely returned to work and kids have mostly gone back to school. At least in the
- [Why History Converges And Cascades](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-history-converges-and-cascades/) - In my book Cascades, I explained how small groups, loosely connected but united by a shared purpose drive transformational change. It happens gradually, almost imperceptibly, at first. Connections accumulate under the surface, barely noticed, as small groups slowly begin to link together and congeal into a network. Eventually things hit a tipping point. It’s not just people that are networked though, events are as well. There are always unseen connections between the forces of economics, technology, culture, politics and many other things. Much like social and political movements, the effects are almost impossible to detect at first, but can accelerate in nonlinear ways that defy the prediction of experts. By all indications, we are in such a period now. We are undergoing four major shifts in technology, resources, migration and demography that will be transformative. Clearly, these shifts will create significant opportunities, but also great peril. The last time we saw this much change afoot was during the 1920s and that didn’t end well. Yet that doesn’t have to happen. In 1948 we were able to create a new world order that ushered in an era of peace and prosperity unequalled in human history. The events of 1968 and 1989 also helped to bring about enormous progress. The difference between those epochs wasn’t so much due to any underlying forces, but the choices that were made. Every generation faces great challenges. Some are remembered for their achievements, others for their tragedies. Like earlier generations, we have important choices to make. We should endeavor to choose wisely.
- [Change Consultants Recommend You Do These 3 Things. Don’t.](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/change-consultants-recommend-you-do-these-3-things-dont/) - There is an inherent flaw in human nature that has endowed us with a burning desire to convince skeptics. So it shouldn’t be surprising that change consultants focus on persuasion. Nothing validates a high fee like some clever wordsmithing designed to persuade those hostile to the ideas of those paying the bill. Yet anybody who has ever been married or had children knows how difficult it can be to convince even a single person of something they don’t want to be convinced of. To set out to persuade hundreds—or even thousands—that they should adopt an idea that they are inherently hostile to is not only hubris, but incredibly foolish. It is also unnecessary. Scientific research suggests that the tipping point for change is only a 25% minority. Once a quarter of the people involved become committed to change, the rest will largely go along. So there is no need to convince skeptics. Your time and effort will be much better spent helping those who are enthusiastic about change to make it succeed. That’s what the change consultants get wrong. You don’t “manage” change. You empower it by enabling those who believe in it to show it can work and then bringing in others who can bring in others still. The truth is that you don’t need a clever slogan to bring change about, you need a network. That’s how you create a movement that drives transformation.
- [We’re In A Productivity Crisis. We Need To Get Serious About Solving It.](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/solving-the-productivity-puzzle/) - In theory at least, reviving productivity shouldn’t be that complicated. It seems that everything we need to do we’ve done before. We built a scientific architecture that remains unparalleled even today. We led the world in educating our people. American markets were the most competitive on the planet. Yet somewhere we lost our way. Beginning in the early 1970s, we started reducing our investment in scientific research and public education. In the early 1980s, the Chicago school of antitrust law started to gain traction and antitrust enforcement began to wane. Since 2000, competitive markets in the United States have been in serious decline. None of this was inevitable. We made choices and those choices had consequences. We can make other ones. We can choose to invest in discovering new knowledge, educate our children without impoverishing them, to demand our industries compete and hold our institutions to account. We’ve done these things before and can do so again. All that’s left is the will and the understanding that the economy doesn’t exist in the financial press, on the floor of the stock markets or in the boardrooms of large corporations, but in our own welfare as well as in our ability to actualize our potential and realize our dreams. Our economy should be there to serve our needs, not the other way around.
- [We Need New Skills For A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/we-need-new-skills-for-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - The industrial revolution drove a shift from animal power to machine power and from physical skills to cognitive skills. What we’re seeing now is a similar shift from cognitive skills to social skills as automation takes over many routine cognitive tasks, increasingly the “job” that humans are valued for is relating to other humans. There are some things a machine will never do. An algorithm will never strike out at a Little League game, see its child born or have a bad day at work. We can, of course, train computers to mimic these things by training them on data, but they will never actually have the experience and that limits their ability to fully relate to human emotions. To see how this is likely to play out, simply go and visit your local Apple Store. It is a highly automated operation, without traditional checkout aisles or cash registers. Still, the first thing that catches your eye is a sea of blue shirts waiting to help you. They are not there to execute transactions, which you can easily do online, but to engage with you, understand what you’re trying to achieve and help you get it done. We’ve seen similar trends at work even in highly technical fields. A study of 19.9 million scientific papers found that not only has the percentage of papers published by teams steadily increased over the past 50 years, the size of those teams has also grown and their research is more highly cited. The journal Nature got similar results and also found that the work being done is far more interdisciplinary and done at greater distances. What’s becoming clear is that collaboration is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage. The ultimate skill is no longer knowledge or proficiency in a particular domain, but to build a shared purpose with others, who possess a diverse set of skills and perspectives, in order to solve complex problems. In other words, the most important jobs the ones we do in the service of a common objective.
- [Here's What You Need To Know To Compete In An Ecosystem Driven World](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-what-you-need-to-know-to-compete-in-an-ecosystem-driven-world/) - To thrive in an ecosystem, you have to connect and build up the nodes around you
- [We Can’t Afford To Just Move Fast And Break Things Anymore](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/we-cant-afford-to-just-move-fast-and-break-things-anymore/) - Moving fast and breaking things only seems like a good idea in a stable world. When you operate in a safe environment, it’s okay to take a little risk and see what happens. Clearly, we no longer live in such a world (if we ever did). Taking on more risk in financial markets led to the Great Recession. Being blase about data security has nearly destroyed our democracy. Failure to prepare for a pandemic has nearly brought modern society to its knees. It’s hard to see how, by any tangible metric, any of this has made us better off. We set out to disrupt industries, but disrupted people instead. It wasn’t always like this. Throughout our history we have asked hard questions and made good choices about technological progress. As we enter a new era of innovation, we desperately need to recapture some of that wisdom. Over the next decade, the dangers will only increase. We will undergo four major shifts in technology, resources, migration and demographics. To put that in perspective, a similar shift in demography was enough to make the 60s a tumultuous decade. We haven’t seen a confluence of so many disruptive forces since the 1920s and that didn’t end well. Unfortunately it’s far too easy to underinvest in order to mitigate the risk of a danger that may never come to fruition. Moving fast and breaking things can seem attractive because the costs are often diffuse. Although it has impoverished society as a whole and made us worse off in so many ways, it has created a small cadre of fabulously wealthy plutocrats. Yet history is not destiny. We have the power to shape our path by making better choices. We can abandon the cult of disruption and begin to invest in resilience. In fact, we have to. By this point there should be no doubt that the dangers are real. The only question is whether we will act now or simply wait for it to happen and accept the consequences.
- [Why We Need To Invest In An Innovation Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-we-need-to-invest-in-an-innovation-economy/) - The Cold War was fundamentally different from any conflict in history. It was, to be sure, less over land, blood and treasure than it was about ideas. Communist countries believed that their ideology would prevail. They were wrong. The Berlin Wall fell and capitalism, it seemed, was triumphant. Today, however, capitalism is in real trouble. Besides the threat of a rising China, the system seems to be crumbling from within. Income inequality in developed countries is at 50-year highs. In the US, the bastion of capitalism, markets have weakened by almost every imaginable metric. This wasn’t what we imagined winning would look like. Yet we can’t blame capitalism. The truth is that its earliest thinkers warned about the potential for excesses that lead to market failure. The fact is that we did this to ourselves. We believed that we could blindly leave our fates to market and technological forces. We were wrong. Prosperity doesn’t happen by itself. We need to invest in an innovation economy. At the end of World War II, America made important investments to create the world’s greatest innovation economy. The GI Bill made what is perhaps the biggest investment ever in human capital, sending millions to college and creating a new middle class. Investments in institutions such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would create scientific capital that would fuel US industry. Unfortunately, we abandoned that very successful playbook. Over the past 20 years, college tuition in the US has roughly doubled in the last 20 years. Perhaps not surprisingly, we’ve fallen to fifth among OECD countries for post-secondary education. The ones who do graduate are often forced into essentially decades of indentured servitude in the form of student loans. At the same time, government investment in research as a percentage of GDP has been declining for decades, limiting our ability to produce the kinds of breakthrough discoveries that lead to exciting new industries. What passes for innovation these days displaces workers, but does not lead to significant productivity gains. Legislation designed to rectify the situation and increase our competitiveness stalled in the Senate. So after 250 years, capitalism remains pretty much as Adam Smith first conceived, powerful yet fragile, always at risk of being undermined and corrupted by the same basic animal spirits that it depends on to set prices efficiently. He never wrote, nor is there any indication he ever intended, that markets should be left to their own devices. In fact, he and others warned us that markets need to be actively promoted and protected. We are free to choose. We need to choose more wisely.
- [3 Management Myths That We Desperately Need To Unlearn](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/3-management-myths-that-we-desperately-need-to-unlearn/) - Mark Twain is reported to have said, “It's not what you don't know that kills you, it's what you know for sure that ain't true.” Ignorance of facts is easily remedied. We can read books, watch documentaries or simply do a quick Google search. Yet our misapprehensions and biases endure, even in the face of contradicting facts. The truth is that much of what we believe has less to do with how we weigh evidence than how we see ourselves. In fact, fMRI studies have suggested have shown that evidence which contradicts our firmly held beliefs violates our sense of identity. Instead of adapting our views, we double down and lash out at those who criticize them. We can never validate an idea backward, only forward. No amount of analysis can shape reality. We need to continually test our ideas, reconsider them and adapt them to ever-changing conditions. The problem with so many failed business concepts isn’t necessarily in their design, but that they become elevated into something approaching the sublime. That’s why we shouldn’t believe everything we think. There are simply too many ways to get things wrong, while getting them right is always a relatively narrow path. Or, as Richard Feynman put it, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”
- [The Ultimate Code](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/the-ultimate-code/) - The human genome is truly the ultimate code and unravelling its mysteries will create excitement and wonder, fear and loathing.
- [Not All Who Wander Are Lost](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/not-all-who-wander-are-lost/) - I’ve had the opportunity to meet and get to know many genuine changemakers over the years. Both of my books, in their own way, explored the question of what makes these people different. How are they able to make such an outsized impact, while most of us just seem to puddle along? Many believe that there is something innate about changemakers, that there is some intrinsic quality that makes them different. I never saw any evidence of that. In fact, many showed little early promise. Einstein couldn’t find a job out of school. As a young lawyer, Gandhi was so shy he couldn’t bring himself to speak in open court. Some spent decades laboring in obscurity before fate smiled upon them. What made the difference, in every case, is that someone came across a problem they couldn’t look away from; that they felt a burning passion to solve and wanted to devote their talents and energies to. For Einstein it was the idea of riding on a beam of light, for Gandhi it was humiliation he faced on a train. Others found it elsewhere If there is a constant theme it is this: They were exploring. In fact, that was often why early success eluded them, because they had their eyes on the horizon and not in front of them. They had a need to venture out, to encounter something beyond their immediate context. In effect, the prerequisite for finding something is to get up and go looking. Not all who wander are lost.
- [The Atom, The Bit And The Gene: Silicon Valley’s Innovator’s Dilemma](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-atom-the-bit-and-the-gene-silicon-valleys-innovators-dilemma/) - The next few decades before us will look a whole lot different than the past few. Moore’s Law is ending and we’re entering a new era of innovation. Our future will not be written in ones and zeros, but will be determined by our ability to use information to shape the physical world. The similarity of the atom, the bit and the gene as elemental concepts is hard to miss and they’ve allowed us to understand our universe in a visceral, substantial way. Still, they arose in vastly different domains and have been largely applied to separate and distinct fields. In the future, however, we can expect vastly greater convergence between the three. The truth is that innovation is combination and has, in truth, always been. The past few decades, in which one technology so thoroughly dominated that it was able to function largely in isolation to other fields, was an anomaly. What we are beginning to see now is, in large part, a reversion to the mean, where the most exciting work will be interdisciplinary. This is Silicon Valley’s innovator’s dilemma. Nerdy young geeks will no longer be able to prosper coding blithely away in blissful isolation. It is no longer sufficient to work in bits alone. Increasingly we need to combine those bits with atoms and genes to create significant value. If you want to get a glimpse of the future, that’s where to look.
- [4 Things Every Leader Should Know About Making Decisions (But Most Don’t)](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/4-things-every-leader-should-know-about-making-decisions-but-most-dont/) - Being in a position of responsibility means that you have to make decisions without all the facts, in a rapidly changing context, often in a compressed time frame. You do so in the full knowledge that if you are wrong, you will bear the blame and no one else. You can never be certain of your decision, only that it is you who has to make one. That’s a hard bridge to cross and many, if not most, are never quite able to get there. Yet that’s what makes the difference between a leader and someone who merely wields authority, the ability and willingness to bear the burden of your decisions, often and repeatedly, and remain focused on the mission of the enterprise. That’s why we admire great leaders so much. True authority doesn’t come from a job title or even from great success, it comes from strength of character so inherent that it inspires others to surrender themselves to a greater cause.
- [We Are Entering A New Era Of Innovation. Here’s What We Need To Do:](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-innovation-heres-what-we-need-to-do/) - There’s no doubt that digital technology has been highly disruptive. In industry after industry, from retail to media to travel and hospitality, nimble digital upstarts have set established industries on their head, completely changing the basis upon which firms compete. Many incumbents haven’t survived. Many others are greatly diminished. Still, in many ways, the digital revolution has been a huge disappointment. Besides the meager productivity gains, we’ve seen a ​​global rise in authoritarian populism, stagnant wages, reduced productivity growth and weaker competitive markets, not to mention an anxiety epidemic, increased obesity and, at least in the US, decreased life expectancy. We can—and must—do better. We can learn from the mistakes we made during the digital revolution and shift our mindset from disrupting markets to tackling grand challenges. This new era of innovation will give us the ability to shape the world around us like never before, at a molecular level and achieve incredible things. Yet we can’t just leave our destiny to the whims of market and technological forces. We must actually choose the outcomes we prefer and build strategies to achieve them. The possibilities that we will unlock from new computing architectures, synthetic biology, advanced materials science, artificial intelligence and other things will give us that power. What we do with it is up to us.
- [The Psychology Behind Coronavirus Denial](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-psychology-behind-coronavirus-denial/) - The lesson is that we are all prone to bias. We need to be careful and promote a healthy skepticism, especially with opinions that we tend to agree with.
- [We Don't Disrupt Industries Anymore, We Disrupt People](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/we-dont-disrupt-industries-anymore-we-disrupt-people/) - #post_excerptWe need to abandon the cult of disruption that’s served us so poorly and begin to once again invest in stability and resilience
- [Happy 12th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/happy-12th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - My favorite posts from the past year.
- [It’s Time To Admit We Were Wrong About What Was Supposed To Drive The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/its-time-to-admit-we-were-wrong-about-what-was-supposed-to-drive-the-21st-century-and-change-course/) - Technology is a process that involves both revealing and building. Yes, we revealed the power of market forces and the bankruptcy of the Soviet system, but failed to build a more prosperous and healthy society. In much the same way, we revealed the power of the microchip, miracle cures and many other things, but failed to put them to use in such a way that would make us measurably better off. Put simply, we were wrong. When faced with a failure this colossal, people often look for a villain. They want to blame the greed of corporations, the arrogance of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs or the incompetence of government bureaucrats. The truth is, as the old saying goes, it was worse than a crime, it was a blunder. We simply believed that market forces and technological advancement would work their magic and all would be well in hand. By now we should know better. We need to hold ourselves accountable, make better choices and seek out greater truths.
- [Anyone Can Have A Vision. Building Competence Is Often More Important](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/anyone-can-have-a-vision-building-competence-is-often-more-important/) - Plenty of people have visions. Elizabeth Holmes had one for Theranos, but its product was a fraud and the company failed. Many still believe in Uber’s vision of “gig economy” taxis, but even after more than 10 years and $25 billion invested, it still loses billions. WeWork’s proven business model became a failure when warped by a vision. The truth is that anyone can have a vision. Look at any successful organization, distill its approach down to a vision statement and you will easily be able to find an equal or greater success that does things very differently. There is no silver bullet. Successful leaders are not the ones with the most compelling vision, but those who build the skills to make that vision a reality. Every vision is wrong. Some are off by a little and some are off by a lot. But they're all wrong in some way. The key to executing on a vision is by identifying vulnerabilities early and then building the competencies to overcome them. The time has come for us to retrench and recommit ourselves to competence. Of course, every enterprise needs a vision, but a vision is meaningless without the ability to achieve it. That takes more than a lot of fancy talk, it requires the guts to see the world as it really is and still have the courage to try to change it.
- [How To Prepare Your Organization For Transformation In A Post-COVID World](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/how-to-prepare-your-organization-for-transformation-in-a-post-covid-world/) - In Built to Last, management guru Jim Collins suggested that leaders should develop a “big hairy audacious goal” (BHAG) to serve as a unifying vision for their enterprise. He pointed to examples such as Boeing’s development of the 707 commercial jet liner and Jack Welch’s vision that every GE business should be #1 or #2 in its category as inspiring “moonshots.” Yet the truth is that we no longer have the luxury of focusing transformation in a single direction, but must bring about change along multiple axes simultaneously. Leaders today can’t choose whether to leverage cutting-edge technologies or become more sustainable, nor can we choose between a highly skilled workforce and one that is diverse and inclusive. The kind of sustained, multifaceted brand of change we need today cannot be mandated from a mountaintop but must be inspired to take root throughout an enterprise. We need to learn how to empower small loosely connected groups with a shared sense of mission and purpose. To truly take hold, people need to embrace change and they do that for their own reasons, not for ours. That’s what will be key to making the transformations ahead successful. The answer doesn’t lie in any specific strategy or initiative, but in how people are able to internalize the need for change and transfer ideas through social bonds. A leader’s role is no longer to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief.
- [The Truth About Automation, Jobs And Prosperity](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-truth-about-automation-jobs-and-prosperity/) - When we use machines to perform tasks formerly done by humans we unlock multiple effects. The most obvious, of course, is that somebody is out of a job, less obvious are how technology affects productivity and creates new industries, which we hope will create more and better jobs. Yet there’s no guarantee that technology will raise all boats. Markets are complex ecosystems and things can’t always be broken down into simple, linear relationships. What we can do, however, is get a better understanding of how automation affects our society. Only then can we build a consensus about what we want outcomes to look like and work toward them. What’s becoming clear is that we can’t simply leave our fates to the impersonal whims of market and technological forces. The evidence shows that innovations that displace workers do not necessarily make us better off. In fact, we have strong reasons to suspect that many of these technologies impoverish our society and corrode our culture. Put simply, we need to make better choices and rebuild a human-centered economy based on dignity, in which we treat people as ends in themselves, rather than as means to an end. Technology and markets were, after all, created by humans to serve people. That is their purpose and should be, by any reasonable analysis, the measure of their value.
- [4 Things Every Business Leader Should Know (But Most Don't)](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/4-things-every-business-leader-should-know-but-most-dont/) - The truth is that leadership is the art of managing the ambiguous, or as Stanley McChrystal has put it, “a complex system of relationships between leaders and followers, in a particular context, that provides meaning to its members.” Strategy is no longer a game of chess, in which we plot out each move, survey the board, and plan a new set of moves. Events happen in real time, far too fast for leaders to be consulted at each juncture. Things work more like a MMO video game, in which you recruit a team and other assets to achieve a specific strategic objective and then repeat the same process for the next quest. What it comes down to is that we can no longer just tell people to do what we want, we need to attract people who want what we want, who share our sense of mission. A leader’s job in a networked age is, largely, to widen and deepen connections. It is no longer enough to simply plan and direct action, we must inspire and empower belief.
- [There Will Always Be People Who Want To Kill Change. Here’s How To Outsmart Them](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/there-will-always-be-people-who-want-to-kill-change-heres-how-to-outsmart-them/) - Look at anyone who has truly changed the world and they encountered significant resistance. In fact, while researching my book Cascades, I found every major change effort, whether it was a political revolution, a social movement or an organizational transformation, had people who worked to undermine it in ways that were dishonest, underhanded and deceptive. Unfortunately, we often don’t realize that there is an opposition campaign underway until it’s too late. People rarely voice open hostility to change. Opponents might even profess some excitement at the idea conceptually, but once there is a possibility of real action moving forward, they will dig in their heels. None of this means that change can’t happen. What it does mean is that, if you expect to bring meaningful change about, planning to overcome resistance has to be a primary design constraint and an organizing principle. Once you understand that, you can begin to move forward, identify shared values, design effective tactics and, ultimately, create lasting change.
- [Innovating  For The Long Term](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/innovating-for-the-long-term/) - It’s become fashionable to bemoan the influence of investors and blame them for short-term and “quarterly capitalism,” but that’s just an excuse for failed leadership. If you look at the world’s most valuable companies—the ones investors most highly prize—you’ll find a very different story. Apple’s Steve Jobs famously disregarded the opinions of investors, (and just about everybody else as well). Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who habitually keeps margins low in order to increase market share, has long been a Wall Street darling. Microsoft invested heavily in a research division aimed at creating technologies that won’t pan out for years or even decades. The truth is that it’s not enough to have a long-term plan, you have to have a vision to go along with it. Nobody wants to “wait” for profits, but everybody can get excited about a vision that inspires them. Who doesn’t get thrilled by the possibility of a colony on Mars, miracle cures, revolutionary new materials or a new era of computing? Here’s the thing: Just because you’re not thinking long-term doesn’t mean somebody else isn’t and, quite frankly, if they are able to articulate a vision to go along with that plan, you don’t stand a chance. You won’t survive. So take some time to look around, to dream a little bit and, maybe, to be inspired to do something worthy of a legacy. All who wander are not lost.
- [We've Screwed Up Capitalism, Technology And Healthcare. It’s Time To Admit It And Do Better.](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/weve-screwed-up-capitalism-technology-and-healthcare-its-time-to-admit-it-and-do-better/) - Technology is a process that involves both revealing and building. Yes, we revealed the power of market forces and the bankruptcy of the Soviet system, but failed to build a more prosperous and healthy society. In much the same way, we revealed the power of the microchip, miracle cures and many other things, but failed to put them to use in such a way that would make us measurably better off. When faced with a failure this colossal, people often look for a villain. They want to blame the greed of corporations, the arrogance of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs or the incompetence of government bureaucrats. The truth is, as the saying goes, it was worse than a crime, it was a blunder. We simply believed that market forces and technological advancement would work their magic and all would be well in hand. By now we should know better. The failures of the 21st century have been our own. We need to hold ourselves accountable, make better choices and seek out greater truths.
- [The Eerie Parallels Between the 1920s And Today Should Worry Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-eerie-parallels-between-the-1920s-and-today/) - While the “Roaring Twenties” are remembered as a golden age, they set the seeds for what came later. Although the stock market boomed, lack of regulation led to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. The harsh reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles made the rise of Hitler possible. The 1930s brought upon almost unimaginable horror. Economic hardship in Europe paved the way for fascism. Failed collectivization in the Soviet Union led to massive famine and, later, Stalin’s great purges. Rising nativism, in the US and around the world, led to diminished trade as well as violence against Jews and other minorities. World War II was almost inevitable. It would be foolish beyond belief to deny the potential of history repeating itself. Still, the past is not necessarily prologue. The 1930s were not the inevitable result of impersonal historical forces, but of choices consciously made. We could have made different ones and received the bounty of the prosperity that followed World War II without the calamity that preceded it. What we have to come to terms with is that technology won’t save us. Markets won’t save us. Our future will be the product of the choices we make. We should endeavor to choose wisely.
- [Don't Believe Everything You Think!](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/dont-believe-everything-you-think/) - “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.” We need to have a sense of humility. It’s far too easy to be impressed with ourselves and far too difficult to see how we’re being led astray. There is often a negative correlation between our level of certainty and the likelihood of us being wrong. We all need to make an effort to believe less of what we think. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.
- [Summer Reading List: 9 Books That Will Help You Understand The Covid Crisis](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/summer-reading-list-9-books-that-will-help-you-understand-the-covid-crisis/) - This summer, I’m focusing my reading list on books that will help you understand the Covid crisis better.
- [Innovating, Fast And Slow](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/innovating-fast-and-slow/) - Just as Daniel Kahneman explained that there are fast and slow modes of thinking, the same can be said about innovating. The truth is that moving slowly is often underrated and that moving fast can sometimes bog you down. One thing that is often overlooked is that to think fast effectively often takes years of preparation. Certain professions, such as surgeons and pilots, train for years to hone their instincts so that they will be able to react quickly and appropriately in an emergency. In many ways, you can’t think fast without first having thought slow. Innovation is the same way. We were able to develop coronavirus vaccines in record time because of the years of slow, painstaking work by Katalin Karikó and others like her, much like how Mark Zuckerberg was able to “move fast and break things” because of the decades of breakthroughs it took to develop the technology that he “hacked.” Today, as the digital era is ending, we need to rededicate ourselves to innovating slow. Just as our investment in things like the human genome project has returned hundreds of times what we put into it, our investment in the grand challenges of the future will enable countless new (hopefully more modest) Zuckerbergs to wax poetic about “hacker culture.” The truth is that moving slowly is often underrated and that moving fast can sometimes bog you down.
- [5 Uncomfortable Facts for the Digital Maniacs](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/5-uncomfortable-facts-for-the-digital-maniacs/) - If you seek to advise others and cast aspersions, you have a moral obligation to make a reasonable effort to check your facts.
- [The Digital Era Is Over. Long Live Innovation!](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-digital-era-is-over-long-live-innovation/) - We tend to assume that we’ll notice when something important is afoot, but that’s rarely the case. The truth is that the next big thing always starts out looking like nothing at all. It doesn’t appear fully bloomed, but usually incubates for years—and often decades—by scientists quietly working in labs and by specialists debating at obscure conferences. So, yes, after 50 years the digital revolution has run out of steam, but that shouldn’t blind us to the incredible opportunities that are before us. After all, a year ago very few people had heard of mRNA vaccines, but that didn’t make them any less powerful or important. There is no shortage of nascent technologies that can have just as big of an impact. The simple fact is that innovation is not, and never has been, about what kind of apps show up on our smartphone screens. The value of a technology is not measured in how a Silicon Valley CEO can dazzle an audience on stage, but in its capacity to solve meaningful problems and, as long as there are meaningful problems to solve, innovation will live on.
- [How To Overcome Resistance To Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-overcome-resistance-to-change/) - The difference between successful revolutionaries and mere dreamers is that those that succeed anticipate resistance and build a plan to overcome it.
- [The Power of Information](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-power-of-information/) - The power of information means that we are no longer required to believe, only to imagine, test and observe.
- [4 Things Companies Need To Build An Innovation Ecosystem](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/4-things-companies-need-to-build-an-innovation-ecosystem/) - The technology being developed today is simply too complex for anyone to go it alone, which is why the only viable strategy is to actively connect to ecosystems of talent, technology and information. Power today no longer sits at the top of hierarchies, but emanates from the center of ecosystems and you move to the center by widening and deepening connections. Closing yourself by erecting barriers will not protect you. In fact, it is an almost sure-fire way to hasten your demise.
- [Here’s Why It’s So Hard To Bring Science To Market](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-why-its-so-hard-its-so-hard-to-bring-science-to-market/) - We need to get a lot better at bridging that gap between discovery and commercialization
- [Innovation Isn’t Just About What You Know, It’s About Who You Talk To](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/innovation-isnt-just-about-what-you-know-its-about-who-you-talk-to/) - The best innovators are not necessarily the smartest or even the hardest working, but those who actively build up a strong network of collaborators.
- [Why Microsoft Is Technology’s Last Grand Strategist](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/why-microsoft-is-technologys-last-grand-strategist/) - The game of strategy is changing. If Microsoft expects to win, it will have to prove it can learn how to play.
- [To Create Real Change That Lasts, Start With A Majority](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/to-create-real-change-that-lasts-start-with-a-majority/) - There is a reason why the vast majority of organizational transformations fail, even though they typically have big budgets and C-Suite support behind them. To drive meaningful, lasting change you can’t rely on overpowering resistance, but must work to attract and empower genuine support. That means you need to start with a majority. In the beginning, that may mean starting with a small, local majority— say, three people in a room of five. You can always expand a majority out, but once you find yourself in the minority, you will immediately feel pushback. The secret to overcoming resistance to an idea and driving it forward is understanding that you get to choose where to start. Revolutionary change always starts with the art of choosing wisely. The secret to overcoming resistance to an idea and driving it forward is understanding that you get to choose where to start.
- [The 30 Years Rule - Innovation Takes A Lot Longer Than You Think](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-30-years-rule-innovation-takes-a-lot-longer-than-you-think/) - Agility is often overrated. Innovation is never a single event.
- [We Need To Get Off The Silicon Valley Doomsday Machine](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/we-need-to-get-off-the-silicon-valley-doomsday-machine/) - At this point, the government, the media, big business, small business, Silicon Valley, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have all been somewhat discredited. There is no real enemy left besides ourselves and there are no heroes coming to save us. Until we learn to embrace our own culpability we will never be able to truly move forward. Fortunately, there is a solution. Consider the recent Covid crisis, in which unprecedented collaboration between governments, large pharmaceutical companies, innovative startups and academic scientists developed a life-saving vaccine in record time. Similar, albeit fledgling, efforts have been going on for years. Put simply, we have seen the next big thing and it is each other. By discarding childish old notions about economic heroes and villains we can learn to collaborate across historical, organizational and institutional borders to solve problems and create new value. It is in our collective ability to solve problems that we will create our triumph or our peril. Until we learn to embrace our own culpability we will never be able to truly move forward.
- [These 4 Paradigm Shifts Will Define The Next Decade](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/these-4-paradigm-shifts-will-define-the-next-decade/) - #post_excerptIn an age of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt.
- [We Thought Technology Would Solve Our Problems. Instead, They Got Worse](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-thought-technology-could-solve-our-problems-instead-they-got-worse/) - We could have chosen to make our society more equal, healthier and happier, but did not. We can, of course, choose differently in the future.
- [Why You Need To Build Change On Common Ground](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/why-you-need-to-build-change-on-common-ground/) - #post_excerptThe truth is that while people like the idea of being different, change is always built on common ground.
- [The Humility Principle](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/the-humility-principle/) - We rarely fully understand the consequences of the actions we take. We live in a world not of linear cause and effect, but complex ecosystems in which even our best laid plans touch of a complex web of ripple effects. It’s time for us to take a more biological view in which we think less like engineers and more like gardeners that grow and nurture ecosystems. Instead of assuming we can design perfect solutions, we need to take a more Bayesian approach and make our systems less imperfect over time, fertilizing and pruning as we go. Instead of assuming we can design perfect solutions, we need to take a more Bayesian approach and make our systems less imperfect over time, fertilizing and pruning as we go.
- [We Need To Rethink The Future Of Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-rethink-technology-for-the-21st-century/) - We have the power to shape the world we want to live in. Whether we have the will remains to be seen.
- [Innovation Needs Constraints](https://digitaltonto.com/2021/innovation-needs-constraints/) - #post_excerptWithout constructive constraints, even good ideas go bad.
- [The End of Power?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-end-of-power/) - Power no longer resides at the top of hierarchies, but at the center of networks.
- [Top Posts Of 2020](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/top-posts-of-2020/) - 2020 was a year to be endured more than to be lived. The Covid-19 pandemic arrived as a curiosity, then a panic, extended into tragedy of genuine loss and, hopefully, is emerging as a set of concrete problems to be solved. Clearly, we are not through the worst yet, but at least we can begin
- [Top Posts of 2019](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/top-posts-of-2019/) - 2019 was a big year for me personally. I finally published my book, Cascades, a project I had been working on for 15 years, about how to create transformational change. The book has its roots in my experiences in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, where I first noticed the forces behind ideas that spread. The response has
- [Why We Need Experts](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-we-need-experts/) - The purpose of expertise isn’t to make things simpler, but to give us better information — not to give us answers, but to help us ask better questions.
- [The Dignity Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-dignity-economy/) - In the final analysis, ideology should serve people, not the other way around. The success of a society should be measured by the well-being of those live in it.
- [The 2020 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-2020-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - It’s interesting how often books seem to reflect the zeitgeist, or at least our perception of it. As I prepared this year’s list, I began looking through earlier versions and was struck by how each seemed a remnant from a different age. Undoubtedly, some of that is a product of my own curation, but I
- [The 2018 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-2018-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - One of the things that I’ve found over the years is that innovation needs exploration. It’s a simple equation: If you don’t explore, you won’t discover, if you don’t discover you won’t invent and if you don’t invent you will be disrupted. No matter how smart or organized or successful you have been in the
- [The 4 Key Attributes Of Transformational Leaders](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-4-key-attributes-of-transformational-leaders/) - The truth is that leadership has little to do with fancy speeches or clever slogans.
- [We Need To Rethink Agility For The Post-Digital Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-rethink-agility-for-the-post-digital-age/) - Over the next few decades, we will have to manage four profound shifts in the basis of competition that will challenge some of our most deeply held notions.
- [How Revolutions Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-revolutions-fail/) - In the final analysis, the reason that most would-be revolutionaries fail is that they assume that the righteousness of their cause will save them. It will not.
- [What's Killing Capitalism In America?](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/whats-killing-capitalism-in-america/) - It’s time to claim capitalism back for ourselves and promote free markets, entrepreneurship, innovation and public well-being.
- [What We Can Learn From The Failure Of Quibi](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/what-we-can-learn-from-the-failure-of-quibi/) - Probably the most important thing we can learn from Quibi’s failure is to not believe your own PR. Plan for and prepare things to go wrong.
- [The Hair-On-Fire Use Case](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-hair-on-fire-use-case/) - You never start where you will end up and it’s a mistake to try. So if you have a truly revolutionary idea, it's best to build for the few and not the many.
- [It’s Ecosystems, Not Inventions That Truly Change the World](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/its-ecosystems-not-inventions-that-truly-change-the-world/) - There are telltale signs that the system will flip within the next decade
- [The Physics of Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-physics-of-change/) - Every revolution inspires a counterrevolution
- [4 Things Business Leaders Can Learn About Transformation From Social And Political Movements](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-things-business-leaders-can-learn-about-transformation-from-social-and-political-movements/) - In the final analysis, driving change is less about a series of objectives than it is about forming a common cause.
- [When Innovation Goes Wrong, We Shouldn’t Blame Technology, But Ourselves](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/when-innovation-goes-wrong-we-shouldnt-blame-technology-but-ourselves/) - The unintentional consequences of technology have less to do with the relationship between us and our inventions than it does between us and each other.
- [The Story Of Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-story-of-technology/) - Technology is far more than the product of algorithms, microscopes, test tubes and other apparatus, but the revealing of truths in the service of human life.
- [The DotCom Bust Could Have Killed O'Reilly Media, But It Learned To Reinvent Its Business Model And Built A New Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-dotcom-bust-could-have-killed-oreilly-media-but-it-learned-to-reinvent-its-business-model-and-built-a-new-future/) - No longer just publishing books, it now increasingly focuses on what comes after
- [5 Myths That Kill Transformation And Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-5-myths-that-kill-transformation-and-change/) - Many traditional notions about change management are not only wrong, they can actually kill a transformational effort even before it really starts.
- [Why We Need To Ask Stupid Questions](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-we-need-to-ask-stupid-questions/) - We often overlook the value of simple questions, because we think intelligence has something to do with ability to recite rote facts.
- [We Need To Revive Innovation And Entrepreneurship In America. Here’s How We Can Make It Happen](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-to-revive-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-in-america-heres-how-we-can-make-it-happen/) - We need to solve some deep-rooted problems and reverse some long-standing trends
- [How To Build An Ecosystem Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-to-build-an-ecosystem-strategy/) - The truth is that value chain based strategies are slow and rigid and the world has become fast and agile. You need to relentlessly connect to build a better ecosystem.
- [Here’s How You Know Your Industry Is About To Be Disrupted](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-how-you-know-your-industry-is-about-to-be-disrupted/) - Consolidation is always a sign of weakness and only hastens an industry's demise
- [America’s Innovation Ecosystem Needs To Innovate Itself](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/americas-innovation-ecosystem-needs-to-innovate-itself/) - The truth is that we need to continually innovate how we innovate if we expect to ever return to an era of renewed productivity growth.
- [The Power Of Asking Why](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-5-whys/) - By continually questioning you can get beyond mere grievances and start attacking core problems and start making a real difference.
- [Why Consensus Kills Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-consensus-kills-innovation/) - All too often, managers seek out easy consensus rather than build a culture of trust that can support vigorous debate.
- [The Future Of Software Is No Code](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-future-of-software-is-no-code/) - It's accelerating how businesses are able to impact their strategy
- [Strategy In A Post-Digital World](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/strategy-in-a-post-digital-world/) - Increasingly, we can no longer just move fast and break things, but will have to learn how to prepare, rather than just adapt.
- [How To Design Your Organization For Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-design-your-organization-for-transformation/) - The desire for change is not nearly as important as the will to prepare for it.
- [If You Want To Change The World, You Need To Start With A Keystone Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/if-you-want-to-change-the-world-you-need-to-start-with-a-keystone-change/) - Great transformations always start with something tangible that lead to a wider, more sweeping vision.
- [Happy 11th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/happy-11th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - Thanks for all of the support over the past 11 years. Here are some of my favorite posts over the last year or so...
- [Data Bias Is Becoming A Massive Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/data-bias-is-becoming-a-massive-problem/) - As data and analytics increasingly become a core component of our decision making, we need to be far more careful.
- [4 Questions That Will Make You A Better Innovator](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-questions-that-will-make-you-a-better-innovator/) - Innovation isn't about ideas. It's about solving problems. The better questions you ask, the better problems you can identify.
- [We Need To Unlock The Power Of Cause And Effect](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-unlock-the-power-of-cause-and-effect/) - Our historic inability to encode a basic understanding of cause and effect into our algorithms has been a serious impediment to making machines truly smart
- [4 Lessons We Can Learn From The Digital Revolution](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/what-we-can-learn-from-the-digital-revolution/) - Probably the most important thing that the digital revolution has to teach us is that technology should serve people and not the other way around.
- [Why Innovation Takes More Than Genius](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-innovation-takes-more-than-genius/) - Making a breakthrough takes more than talent. It requires a mixture of talent, luck and an ecosystem of support to make an idea into something transformative.
- [Summer Reading List: 12 Books To Read On Your Way To A Revolution](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/summer-reading-list-12-books-to-read-on-your-way-to-a-revolution/) - Making change happen takes more than just passion and fervor, but strategy, organization and discipline.
- [How To Leverage Opposition To Your Advantage And Drive Change Forward](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-leverage-opposition-to-your-advantage-and-drive-change-forward-forward/) - We overcome opposition not by overpowering it, but through identifying shared values and attracting others to our side.
- [How True Revolutions Are Made](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-true-revolutions-are-made/) - You know a revolution is complete when it becomes ordinary and mundane, because the previous order has become unthinkable.
- [What Transformational Leaders Learn From Their Darkest Moments](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/what-transformational-leaders-learn-from-their-darkest-moments/) - Transformation is always a journey, never a destination. Clearly, we are going through some dark times ourselves right now, but our journey is not over.
- [As The Original Moonshot Turns 50, We Still Need Public Support For Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/as-the-original-moonshot-turns-50-we-still-need-public-support-for-innovation/) - To win in the new century we will need to revive the public appetite for discovery that made the moon landing such a rousing success
- [The Last Thing America Needs Right Now Is A Vision](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-last-thing-america-needs-right-now-is-a-vision/) - Nothing about a multi-ethnic, multicultural society is simple. Building anything worthwhile takes work and a fair amount of pain. Still, we need to try harder.
- [How Covid-19 Has Unmasked Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-covid-19-has-unmasked-us/) - We don’t have to be victims of our failed choices. We can learn to make better ones. We are responsible for the choices we make.
- [How To Spot Hucksters And Frauds](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-spot-a-fraud/) - We need to have a healthy skepticism, especially with ideas we would tend to agree with.
- [The Synthetic Biology Revolution Is  Now Moving At Full Steam](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-genomics-revolution-is-beginning-now-moving-at-full-steam/) - Not since the early days of the digital revolution have we seen a technology accelerate with such velocity
- [The Hard Thing About Hard Facts](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-hard-thing-about-hard-facts/) - Truth doesn’t reveal itself so easily, but it’s out there and we can find it if we are willing to make the effort.
- [These 3 Cognitive Biases Can Kill Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/these-3-cognitive-biases-can-kill-innovation/) - The truth is that our most fervently held beliefs are often wrong. That’s why we need to make the effort to overcome the flawed machinery in our minds.
- [The Coronavirus Crisis Shows Why, If We Are To Solve Big Problems, We First Need To Rebuild Trust](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/the-coronavirus-crisis-shows-why-if-we-are-to-solve-big-problems-we-first-need-to-rebuild-trust/) - The public trust has been shattered because our institutions have failed us. Technology won’t save us. Markets won’t save us. We need to save ourselves. 
- [Cultural Sanctimony:  Can the Digital World Overcome its Arrogance?](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/qualman-boeing-post/) - When I first arrived in Eastern Europe, I was eager to learn about the culture and was intrigued by the novelty of difference. I was very happy to discover that I didn’t have to look far to find people who were eager to instruct me. However, I soon realized that sometimes the locals were wildly off the mark when it came to analyzing their own culture because so few had experienced any other. As a recent post by socialnomics’ Erik Qualman shows, many people in the Digital World seem to have the same problem as the insulated people I met in the early post-communist world.
- [A Guide to Game Theory and Negotiations](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/game-theory-guide-to-negotiations/) - Everybody negotiates. Some like it, others hate it but all agree that the ability to negotiate well is a valuable business skill and worth doing well.
- [How Experian’s Digital Transformation Brought Its Business To An Entirely New Level](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-experians-digital-transformation-brought-its-business-to-an-entirely-new-level/) - The truth is that any transformation isn’t a destination, but a journey. To succeed, you have to be in it for the long haul.
- [Even The Most Radical Visions Can Succeed, If They Are Built On Shared Values](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/even-the-most-radical-visions-can-succeed-if-they-are-built-on-shared-values/) - What’s key isn’t any particular policy, but whether you can appeal to common values and mobilize supporters to influence institutions that brings change about.
- [We Need To Start Investing In Resilience](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-start-investing-in-resilience/) - Eventually we pay the price, one way or another. We can choose to invest in greater resilience now and save untold suffering in the future.
- [As Our Technology Becomes Infinitely More Powerful, We Are Entering A New Ethical Universe](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/as-our-technology-becomes-infinitely-more-powerful-we-are-entering-a-new-ethical-universe/) - If you just “move fast and break things,” don’t be surprised if you break something important
- [Technology’s Moral Crisis](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/technologys-moral-crisis/) - It is never enough to simply charge boldly forward, we also need to stop every once in a while and think about where we are going.
- [Do You Want To Make A Point Or Do You Want To Make A Difference?](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/do-you-want-to-make-a-point-or-do-you-want-to-make-a-difference/) - We should learn the lessons of #Occupy. Anger will get us nowhere. Real change, change that lasts, is always built on common ground.
- [Technology And Globalization Have Failed Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-technology-and-globilization-have-failed-us/) - To solve complex challenges like inequality, climate change and the rise of authoritarianism we need to take a complex, network based approach.
- [Why We Fail To Plan For The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-we-fail-to-plan-for-the-future/) - We need to start thinking more seriously about the future, but don’t seem to be able to. Why is that?
- [To Solve Complex Problems, You Need A Networked Solution](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/to-solve-complex-problems-you-need-a-networked-solution/) - If it’s simple enough for us to fully grasp, it’s probably too slow and rigid to be effective.
- [How To Lead Through Crisis](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-lead-through-crisis/) - A crisis is, in at least one way, like anything else. It eventually ends and when it does you will look back at how you performed and will want to be proud.
- [We All Need To Prepare For A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/we-all-need-to-prepare-for-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - The ones that will win in this new era will not be those with a capacity to disrupt, but those that tackle grand challenges and probe new horizons
- [We Need To Prepare For Future Crises Like We Prepare For War](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/we-need-to-prepare-for-future-crises-like-we-prepare-for-war/) - No one knows how long the Coronavirus epidemic will last or what the impact will be, but one thing is for sure — it will not be our last crisis.
- [How Transformational Leaders Learn To Overcome Failure](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-transformational-leaders-learn-to-overcome-failure/) - In the final analysis, what makes transformational leaders different is their ability to transform themselves to suit the needs of their mission.
- [When Pundits Say That Robots Will Take Our Jobs, Remember These 4 Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/when-pundits-say-that-robots-will-take-our-jobs-remember-these-4-things/) - The future of work is humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines.
- [How Artificial Intelligence Is Forcing Us To Answer Some Very Human Questions](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-artificial-intelligence-is-forcing-us-to-answer-some-very-human-questions/) - The future will be driven by humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines that creates value for other humans.
- [Why Most Technologies Move Slower Today](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-most-technologies-move-slower-today/) - The next transformation will likely be far less visible, but potentially far more impactful, than the seemingly endless stream of "killer apps" that we've come to associate with progress.
- [Is It Time To Rethink The Scientific Method?](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/is-it-time-to-rethink-the-scientific-method/) - We can no longer think about the process of discovery in the traditional way
- [How To Create Change That Lasts](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/how-to-create-change-that-lasts/) - It is how you align people behind a strategy, through forging shared values and building trust, that will determine whether change endures.
- [Politicians Like To Talk About Innovation. Here Are 3 Things They Should Actually Be Doing About It](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/politicians-like-to-talk-about-innovation-heres-3-things-they-should-actually-be-doing-about-it/) - As we struggle to improve productivity from historical lows, we need the public sector to play a part.
- [True Transformation Isn’t Top-Down Or Bottom-Up, But Side-To-Side](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/true-transformation-isnt-top-down-or-bottom-up-but-side-to-side/) - A leader’s role is not to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief.
- [When Corporations Fund Startups, Both Can Win](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/when-corporations-fund-startups-both-can-win/) - A corporate venture program can provide a valuable window into the future
- [IBM Is Building A Network To Drive The Future Of Quantum Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/ibm-is-building-a-network-to-drive-the-future-of-quantum-computing/) - In the quantum era, collaboration is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage.
- [What Will We Do After Moore's Law Ends?](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/what-will-we-do-after-moores-law-ends/) - The organizations who will most effectively compete be those that are willing to tackle grand challenges and probe new horizons.
- [How IBM Learned To Love Open Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-ibm-learned-to-love-open-technology/) - Proprietary solutions only confer advantage when they add value over and above that of base technologies. Otherwise, they merely hold you back.
- [The Digital Revolution Is Ending. Here’s What You Need To Do Now:](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-digital-revolution-is-ending-heres-what-you-need-to-do-now/) - Digital technology has only been one phase of the journey of advancement. The most exciting things are still yet to come.
- [4 Things You Need To Know About Big Data And Artificial Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-things-you-need-to-know-about-big-data-and-artificial-intelligence/) - The winners in the cognitive era will not be those who can reduce costs the fastest, but those who can unlock the most value over the long haul.
- [Value Never Actually Disappears, It Just Shifts From One Place To Another](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/value-never-actually-disappears-it-just-shifts-from-one-place-to-another/) - Don't focus on where value is shifting from, but where it's shifting to
- [Here's Why The Robots Won’t Really Take Over](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-why-the-robots-wont-really-take-over/) - Value never disappears, it just shifts to another place
- [How To Stop Worrying And Learn To Love The Retail Apocalypse](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-to-stop-worrying-and-learn-to-love-the-retail-apocalypse/) - Value never disappears; it just shifts to new opportunities
- [Why Software Won’t Eat The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-software-wont-eat-the-world/) - Taking a software centric view, while it has served Silicon Valley well in the past, may be its Achilles heel in the future.
- [4 Things Managers Need To Know About Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-things-managers-need-to-know-about-data/) - The truth is that it’s not enough to be “data driven.”
- [The 3 Things About Data You Probably Don't Know, But Need To](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-3-things-about-data-you-probably-dont-know-but-need-to/) - Like energy, talent, finance or any other resource, managing data effectively is becoming essential to competing in today’s marketplace.
- [Is Big Data Doing More Harm Than Good?](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/is-big-data-doing-more-harm-than-good/) - The truth is that no amount of complex tables and graphs can hide the fact that humans, with all of their faults, lie behind every system.
- [The Downside Of Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-downside-of-data/) - The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
- [The WeWork Debacle Is Just A Symptom Of A Much Larger Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-wework-debacle-is-just-a-symptom-of-a-much-larger-problem/) - Why would investors value a conventional real estate business model like a software company? Because Silicon Valley investors tend to misjudge the physical economy.
- [The Gladwell Trap](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-gladwell-trap/) - We can't believe everything we think. We need to ask the hard questions
- [Are We Turning Our Backs On Science?](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/are-we-turning-our-backs-on-science/) - When we turn our backs on science, we turn our backs on truth.
- [Great Leaders Learn To Shift Their Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/great-leaders-learn-to-shift-their-mindset/) - In an age of disruption, we need to learn to adapt
- [Why Fears About China Are, Mostly, Overblown](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/why-fears-about-china-are-mostly-overblown/) - While many fear the rise of China our destiny is ours to determine.
- [What Amazon’s Entrance Tells Us About The New Era Of Quantum Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2020/what-amazons-entrance-says-about-the-new-quantum-era/) - We can’t just move fast and break things anymore. We need to learn to prepare for a world we can’t see, much less understand, yet.
- [Here’s How To Keep Your Data Project From Running Of The Rails](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-how-to-keep-your-data-project-from-running-of-the-rails/) - You can’t expect the road to a cognitive enterprise to be a simple straight line. The important thing is to keep moving forward.
- [The 2019 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-2019-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - Different years seem to have different truths. For example, while 1968 was a struggle for freedom, with mass protests erupting throughout the world, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the invention of the World Wide Web, seemed to fulfill that promise. Other years have had other truths. I have a strong sense
- [The Truth Behind Netflix’s Incredible Success](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-truth-behind-netflixs-incredible-success/) - What made Netflix successful wasn’t just one big idea. Rather, it was what they learned along the way that made the difference.
- [Why Business Strategy Shouldn't Be "Scientific"](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-business-strategy-shouldnt-be-scientific/) - The truth is that strategy can never be scientific, because the business context is always evolving.
- [4 Things To Know About How Technology Will Evolve Over The Next Decade](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-things-to-know-about-how-technology-will-evolve-over-the-next-decade/) - Over the next ten years, we’re likely to see nascent technologies hit their stride and create completely new industries. The time to prepare is now.
- [What Google’s Quantum Supremacy Means For The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/what-googles-quantum-supremacy-means-for-the-future/) - Quantum computing isn’t just a more powerful version of today’s technology, it is a fundamentally different way of computing that will be applied to very different tasks.
- [4 Principles Of Digital Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-principles-of-digital-transformation/) - Before you can change actions, you must first transform values, beliefs and skills
- [How Platforms Access Ecosystems](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/platforms-are-eating-the-world/) - Today, power is shifting from corporations to platforms and the best way to become a dominant player is to become an indispensable partner.
- [The Business Of Being Human](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-business-of-being-human/) - Management is not an algorithm. It is, in the final analysis, an intensely human activity and to do it well, you need to put people first.
- [Is This Our New Sputnik Moment?](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/is-this-our-new-sputnik-moment/) - We are, in several important ways, actually undermining our ability to innovate, now and in the future. We need to renew our culture of innovation in America
- [Business Pundits Love To Say These 4 Things — None Of Them Are True](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/business-pundits-love-to-say-these-4-things-none-of-them-are-true/) - Anytime someone tells you there is a simple fix to a complex problem, you're probably being sold a fairy tale
- [Why Change Management So Often Fails](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-change-management-so-often-fails/) - Any transformation strategy that doesn’t take into account those who oppose change is unlikely to succeed
- [How Gandhi Would Lead Us Toward An AI Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-gandhi-would-lead-toward-an-ai-future/) - We can’t lose sight of the fact that technology should serve people, not the other way around
- [The Problem With Patterns](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-problem-with-patterns/) - There is an important difference between patterns that we consider to be preordained and those that are to be discovered.
- [What I Learned Solving A Business Crises](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/what-i-learned-solving-a-business-crises/) - Sound management can help stem the bleeding, but if you are ever going to rebuild a successful business, you have to experiment and allow for the unexpected.
- [The Myth Of Shareholder Value](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-business/) - Today, business leaders need to manage for mission, not for metrics. Purpose cannot be reduced to a simple concept like shareholder value.
- [Happy 10th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/happy-10th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - My favorite posts over the last 12 months
- [How Networks Drive Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-networks-drive-transformation/) - The truth is that we need to reimagine leadership to focus less on driving strategy and tactics and more on widening and deepening connections in networks.
- [4 Ways To Empower Change In Your Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-ways-to-empower-change-in-your-organization/) - To overcome disruption for the long-term, you need to not just transform the organization but, more importantly, the fundamental beliefs that drive it.
- [What To Do When Your Startup Stops Feeling Like A Family](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/what-to-do-when-your-startup-stops-feeling-like-a-family/) - As a business grows, leadership and culture need to evolve. That won’t simply happen all by itself. You have to put in the time and effort to make it so.
- [4 Things Every Business Leader Should Know About Artificial Intelligence and Automation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-things-every-business-leader-should-know-about-artificial-intelligence-and-automation/) - The future will be driven by humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines that creates value for other humans.
- [Most AI Projects Fail. Here’s How To Make Yours Successful](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/most-ai-projects-fail-heres-how-to-make-yours-successful/) - There remains a large gap between aspiration and reality
- [Why Intel Sees Its Future In Heterogeneous Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-the-future-of-computing-is-heterogeneous/) - Decades from now, we will probably come to see the digital revolution as a quaint, simpler time.
- [The Limited Value Of Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-limited-value-of-ideas/) - What we have to learn to accept is that what makes an idea powerful is its ability to solve problems
- [Don't Look For A Great Idea, Find A Good Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/dont-look-for-a-great-idea-look-for-a-good-problem/) - The best innovators aren't necessarily the smartest, or even the most creative, but the ones who constantly seek out new problems to solve.
- [How Google Partners With The World’s Top Minds To Power Its Innovation Machine](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-google-partners-with-the-worlds-top-minds-to-power-its-innovation-machine/) - It's a long-term game plan designed to establish deep relationships based on cutting edge science and embed that knowledge deeply into just about everything Google does
- [The "Next Big Thing" Always Starts Out Looking Like Nothing At All](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/you-can-never-create-the-future-by-targeting-the-present/) - The truth is that the next big thing starts out looking like nothing much at all.
- [How IBM Is Driving The Future Of Blockchain](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-ibm-is-driving-the-future-of-blockchain/) - It’s still early days, but the rough outlines of blockchain are beginning to take shape and the implications are likely to be just as profound as the Internet itself.
- [Why Corporate Transformations Fail So Consistently (And How To Fix It)](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-corporate-transformations-fail-so-consistently-and-how-to-fix-it/) - The truth is that you can’t overpower, bribe or coerce people to embrace change
- [What's Next For Steve Blank And The Lean Startup?](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/whats-next-for-steve-blank-and-the-lean-startup/) - The Silicon Valley guru is on a never ending search to find a better way to solve problems
- [It’s Not Enough To Drive Change, You Also Have To Survive Victory](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/its-not-enough-to-drive-change-you-also-have-to-survive-victory/) - Transformation is always a journey, never a destination. It takes more than a clever strategy and sound execution to see it through.
- [Why Most Corporate Innovation Programs Fail (And How To Make Them Succeed)](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-most-corporate-innovation-programs-fail-and-how-to-make-them-succeed/) - The real potential of innovation programs is that they provide a space to explore areas that don’t fit with the current business, but may play an important role in its future.
- [We Need To Build An Innovation Economy For The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/we-need-to-build-an-innovation-economy-for-the-21st-century/) - There are worrying signs that we are not building capacity the way we should. We need to right the ship before it’s too late.
- [Here's What Pundits Who "Predict" The Future Always Seem to Get Wrong](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-what-pundits-who-predict-the-future-always-seem-to-get-wrong/) - The truth is that future is something we create, not some preordained plan that we are destined to follow
- [Why Writing May Be The Most Important Skill Your Kids Need To Learn For The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-writing-may-be-the-most-important-skill-your-kids-need-to-learn-for-the-future/) - The key to success in our uncertain future will be humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines. That starts with writing effectively.
- [Here’s What Most People Get Wrong About Minimum Viable Products](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-what-most-people-get-wrong-about-minimum-viable-products/) - The advantage of creating an MVP is that it essentially acts as a research lab where you can safely test hypotheses and eliminate sources of uncertainty.
- [If You Want To Network Your Organization, Avoid These 4 Myths](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/if-you-want-to-network-your-organization-avoid-these-4-myths/) - Instead of trying to "break down silos," start thinking about how to connect them
- [How Amazon Innovates](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-amazon-innovates/) - It's not any one practice, but how its culture and practice are so deeply intertwined that makes Amazon one of the most innovative companies on the planet.
- [This Small Startup Is Building The Tools That May Power The Quantum Era](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/this-small-startup-is-building-the-tools-that-may-power-the-quantum-era/) - "We could see the potential to one day do things that just weren't possible with digital computers, even the high performance systems we were working with."
- [The Eureka Moment Myth](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-eureka-moment-myth/) - It is collaboration among many, not sudden epiphanies, that really changes the world
- [How Experian’s Networked Culture Drives Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-experians-networked-culture-drives-innovation/) - Today, competitiveness is no longer determined by the sum of all efficiencies within a business, but the sum of all connections
- [How Artificial Intelligence Is Making The Shift From System To Ecosystem](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-artificial-intelligence-is-making-the-shift-from-system-to-ecosystem/) - As AI evolves from integrated systems to a modular ecosystem, its becoming truly transformational.
- [The Gospel According to Gladwell](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-gospel-according-to-gladwell/) - Those who seek wisdom in an airport bookstore will inevitably get about twenty bucks worth.
- [Here's What You Really Need To Know About Quantum Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-what-you-really-need-to-know-about-quantum-computing/) - The quantum era will open up new worlds of possibility, enabling us to manage almost unthinkable complexity and reshape the physical world.
- [Here's How We’re Killing Innovation In America](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/heres-how-were-killing-innovation-in-america/) - Our most valuable resource is our human capital. If we can’t feed, educate and nurture that talent, our future will not be bright.
- [Big Companies Shouldn’t Try To Act Like Startups. Here’s Why](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/big-companies-shouldnt-try-to-act-like-startups-heres-why/) - Large enterprises have advantages in deep expertise and resources, but can’t match the entrepreneurial energy of someone striving to build their own business
- [4 Things That All Managers Should Know About Digital Transformation (But Most Don’t)](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-things-that-all-managers-should-know-about-digital-transformation-but-most-dont/) - Fewer than a third of digital transformations succeed, but it doesn’t have to be a sucker’s bet
- [Why Losing Amazon's HQ2 Might Not Be So Bad For New York After All](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/why-losing-amazons-hq2-might-not-be-so-bad-for-new-york-after-all/) - Losing Amazon's HQ2 may not be so bad for New York after all
- [Materials Science May Be The Most Important Technology Of The Next Decade. Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/materials-science-may-be-the-most-important-technology-of-the-next-decade-heres-why/) - A vast acceleration in our ability to create new, advanced materials will power industries from energy to manufacturing
- [We Need To Stop Glorifying Failure. Here’s What To Do Instead](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/we-need-to-stop-glorifying-failure-heres-what-to-do-instead/) - The truth is that you never really have to fail because, if you make your efforts sustainable, you can always learn from mistakes and try again
- [4 Myths About Empowering Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/4-myths-about-driving-large-scale-change/) - Every successful journey begins not with answers, but with questions
- [Why The Future Is Not Digital](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-the-future-isnt-digital/) - It’s time to think less about hackathons and more about tackling grand challenges.
- [To Drive Innovation, We Need To Hire For Diversity And Empathy](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/to-drive-innovation-we-need-to-hire-for-diversity-and-empathy/) - We need to focus far less on specific skills and “types” and far more on getting people with diverse skills, backgrounds and perspectives to work together effectively
- [Intel Has Figured Out How To Compute In 3 Dimensions And It Could Put The Company Back On Top](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/intel-has-figured-out-how-to-compute-in-3-dimensions-and-it-could-put-the-company-back-on-top/) - The company's new Foveros technology has the potential to reshape the industry for years to come
- [How Science Fiction Becomes Innovation Reality](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-fantasy-becomes-reality/) - Once we have exhausted the realm of the possible, we often must venture into the realm of the impossible to see a new direction
- [Before You Set Out to Transform Your Organization, You First Need to Build Trust](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/before-you-set-out-to-transform-your-organization-you-first-need-to-build-trust/) - Trust empowers an organization because it demands that stakeholders are not merely treated as means to an end, but ends in themselves
- [IBM’s 2019 “5 in 5” Predictions Point To A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/ibms-2019-5-in-5-predictions-point-to-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - The company sees deep scientific partnerships as the way to reimagine entire industries
- [If You Want To Change The World, You Need To Start With Small Groups, Loosely Connected But United By A Shared Purpose](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/if-you-want-to-change-the-world-you-need-to-start-with-small-groups-loosely-connected-but-united-by-a-shared-purpose/) - Where most change efforts go wrong is that they try to overpower rather than to attract
- [How IBM Sees The Future Of Artificial Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-ibm-sees-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence/) - We're only at the beginning of the journey
- [4 Things You Should Know About Networked Organizations](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-things-you-should-know-about-networked-organizations/) - What really needs to change is not how we describe our organizations, but the role of leaders within them.
- [These Are The 3 Technology Inflection Points That Will Change The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/these-are-the-3-technology-inflection-points-that-will-change-the-future/) - Market watchers like to follow trends because they are often a good indicator of what will happen next. The near future usually does look like the recent past, but not always. Sometimes we hit an inflection point. That can make things veer sharply from the trend and that change things in a way that can
- [It Takes A Lot More Than A Big Idea To Change The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/it-takes-a-lot-more-than-a-big-idea-to-change-the-world/) - It seems that whenever we go searching for gods, what we find are ecosystems.
- [How Red Hat Helped Make Open Source A Global Phenomenon](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-red-hat-helped-make-open-source-a-global-phenomenon/) - Throughout its history, it's been able to continually adapt and scale its business model to a changing market
- [A Look Back At Why Blockbuster Really Failed And Why It Didn’t Have To](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/a-look-back-at-why-blockbuster-really-failed-and-why-it-didnt-have-to/) - Blockbuster’s fatal flaw wasn’t one of intelligence or capability, but a failure to understand the networks that would determine its fate.
- [Transformation Is Always A Journey, Never A Destination](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/transformation-is-always-a-journey-never-a-destination/) - A leader's role is no longer simply to plan and direct action, but to inspire and empower belief.
- [Pundits Say You Should Find Your Tribe. Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Listen To Them](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/pundits-say-you-should-find-your-tribe-heres-why-you-shouldnt-listen-to-them/) - Just as we need to invest in building strong, trustful relationships, we also need to go beyond our comfort zone and seek out new connections
- [General Stanley McChrystal Speaks Out On Why We Need To Redefine Leadership](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/general-stanley-mcchrystal-speaks-out-on-we-need-to-redefine-leadership/) - Successful leadership doesn’t come from any specific trait or action, but by forging a sense of connection between the leader and the led.
- [How Great Companies Empower Creativity](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/how-great-companies-empower-creativity/) - The secret to unlocking creativity is not to look for more creative people, but to unlock more creativity from the people who already work for you
- [The Little Known Event that Made Einstein a Legendary Icon](https://digitaltonto.com/2019/the-little-known-event-that-made-einstein-a-legendary-icon/) - Success takes a lot more than just accomplishment, you also need to tap into the power of networks
- [Why Some Movements Succeed And Others Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-some-movements-succeed-and-others-fail/) - To make change happen, gathering a band of passionate enthusiasts is not enough. You need to establish values have a clear purpose and a plan for success.
- [Digital Transformation Is Human Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/digital-transformation-is-human-transformation/) - The high value work of the future will involve humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines. Get the human part right and the technology will take care of itself.
- [How The NSA Uses Social Network Analysis To Map Terrorist Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-the-nsa-uses-social-network-analysis-to-map-terrorist-networks/) - If the system had been in place in 2001, there is a high probability that the 9-11 network would have been broken up, saving thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.
- [Top Posts of 2018](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/top-posts-of-2018/) - 2018 was a busy year. Due the the success of my first book, Mapping Innovation, I was inundated with speaking requests that took me not only across the country, but across the world, including Bahrain, Turkey and India. It was great to hear from so many who enjoyed the book and found it to be
- [How To Create Something Truly Original](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-create-something-truly-original/) - Despite what many say, truly original work doesn’t emerge fully formed from a brainstorm or sudden epiphany
- [Surviving Victory](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/surviving-victory/) - The question that lays before us now is not so much which policies will be put in place, but whether we will ever be able to reach a national consensus based on shared values.
- [Data Storage Is Becoming A Massive Problem, DNA May Be The Answer](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/data-storage-is-becoming-a-massive-problem-dna-may-be-the-answer/) - DNA has the potential to be a million times more powerful than silicon for storing data
- [Why We Need More Women In Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-we-need-more-women-in-innovation/) - The vast preponderance of the evidence shows that women improve performance
- [How Trust Can Be A Competitive Advantage](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-trust-can-be-a-competitive-advantage/) - The costs for a breach in trust are higher than you think and appear to be rising
- [Why The Biggest Breakthroughs Often Come From The Quiet Geniuses](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-the-biggest-breakthroughs-often-come-from-the-quiet-geniuses/) - When it comes to innovation, generosity is often a competitive advantage
- [Why The Next Big Thing Is Never Turns Out Like You Think It Will](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-the-next-big-thing-is-never-turns-out-like-you-think-it-will/) - Things that truly change the world always arrive out of context for the simple reason that the world hasn’t changed yet
- [How IBM, Google And Amazon Innovate Differently](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-ibm-google-and-amazon-innovate-differently/) - It isn't any one practice or process, but how they are deeply embedded in an organization's culture that makes the difference
- [How To Prepare Your Kids For a Post-Digital Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-prepare-your-kids-for-a-post-digital-age/) - The jobs of the future will involve humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines and value will shift from cognitive to social skills
- [4 Things To Know Before You Move Your Business To The Cloud](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-things-to-know-before-you-move-your-business-to-the-cloud/) - Moving to the cloud isn't just about adapting new technology, it's about transforming your business
- [How Connection Drives Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-connection-drives-innovation/) - It is small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose that drives transformational change
- [4 Things Every Leader Should Know About Applying Artificial Intelligence To Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-things-every-leader-should-know-about-applying-artificial-intelligence-to-business/) - You need to train and integrate a cognitive agent much as you would a human one
- [How To Prepare Your Organization For Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-prepare-your-organization-for-innovation/) - It’s always better to prepare than adapt. By the time you realize you need to adapt, it might very well be too late.
- [How One Organization Created A Movement That Transformed Healthcare](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-one-organization-created-a-movement-that-transformed-healthcare/) - Before you can change actions, you must first transform values and beliefs
- [The Retail Business Is Dead. Long Live The Retail Business!](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-retail-industry-is-dead-long-live-the-retail-industry/) - Value never disappears, it just shifts from one place to another
- [This Little Known Program At The Department Of Energy Is Helping To Create A New Future In Manufacturing](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/this-little-known-program-at-the-department-of-energy-is-helping-to-create-a-new-future-in-manufacturing/) - The key is combining ideas from the private sector with cutting edge science from government labs
- [We Need To Reengineer Our Organizations For A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-to-reengineer-our-organizations-for-a-new-era-of-innovation/) - We can expect value to shift from agility and iteration to exploration and discovery
- [These Are The Biggest Innovation Challenges We Must Solve Over The Next Decade](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/these-are-the-biggest-innovation-challenges-we-must-solve-over-the-next-decade/) - What we often forget about innovation is that it's a very human endeavor and, to measure as true progress, humans always need to be at the center.
- [Here's How Investors Are Adapting To The New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-how-investors-are-adapting-to-the-new-era-of-innovation/) - The future is not digital
- [How Virtual Reality Will Drive The Future Of Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-virtual-reality-will-drive-the-future-of-business/) - To create a new future, you first have to imagine it
- [What The Best Innovators Do Differently](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/what-the-best-innovators-do-differently/) - What makes the difference is not brilliance or even hard work. It is the passion to contribute something, to add not only knowledge but to the collective well being, that sets great innovators apart.
- [Why Debate Is The Next Frontier In Artificial Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-debate-is-the-next-frontier-in-artificial-intelligence/) - The future of technology is always more human
- [4 Things Nobody Ever Tells You About Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-things-nobody-ever-tells-you-about-innovation/) - The truth is that there is no one path to innovation, everybody has to find their own way
- [How To Pursue A Grand Challenge In 3 (Not So Easy) Steps](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-pursue-a-grand-challenge-in-3-not-so-easy-steps/) - By investing sustainably in solving fundamental problems, we can create new businesses to replace the ones that will inevitably falter.
- [Today, You Need More Than A Market Strategy, You Need An Ecosystem Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/today-you-need-more-than-a-market-strategy-you-need-an-ecosystem-strategy/) - Collaboration has become the new competitive advantage
- [Stop Complaining About Meetings And Start Making Them More Effective](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/stop-complaining-about-meetings-and-start-making-them-more-effective/) - They need to function as enablers of networks, not extensions of hierarchies
- [Here's What You Really Need To Know About Blockchain](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-what-you-really-need-to-know-about-blockchain/) - Eliminating information bottlenecks is how blockchain will truly change the world
- [Happy 9th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/happy-9th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - My favorite posts over the last year
- [It’s Time To Be Skeptical About The Lean Startup. Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/its-time-to-be-skeptical-about-the-lean-startup-heres-why/) - No innovation strategy fits every problem
- [There Are 3 Ways To Innovate, But Only One Can Win The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/there-are-3-ways-to-innovate-but-only-one-can-win-the-future/) - A key factor of success is how you source problems, build a pipeline and, ultimately, choose which ones you will work on.
- [This Army Colonel Is Helping Large Enterprises Innovate Like Lean Startups](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/this-army-colonel-is-helping-large-enterprises-innovate-like-lean-startups/) - The key is to focus on problems, not marry solutions
- [We May Finally Be Winning The War Against Cybercrime. Here's How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-may-finally-be-winning-the-war-against-cybercrime-heres-how/) - Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and those that guard our financial system need are upping their game as well.
- [Artificial Intelligence Needs Conversational Intelligence. Here's Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/lets-face-it-chatbots-sound-like-idiots-heres-how-we-can-change-that/) - The trick is to make the interface seem to disappear
- [The Semmelweis Myth And Why It’s Not Really True](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-semmelweis-myth-and-why-its-not-really-true/) - To create a real impact on the world is no simple thing. Innovation is never a single event, but a process of discovery, engineering and transformation and those things rarely happen in the same place. That’s why effective innovators are great collaborators.
- [The New Era Of Mass Collaboration](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-new-era-of-mass-collaboration/) - In a networked world, the best way to become a dominant player is to be an indispensable partner.
- [5 Things Managers Should Know About Innovation (But Most Don’t)](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/5-things-managers-should-know-about-innovation-but-most-dont/) - There is no one "true" path to innovation, but there are basic principles that we can apply
- [Marketers Need To Start Preparing For The End Of The Digital Age And The New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/marketers-need-to-start-preparing-for-the-end-of-the-digital-age-and-the-new-era-of-innovation/) - Earning consumers' trust and creating more impactful experiences will be key
- [Becoming A Successful Executive Doesn’t Prepare You To Innovate](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/becoming-a-successful-executive-doesnt-prepare-you-to-innovate/) - There is a basic tradeoff between innovation and optimization
- [3 Startups That Are Defying The Odds And Bringing Breakthrough Discoveries To Market](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/3-startups-that-are-defying-the-odds-and-bringing-breakthrough-discoveries-to-market/) - Their secret to look beyond traditional VC's
- [Here’s Why No One Cares About Your Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-why-no-one-cares-about-your-ideas/) - If you want people to start listening to your ideas, focus less on the fact that you have them and more on what value they can deliver to others.
- [We Need To Rethink Innovation For The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-to-rethink-innovation-for-the-21st-century/) - It’s better to prepare than adapt because, by the time you see the need to adapt, it may already be too late
- [We Need Real Scientific Breakthroughs To Build A Clean Energy Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-real-scientific-breakthroughs-to-build-a-clean-energy-economy/) - Discovering new battery chemistries is going to be key
- [An Open Letter To The NFL Anthem Protestors](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/an-open-letter-to-the-nfl-protestors/) - "Raising awareness" and "creating conversations" are not real results. You can do a lot better.
- [3 Social Entrepreneurs That Are Changing The World From The Bottom Up](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/3-social-entrepreneurs-that-are-changing-the-world-from-the-bottom-up/) - The best way to help the world's poor is by leveraging the assets they already have
- [Real Businesses Have Real Assets](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/real-businesses-have-real-assets/) - Don't believe everything you hear about platform businesses
- [If You Don’t Explore, You Won’t Invent And You Will Be Disrupted](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/if-you-dont-explore-you-wont-invent-and-you-will-be-disrupted/) - Today we need to manage not for stability, but for disruption, Not all who wander are lost.
- [Silicon Valley Can’t Build The Future Alone](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/silicon-valley-cant-build-the-future-alone/) - The days when the digital world could stand alone in blissful ignorance of how the rest of the world does business are clearly waning
- [Innovation “Gurus” Love To Talk About These 4 Myths — None Of Them Are True](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/innovation-gurus-love-to-talk-about-these-4-myths-none-of-them-are-true/) - What worked for Steve Jobs or Elon Musk Might not work for you
- [This Startup Is Leveraging Decades Of Pollution To Help Build a Clean Energy Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/this-startup-is-using-pollution-to-help-build-a-clean-energy-future/) - It could shift the economics of energy toward renewables
- [It’s Not Just Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, The Internet Is Broken, But We Can Fix It](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/its-not-just-facebook-and-cambridge-analytica-the-internet-is-broken-but-we-can-fix-it/) - There's a massive security hole and we need to close it
- [Why The "March For Our Lives" Kids Are Succeeding Where So Many Others Have Failed](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-march-for-our-lives-kids-are-succeeding-where-so-many-others-have-failed/) - It's a movement designed for action rather than merely to build awareness around a set of beliefs
- [IBM’s “5 in 5” Highlights Secure Digital Solutions For The Physical World](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/ibms-5-for-5-highlights-secure-digital-solutions-for-the-physical-world/) - Identifying meaningful problems and setting goals to solve them are the first steps in transforming ideas into reality.
- [The Silicon Valley Myth](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-silicon-valley-myth/) - We need to build a new ecosystem for a new era of innovation
- [Why The Future Will Always Surprise Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/why-the-future-will-always-surprise-us/) - The next big thing always starts out looking like nothing at all
- [Here’s What Our Quantum Future Will Look Like](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-what-our-quantum-future-will-look-like/) - Those that win in this new age will not be the ones who can do old things faster, but those who can imagine new possibilities.
- [How GE Got Disrupted](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-ge-got-disrupted/) - If you don't explore, you won't discover. If you don't discover you won't invent. And if you don't invent, you will be disrupted.
- [How To Create Transformational Change, According To The World's Most Successful Social Movements](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-to-create-transformational-change-according-to-the-worlds-most-successful-social-movements/) - Business leaders today not only need to study people like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Jack Welch, but also Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Harvey Milk as well.
- [How To Win In The New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-win-in-the-new-era-of-innovation/) - The best way to become a dominant player will be to become an essential partner.
- [America Can Win Manufacturing In The 21st Century. Here’s How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/america-can-win-manufacturing-in-the-21st-century-heres-how/) - We have all the resources we need. It remains to be seen whether we have the vision or the will.
- [4 Rules For Building An Innovative Culture](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/4-rules-for-building-an-innovative-culture/) - What you want is people who can collaborate, listen and build strong networks
- [How To Solve A Really Tough Problem In 3 (Not So Easy) Steps](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/how-to-solve-a-really-tough-problem-in-3-not-so-easy-steps/) - The key to solving fundamental challenges is to go both wider and deeper
- [The Silver Bullet Myth](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-silver-bullet-myth/) - All generalizations are false, including this one
- [How IBM Is Preparing The Enterprise For The Cognitive Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/you-need-to-prepare-your-business-for-the-cognitive-age/) - It’s not enough to simply apply algorithms. You need to create data driven business models.
- [To Create Real Change, Leadership Is More Important Than Authority](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/to-create-real-change-leadership-is-more-important-than-authority/) - The lunatics run the asylum, the best we can do as leaders is empower them to run it right.
- [Innovation Isn’t About What You Know, But What You Don’t](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/innovation-isnt-about-what-you-know-but-what-you-dont/) - Innovation, necessarily, is about the future, but all we can really know is about the past and some of the present. An idea can never be validated backwards, only forwards.
- [Here’s How We Can Make The Next Big Thing Happen Much Faster](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/heres-how-we-can-make-the-next-big-thing-happen-much-faster/) - An obscure government program may be a blueprint for the future
- [#MonkeyFirst Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/monkeyfirst-innovation/) - Tackle the hardest problems first. Those are the ones that matter
- [4 Things Leaders Need To Close The Gap Between Aspiration And Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-thing-leaders-need-to-close-the-gap-between-aspiration-and-innovation/) - We need to treat innovation differently than we do normal operations
- [We Have Learn To Embrace Uncertainty And Confusion](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-have-learn-to-embrace-uncertainty-and-confusion/) - If answers were easy to come by somebody else would already have found them
- [Anatomy Of A Breakthrough](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/anatomy-of-a-breakthrough/) - Innovation is never a single event
- [We Need To Invite More Disruption and Messiness Into Our Lives — Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-to-invite-more-disruption-and-messiness-into-our-lives-heres-why/) - The corporate tendency towards tidiness can actually hurt productivity
- [Start With The “Why Not?”](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/start-with-the-why-not/) - It is often those seemingly random wanderings that shed new light on our everyday work
- [A True Transformation Takes More Than Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/to-truly-change-the-world-takes-more-than-technology-or-ideas-behaviors-need-to-be-transformed/) - We need to be open to new possibilities to solve new problems. Innovation needs exploration.
- [A 270 Year Old Mathematical Formula Can Teach Us A Lot About Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/a-270-year-old-mathematical-formula-can-teach-us-about-innovation/) - Discovery necessarily resides in the realm of the unknown and, if we are to build better things for a better world, that’s where we need to explore.
- [Everybody Should Be Pursuing A Grand Challenge — Here’s Why:](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/everybody-should-be-pursuing-a-grand-challenge-heres-why/) - While incremental improvements can improve performance along an established trajectory, by solving a fundamental problem you can change the game entirely. 
- [The 70-20-10 Rule](https://digitaltonto.com/2018/the-70-20-10-rule/) - Innovation isn't just about coming up with new ideas, but also managing resources wisely
- [Don't Bet On Someone Else’s Success Story](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/dont-bet-on-someone-elses-success-story/) - A strategy can never be validated backward, only forward
- [Top Posts of 2017](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/top-posts-of-2017/) - The articles you liked the best over the past year
- [How To Read (And Watch) The News](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-to-read-and-watch-the-news/) - It is our responsibility as citizens to do more than just follow our tribe and believe anything that reinforces our prior beliefs.
- [We Need To Focus More On Networks And Less On Nodes](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/we-need-to-focus-more-on-networks-and-less-on-the-nodes/) - Ideas don’t change the world alone, but depend on small groups, loosely connected but united by a common purpose to truly make an impact.
- [The 2017 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-2017-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, it proved to be a landmark event in human history. No longer would people be confined to their immediate context, but could travel in their minds to share the experiences and expertise of people of virtually any time and place. Today, with modern transportation and communications
- [4 Skills That All Great Innovators Share](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-skills-that-all-great-innovators-share/) - Great innovators aren’t prima donnas or glory seekers. They are problem solvers.
- [3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Bet Your Business On A Platform](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/3-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-bet-your-business-on-a-platform/) - The basic laws of business have not changed
- [The Next Great Transformation Will Be From Bits To Atoms](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-next-great-transformation-will-be-from-bits-to-atoms/) - We don’t need to understand the future to be open to it
- [You Can Never Build The Future By Looking To The Past](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/you-can-never-build-the-future-by-looking-to-the-past/) - You can never create something truly new based on what you already know. The only way to find it is to start looking.
- [Every Business Today Needs To Prepare For An AI-Driven World. Here’s How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/every-business-today-needs-to-prepare-for-an-ai-driven-world-heres-how/) - We need to focus less on where value is shifting from and more on where value is shifting to.
- [Yes, The Inmates Really Do Run The Asylum](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/yes-the-inmates-really-do-run-the-asylum/) - It's leadership's job to help them run it effectively.
- [Don’t Be Fooled By These 3 Overhyped Trends](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/dont-be-fooled-by-these-3-overhyped-trends/) - Our love of patterns is so great, in fact, that once we notice one we are often unable to disregard it.
- [The 9 Rules Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-9-rules-of-innovation/) - The truth is that there are many paths to innovation. Here are nine of them.
- [3 Simple Things You Can Do To Improve Data Security and Performance](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/3-simple-things-you-can-do-to-improve-data-security-and-performance/) - The truth is that data security and operational excellence go hand-in-hand
- [Generosity Can Be A Competitive Advantage](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/generosity-can-be-a-competitive-advantage/) - Power no longer lies at the top of the heap, but at the center of networks and you get there not by vanquishing rivals but through cultivating friends.
- [The Platform Fallacy](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-platform-fallacy/) - Despite all the excitement about platforms, businesses still need to create, deliver and capture value
- [Here's Why Even Successful Companies Find It Hard To Innovate In New Markets](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-why-even-successful-companies-find-it-hard-to-innovate-in-new-markets/) - You have to be able to look beyond your current business and explore new horizons
- [You Can’t Change Fundamental Behaviors Without Changing Fundamental Beliefs](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/you-cant-change-fundamental-behaviors-without-changing-fundamental-beliefs/) - The truth is that change that is imposed never sticks, because it asks those who must affect change to betray themselves.
- [Don’t Worry About People Stealing Your Ideas](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/dont-worry-about-people-stealing-your-ideas/) - "If your idea is any good, you'll have to ram it down people's throats"
- [Innovation Isn't About What You Control, But What You Can Access](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/innovation-isnt-about-what-you-control-but-what-you-can-access/) - Competitive advantage no longer lies at the top of a value chain, but at the center of networks
- [Don’t Break Down Silos, Connect Them](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/dont-break-down-silos-connect-them/) - Stop obsessing over silos and start thinking about how your organization can transcend them.
- [4 Innovation Mistakes That You Really Need To Avoid](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-innovation-mistakes-that-you-really-need-to-avoid/) - It’s the ability to identify and solve important problems that transforms disruption into opportunity.
- [Here's What We Can Learn From The Bankruptcy At Toys “R” Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-what-we-can-learn-from-the-bankruptcy-at-toys-r-us/) - Clearly the problem isn’t with retail itself, but the inability for legacy firms to adapt to a new model.
- [The Quantum Age Is Almost Upon Us We And Need To Start Taking It Seriously](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-quantum-age-is-almost-upon-us-we-and-need-to-start-taking-it-seriously/) - What the quantum era needs most is not sensationalism and fear, but understanding.
- [Building A Network To Solve Education](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/building-a-network-to-solve-education/) - The power to solve tough problems won't be found in ivory towers, but emerges at the center of networks
- [We Too Often Ignore The Tradeoff Between Innovation And Optimization](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/we-too-often-ignore-the-tradeoff-between-innovation-and-optimization/) - If you want to innovate, forget the metrics and focus on your mission
- [The Most Important Thing That Great Innovators Do Differently](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-most-important-thing-that-great-innovators-do-differently/) - Revolutions don’t begin with a slogan. They begin with a cause.
- [Build For The Few And Not The Many](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/build-for-the-few-and-not-the-many/) - Your idea is always wrong in some way. The key is to find a visionary customer.
- [Designing Workspaces To Solve Problems](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/great-innovators-design-their-workspaces-to-match-the-problems-they-want-to-solve/) - Just as there is no one path to innovation, there is no one way to design an innovation space.
- [This Company Is Combining Big Data and Materials Science to Revolutionize Manufacturing](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/this-company-is-combining-big-data-and-materials-science-to-revolutionize-manufacturing/) - If they are successful, the business of making things will never be the same.
- [Innovation Is Never 1 Thing (Actually It’s 3 Things)](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/innovation-is-never-1-thing-actually-its-3-things/) - It’s never enough just to have a great idea. You have to see it through.
- [Social Movements Can Teach Us A Lot About What It Takes To Build A Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/social-movements-can-teach-us-a-lot-about-what-it-takes-to-build-a-business/) - It's more important to make a difference than to make a point.
- [Here’s Why Google Is Open-Sourcing Some Of Its Most Important Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/heres-why-google-is-open-sourcing-some-of-its-most-important-technology/) - Power no longer resides at the top of the heap, but rather at the center of networks.
- [Amazon's Purchase Of Whole Foods Shows Why Every Industry Needs An Ecosystem](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/amazons-purchase-of-whole-foods-shows-why-every-industry-needs-an-ecosystem/) - Every organism eventually dies. In the long term, it is only ecosystems that survive.
- [Happy 8th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/happy-8th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - Some of my favorite posts...
- [The Future Of Robots](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-future-of-robots/) - One thing is clear. Robots will become an increasingly important part of the economy and will drive productivity for decades to come.
- [The Future Of Robots Is All Too Human](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-future-of-robots-is-all-too-human/) - The key to winning in the new era of automation is not to eliminate people, but to put them at the center.
- [4 Things Gandhi Can Teach Us About Transformational Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-things-gandhi-can-teach-us-about-transformational-change/) - If we ever hope to change the world we first must transform ourselves.
- [No Innovation Strategy Fits Every Problem, So You Need To Work With Full Toolbox](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/no-innovation-strategy-fits-every-problem-so-you-need-to-work-with-full-toolbox/) - The truth is that every innovation strategy fails eventually, because there are always new problems to solve.
- [3 Technologies You Need To Start Paying Attention To Right Now](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/3-technologies-you-need-to-start-paying-attention-to-right-now/) - The next big thing always starts out looking like nothing at all.
- [Can America Win The New Century?](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/can-america-win-the-new-century/) - It was the spirit of discovery that made America the exceptional nation, just as its absence will make our decline
- [4 Myths About Innovation That “Gurus” Love To Tell](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-myths-about-innovation-that-gurus-love-to-tell/) - The only “right way” to innovate is to solve a problem that people care about. You have to decide for yourself how you will get there.
- [How Idle Chatter And Gossip Can Make You More Productive](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-idle-chatter-and-gossip-can-make-you-more-productive/) - What may seem like idle chatter could end up taking you in an entirely new direction.
- [IBM Is Using The Crowd To Help Advance Its Quantum Computer](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/ibm-is-using-the-crowd-to-help-advance-its-quantum-computer/) - As the current era of digital technology comes to an end, we are entering a new age in which possibilities expand once again.
- [Entrepreneurship Can Get Even Better The Second Time Around](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/entrepreneurship-can-get-even-better-the-second-time-around/) - The most essential business skill is learning itself.
- [Why Social Skills Are Trumping Cognitive Skills](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-social-skills-are-trumping-cognitive-skills/) - The future belongs not to the strongest or the smartest, but those who can collaborate—with humans and machines—most effectively.
- [Here’s Why Your Innovation Strategy Will Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-why-your-innovation-strategy-will-fail/) - Many organizations get stuck because they end up locking themselves into a single strategy. That's how they get disrupted.
- [Innovation Programs In Schools Can Help Kids Learn More Than Just Facts](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/innovation-programs-in-schools-can-help-kids-learn-more-than-just-facts/) - We need to shift from an educational system that values what you can answer to one that values what you can ask.
- [What I Learned From Breaking Out Of My Comfort Zone](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/what-i-learned-from-breaking-out-of-my-comfort-zone/) - When you stretch your horizons, you not only gain new experiences, but also learn that you are capable of going even a bit further the next time.
- [Retail Isn’t Dead, But It Does Need To Adapt](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/retail-isnt-dead-but-it-does-need-to-adapt/) - The rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. Today, even native digital companies are opening up physical locations.
- [All Great Innovators Have One Thing In Common — They Stick It Out](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/all-great-innovators-have-one-thing-in-common-they-stick-it-out/) - They have the courage to grind it out long after many others would have given up.
- [This Tight-Knit Family Built A Star Trek Style Tricorder and Won An XPRIZE](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/this-tight-knit-family-built-a-star-trek-style-tricorder-and-won-an-xprize/) - What would be an impossible dream for most people is just family fun for the Harrises.
- [Innovation Needs Communication](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/innovation-needs-communication/) - Increasingly, we live in a social economy with collaboration at its center
- [Here's How Technology Can Help Solve The Black Swan Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-how-technology-can-help-solve-the-black-swan-problem/) - It seems clear that our technology will soon advance to the point where even the highly unlikely becomes a sure bet.
- [4 Types of Innovation (and how to approach them)](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/4-types-of-innovation-and-how-to-approach-them/) - Innovation’s greatest challenge is to come up with a clear framework for defining innovation problems and approaches that are most likely to resolve them.
- [4 Things We Can Still Learn From Albert Einstein](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-things-we-can-still-learn-from-albert-einstein/) - We need to remember him not only for his achievements, but for how he achieved them.
- [Truly Great Innovators Do These 4 Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/truly-great-innovators-do-these-4-things/) - There is no one "true path" to innovation but there are some common attributes
- [This Is How Your Business Will Be Disrupted](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/this-is-how-your-business-will-be-disrupted/) - It is always better to prepare than adapt. When you find yourself adapting you are already losing.
- [4 Innovation Lessons From Charles Darwin](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-innovation-lessons-from-charles-darwin/) - The truth is that innovation needs exploration. We cannot expect to know what we will find beforehand. The only certainty is that we learn nothing by staying put
- [The Internet Of Things Is Transforming Industries You Would Never Think Of](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-internet-of-things-is-transforming-industries-you-would-never-think-of/) - As digital connectivity begins to transform physical machines, it’s likely that we’re now in the early days of a new productivity boom.
- [The Right Way to Be Wrong](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/the-right-way-to-be-wrong/) - Everybody is right some of the time, but to be wrong and do it well requires a special mix of genius and character.
- [How To Be A World Class Performer In Anything You Set Your Mind To](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-to-be-a-world-class-performer-in-anything-you-set-your-mind-to/) - To achieve a high level of excellence, you need to do more than just show up.
- [We Need To Educate Kids For The Future, Not The Past. Here’s How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/we-need-to-educate-kids-for-the-future-not-the-past-heres-how/) - The work of the future will involve humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines
- [We Need To Switch Our Mental Models From Hierarchies To Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-to-switch-our-mental-models-from-hierarchies-to-networks/) - In a world connected by digital technology, power no longer lies at the top of hierarchies, but at the center of networks.
- [4 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know Going In](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-things-every-entrepreneur-should-know-going-in/) - A startup isn't a smaller version of a big company, It's a search for a sustainable business model.
- [These 3 Technological Forces That Are Changing The Nature Of Work](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/these-3-technological-forces-that-are-changing-the-nature-of-work/) - As automation produces ever greater abundance, humanity itself is becoming the scarce, and therefore most valuable, resource.
- [How Open Data for Science Will Change How Businesses Compete](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-open-data-for-science-will-change-how-businesses-compete/) - You no longer need a billion dollar budget to make a breakthrough, but can use the collective knowledge of the world’s scientists to imagine a new future.
- [Inside The Race To Build A Battery That Can Power The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/inside-the-race-to-build-a-battery-that-can-power-the-21st-century/) - To solve truly big and complex problems, we need to build new platforms for collaboration.
- [How To Compete And Win In An Automated Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-to-compete-and-win-in-an-automated-age/) - When technology automates tasks, value shifts to humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines.
- [Here's How Technology Will Shape Marketing Over The Next Decade](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-how-technology-will-shape-marketing-over-the-next-decade/) - We need to shift from crafting messages to creating experiences. Algorithms can analyze and target, but only humans can truly inspire other humans.
- [We Need To Stop Trying To Predict The Future And Start Exploring It](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/we-need-to-stop-trying-to-predict-the-future-and-start-exploring-it/) - The truth is that even really smart people get the future wrong. We need to be explorers, not oracles.
- [The Lean Startup Is Now Helping To Transform Government Funded Science Into Real Businesses](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-lean-startup-is-now-helping-to-transform-government-funded-science-into-real-businesses/) - The Lean Startup isn't not just a series of hacks or tricks, but a fundamentally different way of thinking that can help anyone launch a new product or venture.
- [The Lean Startup Is Doing More Than Transforming Business, It’s Changing The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-lean-startup-is-doing-more-than-transforming-business-its-changing-the-world/) - Just because you’ve created a great solution, doesn’t mean you have found the right problem.
- [A New Breed Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/a-new-breed-of-innovation/) - If we are to solve our biggest and toughest problems, we need to learn how to implement a new level of collaboration across our entire society.
- [How Even Small Businesses Can Access World Class Scientific Research](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-even-small-businesses-can-access-world-class-scientific-research/) - They key is to show a real interest and engage.
- [Here's Why You Should Think Twice Before Listening To Business Gurus](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-why-you-should-think-twice-before-listening-to-business-gurus/) - Simple rules always get more complicated when you try to apply them to the real world.
- [Innovation Is Combination](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/innovation-is-combination/) - If you want to innovate, don’t sit around waiting for a great epiphany, look for what you can combine to create something truly new and powerful.
- [If You Want To Innovate, Avoid These Myths](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/if-you-want-to-innovate-avoid-these-myths/) - The truth is that there is no one true path to innovation. You need to define your own innovation playbook based your strategy, capabilities and culture.
- [4 Things You Need To Build An Innovative Culture](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/4-things-you-need-to-build-an-innovative-culture/) - We tend to think innovation is about ideas, but it depends on people even more.
- [Here’s What’s Wrong With Your Great Idea](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/heres-whats-wrong-with-your-great-idea/) - A flash of insight will not make you Steve Jobs, it just means that you’ve recognized a pattern that may or may not really be there.
- [Why IBM Bets On Patents](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/why-ibm-bets-on-patents/) - Freedom of action has a lot to do with it.
- [Data And Technology Don’t Change Your Culture, They Reveal it](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/data-and-technology-dont-change-your-culture-they-reveal-it/) - We shouldn’t be so quick to blame algorithms. When we don’t like what we see, it is possible that we are looking at the culture we have created.
- [America Isn't Out Of Ideas. In Fact, A New Era Of Innovation Is About To Begin](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/america-isnt-out-of-ideas-in-fact-a-new-era-of-innovation-is-about-to-begin/) - What we really need is more ideas about how to translate our scientific prowess into tangible economic impacts.
- [To Create Real Change, You Need To Do More Than Just Protest](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/to-create-real-change-you-need-to-do-more-than-just-protest/) - History is made by those who can define a path forward and persuade others — even those who are initially skeptical — that it is a journey worth embarking on.
- [Over The Next 5 Years, IBM Sees Atoms Fusing With Bits To Create New Insights](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/over-the-next-5-years-ibm-sees-atoms-fusing-with-bits-to-create-new-insights/) - IBM Research sees a new era emerging in which software and instrumentation will combine to give us unprecedented insights into the physical world
- [What President Trump Could Do To Advance Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/what-a-president-trump-could-do-to-advance-innovation/) - The truth is that the opportunities we have today dwarf anything that came before. However, opportunities are only valuable if you seize them.
- [How Smart Businesses Are Turning Academic Research Into Profits](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-smart-businesses-are-turning-academic-research-into-profits/) - Take a look at any significant innovation, such as an iPhone, and you’ll find that most, if not all, of the technology came from some government program.
- [How The Cloud Is Helping Small Businesses Compete With The Big Guys](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/how-the-cloud-is-helping-small-businesses-compete-with-the-big-guys/) - Technology disrupts, but it also empowers and the cloud may be the best example of that.
- [Quantum Encryption Is Coming Sooner Than You Think. The Time To Prepare Is Now](https://digitaltonto.com/2017/the-future-of-encryption/) - The new era of quantum encryption is coming sooner than you think. If you want to protect your business, the time to start is now.
- [Cargo Cult Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/cargo-cult-strategy/) - Good strategy leverages your own unique blend of capabilities and culture.
- [Top Posts of 2016](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/top-posts-of-2016/) - My most popular posts over the past year...
- [The 2016 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-2016-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - The books I read and wrote about in 2016
- [Let’s Not “Yada Yada” Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/lets-not-yada-yada-innovation/) - Innovation can never be distilled down to a single event. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that details matter.
- [How Brands Can Become Great Storytellers](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-brands-can-become-great-storytellers/) - Great storytelling is infinitely more than simply producing content. It is, in fact, no less than helping customers connect with the soul of your enterprise.
- [Today, Every Business Must Transform Itself Into A Platform](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/today-every-business-must-transform-itself-into-a-platform/) - Competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies, but the sum of all connections.
- [How Successful Movements Inspire Lasting Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-successful-movements-inspire-lasting-change/) - if you want to effect lasting change today, it’s no longer enough to merely command resources, you have to inspire opponents to join your cause.
- [4 Things We Need To Do To Boost Innovation And Entrepreneurship](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-things-we-need-to-do-to-build-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/) - A free enterprise system is merely a starting point. We can only truly win the future if we invest in it.
- [The Biggest Problems Facing The World Aren’t What You Think—And They Will Require Collective Solutions](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-biggest-problems-facing-the-world-arent-what-you-think-and-they-will-require-collective-solutions/) - The biggest challenges we face now can’t be solved with greater prosperity, technology or education because those are, in large degree, the underlying causes.
- [If You’re Serious About Content, You Need To Start Thinking Like A Publisher](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/if-youre-serious-about-content-you-need-to-start-thinking-like-a-publisher/) - If you expect people to listen to you, it’s best to have something meaningful to say.
- [Innovation Needs Exploration](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/innovation-needs-exploration/) - Without exploration, there can be no advancement.
- [The Synchronized Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-synchronized-organization/) - We can no longer rely on hierarchies. The problem is not that they have suddenly become illegitimate, but that they are slow and the world has become fast.
- [Now, Anyone Who Wants Can Access The World’s Most Advanced Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/now-anyone-who-wants-can-access-the-worlds-most-advanced-technology/) - Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Google are making some of their most advanced resources available to anyone who wants to use them.
- [Can We Teach Algorithms Right From Wrong?](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/can-we-teach-algorithms-right-from-wrong/) - We need to treat standards by which artificial intelligences operate just as seriously as those that govern our legal systems and how we educate our children.
- [What’s Wrong with Apple?](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/whats-wrong-with-apple/) - Technology cycles come and go and the present one simply doesn’t play to Apple’s strengths. It was bound to happen.
- [The Productivity Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-productivity-problem/) - The price for securing our future amounts to only a small fraction of pennies on the dollar. How are we coming up short?
- [Why Do Some Technologies Just Never Seem To Die?](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-do-some-technologies-just-never-seem-to-die/) - The technologies that endure do not merely innovate with respect to features and functionality, but create value through forming new connections.
- [4 Lessons Every Leader Needs To Learn](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-things-every-leader-needs-to-learn/) - Great leaders do not merely plan action, they inspire belief.
- [Great Companies Don't Adapt, They Prepare](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/great-companies-dont-adapt-they-prepare/) - Truly great companies don’t scramble to adapt to the future, because they create the future.
- [The New Digital Battlefields](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-new-digital-battlefields/) - Most enterprises won't be able to adapt to the new battlefields. Adopting new skills today takes more than hiring and procurement, but also systemic thinking.
- [Platforms Are Transforming How We Need To Compete](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/platforms-are-transforming-how-we-need-to-compete/) - We now need to design our organizations for agility, empathy and interconnectedness, rather than for scale, dominance and efficiency.
- [Here’s How Quantum Computing Will Change The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/heres-how-quantum-computing-will-change-the-world/) - The quantum computing revolution may be even more profound than the digital computing revolution a half century ago and it will happen much faster.
- [The Shift Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-shift-economy/) - It is not enough to race as fast as we can down a chosen course, we need to notice when a more prodigious one begins to appear.
- [4 Ways Every Business Needs To Use Artificial Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-ways-every-business-needs-to-use-artificial-intelligence/) - We are entering a new era of cognitive collaboration in which machines become far more than just agents to perform tasks, but help us to understand the world.
- [Why Open Beats Closed](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-open-beats-closed/) - The problems of today are so complex that no one has more than a piece of the overall puzzle. Open systems are no longer a choice, but an imperative.
- [We Need 21st Century Solutions For 21st Century Problems](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-21st-century-solutions-for-21st-century-problems/) - It is no longer enough to simply think about problems and propose solutions. The challenges we face in the 21st century require that we collaborate around them.
- [The Growing Rivalry Between Google And IBM](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-growing-rivalry-between-google-and-ibm/) - Google vs. IBM is a rivalry for technological rather than market dominance, yet it's likely to determine much about how technology shapes our world.
- [Seek Simplicity, But Distrust It](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/seek-simplicity-but-distrust-it/) - It is one thing that we don’t fully understand the technology we use every day, but experts don’t either.
- [This Children’s Hospital In Dallas Is Reimagining The Healthcare Business Model](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/this-childrens-hospital-in-dallas-is-reimagining-the-healthcare-business-model/) - Children's Health in Dallas has been developing an innovative new model that reimagines how the healthcare system works with the communities it serves
- [How IBM Is Building A Business Around Watson](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-ibm-is-building-a-business-around-watson/) - Today, Watson has become much more than a clever parlor trick, but a potentially huge line of business for IBM.
- [If You Want To Avoid Being Replaced By A Robot, Here’s What You Need To Know](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/if-you-want-to-avoid-being-replaced-by-a-robot-heres-what-you-need-to-know/) - The ironic thing about the new age of machines is that by automating tasks, we are liberating human imagination and the human spirit.
- [Innovation Needs To Shift From Disrupting Markets To Tackling Grand Challenges](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/innovation-needs-to-shift-from-disrupting-markets-to-tackling-grand-challenges/) - The truth is that what has passed for innovation over the last 20 or 30 years has been more focused on disrupting markets than fundamentally changing the world
- [How Lean Startup Techniques Can Work Even Better For Established Businesses](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-lean-startup-techniques-can-work-even-better-for-established-businesses/) - While small, agile firms can move fast, larger enterprises have the ability to move deliberately. They have loyal customers and an abundance of resources.
- [The New Age Of Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-new-age-of-platforms/) - It’s easy to scoff at early adopters, but that shouldn’t blind us to new capabilities that can either propel us forward or run us over.
- [5 Technologies for 2031](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/5-technologies-for-2031/) - Today, in 2016, we have largely mastered the virtual world of information. By 2031, we will have begun to master the physical world as well.
- [A New Era Of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/a-new-era-of-innovation/) - Without trusty old paradigms to guide us, it will no longer be enough to be agile and disrupt, we will have to discover and build.
- [Happy 7th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/happy-7th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - Some of my favorite posts from the last seven years.
- [Behind Great Stories Of Success Often Lies A Tale of Heartbreaking Desperation](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/triumphant-tales-of-heartbreaking-desperation/) - Stories of incredible success often contain privation, hardship and humiliation.
- [The Efficiency Paradox](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-efficiency-paradox/) - Leaders today can no longer afford to think in conventional terms of efficiency, but must shape networks in the context of a shared mission.
- [Strategy In A Networked World](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/strategy-in-a-networked-world/) - They key source of advantage is no longer building efficiencies, but widening and deepening connections.
- [4 Things Brands Need To Know About Storytelling](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-things-brands-need-to-know-about-storytelling/) - Stories, when told well, are not mere containers for a brand message, but advocates of brand potential that has yet to be discovered.
- [4 Simple Rules That Will Make You A Better Writer](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-simple-rules-for-better-writing/) - You communicate effectively not by having a knack for a clever turn of phrase, but by putting in the effort to express your ideas clearly.
- [The Very Strange—And Fascinating— Ideas Behind Quantum Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-very-strange-and-fascinating-ideas-behind-quantum-computing/) - IBM is working on a new quantum computer that can dominate the industry for decades to come. If that sounds incredible, wait till you hear the ideas behind it
- [5 Things I’ve Learned About Creativity](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/5-things-ive-learned-about-creativity/) - The truth is that creativity is hard work. The only way to create successfully is to get your ideas out there, find the flaws and get to work fixing them.
- [A Look Inside Four Decades Of Breakthroughs At IBM Research](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/a-look-inside-four-decades-of-breakthroughs-at-ibm-research/) - While Bell Labs and Xerox PARC have become legendary, IBM Research is no less consequential. What's more, it's still going.
- [4 Things Publishers Need To Know To Compete In The Digital Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/4-things-publishers-need-to-know-to-compete-in-the-digital-age/) - Like any other industry, in publishing the product drives the business and your success is driven by customer demand for it. Everything else is optimization.
- [How Google Innovates](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-google-innovates/) - What makes Google special is the way it’s been able to integrate an entire portfolio of innovation strategies into a seamless whole.
- [How Power Is Shifting From Corporations To Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-power-is-shifting-from-corporations-to-platforms/) - An enterprise is no longer so much a collection of resources and capabilities as it is a set of platforms.
- [The Goliath Advantage](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-goliath-advantage/) - It’s true that small, agile firms can move fast, but larger enterprises have the luxury of going slow
- [How IBM Innovates](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-ibm-innovates/) - While other companies think in terms of quarters or years, IBM thinks in terms of decades—or longer.
- [America’s Distinctive Brand Of Change](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/americas-distinctive-brand-of-change/) - Throughout our history, it has been our openness that has made us a beacon to both new people and new ideas and given us the ability to transcend our challenges
- [Summer Reading List: 17 Great Books Every Innovator Should Read](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/summer-reading-list-17-great-books-every-innovator-should-read/) - The absolutely essential books for anyone who wants to change the world.
- [The Science Behind Bernie Sanders Failed Movement, Explained](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-science-behind-bernie-sanders-failed-movement-explained/) - Until your movement is able to attract the support of those who do not immediately agree with you, it’s nothing more than a protest.
- [The Data Delusion](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-data-delusion/) - The notion that you can transform a failing media company—or any company for that matter— by infusing it with data and algorithms is terribly misguided.
- [Mass Media vs. Blogs: What Makes Quality Content?](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/mass-media-vs-blogs-what-makes-quality-content/) - There is no worse betrayal to quality journalism than running a media business poorly.
- [If Big Data Is To Live Up To Its Promise, We Need To Fix Our Data Systems](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/if-big-data-is-to-live-up-to-its-promise-we-need-to-fix-our-data-systems/) - We need to take a balkanized world of data, made up of disparate islands and integrate it into a single, unified environment in which we can work effectively.
- [3 Reasons To Believe The Singularity Is Near](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/3-reasons-to-believe-the-singularity-is-near/) - The crazy predictions Ray Kurzweil made a decade ago don’t seem so outlandish now.
- [What To Do While You're Waiting For Steve Jobs](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/16775/) - The power to dream is not nearly as important as the grit to see it through.
- [The Yin And Yang Of Elon Musk](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-yin-and-yang-of-elon-musk/) - What makes Elon Musk so extraordinary is that he is able to entertain unlikely ideas, while at the same time examining them under a rigorous analytical lens.
- [Apple Is Not The Next Blackberry, It's The Next Toyota](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/apple-is-not-the-next-blackberry-its-the-next-toyota/) - Apple is not a once-great company in decline, but a still-great company that will face conditions over the next decade far less favorable than in the past.
- [Dare To Be Crap](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/dare-to-be-crap/) - Nobody really cares how bad the first draft is, because they never see it. All that matters is the finished product.
- [Bitcoin May Not Survive, But The Technology Behind It Will Live On](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/bitcoin-may-not-survive-but-the-technology-behind-it-will-live-on/) - Blockchains, by creating a "trust protocol," will make the Internet much more useful and secure.
- [These 4 Major Paradigm Shifts Will Transform The Future Of Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/these-4-major-paradigm-shifts-will-transform-the-future-of-technology/) - We often get caught up in old paradigms and fail to realize that paradigms shift and the challenges—and opportunities—of the future will be vastly different.
- [The Future Of Money](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-future-of-money/) - Digital currency represents a decentralized form of money that is more secure, more fungible and more functional than anything we’ve seen before.
- [Cloud Computing Just Entered Totally New Territory](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/cloud-computing-just-entered-totally-new-territory/) - Before we used the cloud to access greater capability at lower cost. Now, just about anybody can access capabilities that virtually no one could before.
- [There Is No One True Path To Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/there-is-no-one-true-path-to-innovation/) - We need to leave to leave behind the innovation fairy tales and deal with innovation as it really happens. That's how you forge your own path.
- [How Experian Built A Business Around Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-experian-built-a-business-around-data/) - By reducing points of friction in the economy through better use of data, Experian sees an enormous business opportunity.
- [21st Century Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/strategic-shift/) - The strategist must evolve from a master who gives the orders to a facilitator who makes the process work.
- [Why 2020 Is Shaping Up To Be A Pivotal Year](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-2020-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-pivotal-year/) - While the past ten years have given us unprecedented control over the virtual world, the next decade will bring us unprecedented power over the physical world.
- [The Problems Of Progress](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-problems-of-progress/) - The toughest problems we’ll have to face in the future will come from the unintended consequences of advances we make today.
- [The New Rules Of Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-new-rules-of-disruption/) - The formula for disruption is not necessarily becoming smarter, but becoming more aware and creating organizations that can adapt in real time.
- [Innovation Starts—And Ends—With Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/innovation-starts-and-ends-with-mindset/) - We love to talk about disrupting markets and industries, but rarely put forth the effort to disrupt ourselves.
- [The 3 Big Technologies To Watch Over The Next Decade—Genomics, Nanotechnology and Robotics](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-3-big-technologies-to-watch-over-the-next-decade-genomics-nanotechnology-and-robotics/) - While apps are cool and add convenience to our lives, the real impact of digital technology lies ahead, as second order technologies are applied to new problems
- [Beware Of Simple Rules And Slogans—They Can Kill Your Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/beware-of-simple-rules-and-slogans-they-can-kill-your-business/) - The truth is that the world is a confusing place. We have little choice but to walk the earth, pick things up along the way and make the best judgments we can.
- [IBM Has Created A Revolutionary New Model For Computing—The Human Brain](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/ibm-has-created-a-revolutionary-new-model-for-computing-the-human-brain/) - Rather than hyper-rational calculating machines, computers will think more like we do and help us to collaborate more effectively—with each other and machines.
- [How Innovation Really Happens](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/how-innovation-really-happens/) - True innovations are never a single event achieved by one person, or even within a single enterprise. They happen when ideas combine to solve important problems
- [Why Energy Storage May Be The Most Important Technology In The World Right Now](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-energy-storage-may-be-the-most-important-technology-in-the-world-right-now/) - For the new technologies like wind, solar and electric cars to become truly transformative, we need to develop a new generation of batteries to power them.
- [The One Big Reason Every Business Needs To Embrace Complexity](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-one-big-reason-to-every-business-needs-embrace-complexity/) - Managers need to embrace complexity because that’s what will allow them to create maximum value in an increasingly complex marketplace.
- [We Need To Change The Way We Think About Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-to-change-the-way-we-think-about-technology/) - Our failure to adapt to the future is less likely to be due to a lack of intelligence than a lack of imagination.
- [Why Your Brilliant Content Strategy Doesn’t Stand A Chance](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-youre-brilliant-content-strategy-doesnt-stand-a-chance/) - Great publishing is not about ideas, but about creating a process in which ideas can be honed and flourish.
- [The Story of Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/the-story-of-networks/) - Whatever your field of endeavor, the story of networks is bound to play a part.
- [Is Digital Technology Really Making Us Any Better Off?](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/is-digital-technology-really-making-us-any-better-off/) - Our future is what we make of it. The truth is that digital technology doesn't make us better off. Only we can do that.
- [3 Paradigm Shifts That Will Drive How We Compete In The 21st Century](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/3-paradigm-shifts-that-will-drive-how-we-compete-in-the-21st-century/) - We now must take into account new sources of power, which reside not at the top of hierarchies, but at the center of networks.
- [Why We Seem To Be Talking More And Working Less—The Nature Of Work Has Changed](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-we-seem-to-be-talking-more-and-working-less-the-nature-of-work-has-changed/) - The office is no longer a place where we access information—today, we can do that anytime, anyplace—but rather a place where we access people
- [The 4 Mindset Shifts Marketers Need To Make Now](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-4-mindset-shifts-marketers-need-to-make-now/) - Once we realize that paradigms are, to a large degree, self imposed, the possibilities are endless. We are only bound by what we believe.
- [To Adapt, We Need To Evolve](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/to-adapt-you-need-to-evolve/) - It’s fairly common for executives to reject ideas because they say, “it’s not in our DNA,” but that's a misapprehension of what DNA is and what it does—evolve
- [The Science Behind Political Correctness, Explained](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-science-behind-political-correctness-explained/) - The will to power is no longer focused on institutions, but networks. Political correctness arises not from irrational sensitivity, but political necessity.
- [Building Creative Collaboration](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/building-creative-collaboration/) - Research into social networks has begun to shed some light on how to form more effective and innovative teams.
- [The New Era Of Cognitive Collaboration](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-new-era-of-cognitive-collaboration/) - The value of IBM’s Watson lies not in a machine’s ability to think, but in the potential of a new era of cognitive collaboration between humans and machines
- [Collaboration Is The New Competitive Advantage](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/collaboration-is-the-new-competitive-advantage/) - In the past, we could dominate by accumulating resources and driving efficiency, but now it is agility and interoperability that rule the day.
- [Innovation Is Never A Single Event](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-long-and-twisted-path-to-productivity/) - We need to work harder to connect discovery, innovation and transformation. Productivity never comes easy, but it can come a lot faster.
- [Moore's Law Will Soon End, But Progress Doesn't Have To](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/moores-law-will-soon-end-but-progress-doesnt-have-to/) - What we will see though is a shift in emphasis from the microchip to the system as a whole.
- [The Business Model Is The Message](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-business-model-is-the-message/) - As the media business evolves, we can expect new business models to emerge and that, in turn, will shape how creators inform, entertain and excite us.
- [How To Outsmart The Crowd](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-outsmart-the-crowd/) - We conform more than most of us would like to admit. But by seeking out alternative views, we can break the social spell.
- [The Genius Of Recognizing Genius](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-genius-of-recognizing-genius/) - All too often, we miss out on opportunities not through a lack of intelligence, but a lack of imagination.
- [4 Visionaries Who Saw Far Into The Future And How They Did It](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-visionaries-saw-who-far-into-the-future-and-how-they-did-it/) - To build a new vision of the world, you first must understand what it means to live in it.
- [Why Marketing Rules Are Useless](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/why-marketing-rules-are-useless/) - Effective management isn’t about following rules, it’s about good judgment.
- [The Technology Behind Hillary Clinton’s Email Scandal, Explained](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-technology-behind-hillary-clintons-email-scandal-explained/) - It is no longer enough to simply have good will or even good sense. Today, technology is changing the rules as fast as we can make them.
- [Cargo Cult Marketers](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/cargo-cult-marketers/) - There are those that offer a false solution to all of the marketing drudgery. They have a simple formula that explains everything. They are people to avoid.
- [How to Write Well](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/how-to-write-well/) - I’ve found that through following a few simple rules and some practice, your writing can vastly improve. Here’s some of what I’ve learned.
- [How (and why) I Blog](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/how-and-why-i-blog/) - I write for myself. I put my ideas out in the marketplace where they are tested, argued with, added to, deepened and enriched.
- [Why No One Is Reading Your Marketing Content](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/why-no-one-is-reading-your-marketing-content/) - If the only reason that you are doing content is to replace traditional marketing efforts, you are almost certain to fail.
- [How Ad Agencies Can Avoid A Death Spiral](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-ad-agencies-can-avoid-a-death-spiral/) - In order to survive, ad agencies will have to learn to experiment, risk failure and pivot quickly. In effect, they will have to stop thinking like ad agencies.
- [Manage For Mission, Not For Metrics](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/manage-for-mission-not-for-metrics/) - If everyone is trained to focus on only their part of the task, the shared mission is lost. That’s no path efficiency or to profitability, but to oblivion.
- [We Need To Accelerate Innovation—Here’s How:](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-to-accelerate-innovation-heres-how/) - Innovation is a complex process, requiring us to integrate a variety of efforts. That’s where we need to focus now.
- [The Power Of Focus](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-power-of-focus/) - It’s easy for strategists to point to greener fields and fabulous yonders, but truly great companies are the ones that are able to do one thing extremely well.
- [Marketers Need To Shift From Collecting Eyeballs To Building Interfaces](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/marketers-need-to-shift-from-collecting-eyeballs-to-building-interfaces/) - Marketers need to shift from crafting messages to creating experiences. And it all starts with designing better interfaces.
- [The One Thing Nobody Ever Tells You About What It Takes To Succeed](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-one-thing-nobody-ever-tells-you-about-what-it-takes-to-succeed/) - The true measure of success is not accomplishments or accolades, but challenges overcome.
- [The Debate Between The US Government And The Tech Industry About Encryption, Explained](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/the-debate-between-the-us-government-and-the-tech-industry-about-encryption-explained/) - Weakening encryption would offer little to no benefit at possibly enormous cost. In fact, it may make us even more vulnerable.
- [We Need To Innovate The Innovation Process](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/we-need-to-innovate-the-innovation-process/) - While it may be more romantic to believe in lone geniuses and flashes of insight, truly exceptional innovation is a team sport.
- [Don’t Let Your Marketing Ruin Your Content](https://digitaltonto.com/2016/dont-let-your-marketing-ruin-your-content/) - Content doesn’t have to be crap. Just don’t let marketing get in the way.
- [4 Things You Should Know About Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-things-you-should-know-about-platforms/) - Power no longer resides at the top of the heap, but at the center of the network; that is in platforms.
- [The 2015 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-2015-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - My list of great books that inform, entertain and inspire!
- [The 2014 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-2014-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - Every year, in retrospect, takes on a theme. Usually more by serendipity than by design, events bunch up and collide, forming a trend that almost seems to have been preordained, although, in fact, nobody could have seen it coming. This past year saw a number of such collisions. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have upended the
- [Top Posts of 2015](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/top-posts-of-2015/) - My top posts over the past year.
- [Here’s How We Can Win The Race To Cure Cancer](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/heres-how-we-can-win-the-race-to-cure-cancer/) - By restoring funding for medical research, we can win the race to cure cancer and other diseases at a fraction of the cost that we will incur if we do not act.
- [Joe Biden Is Right. It’s Time for A Moonshot For Cancer](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/joe-biden-is-right-its-time-for-a-moonshot-for-cancer/) - It is time to begin a focused, organized effort to make a final assault on cancer.
- [How To Define Your Organization’s Values](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-define-your-organizations-values/) - Values are more than mere beliefs.They determine how an enterprise will pursue its purpose.
- [Innovation Is The Only True Way To Create Value](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/innovation-is-the-only-true-way-to-create-value/) - True success is about more than just capturing value. We should all strive to create some too.
- [Politicians Want To Shut Down The Department Of Energy. Here's Why That's A Really Bad Idea:](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/politicians-want-to-shut-down-the-department-of-energy-heres-why-thats-a-really-bad-idea/) - Do we really want government out of our lives? Be careful what you wish for.
- [The Open Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-open-economy/) - We can no longer think of success in terms of clawing our way to the top of the heap. Rather, we need to learn to nudge ourselves to the center of networks.
- [Why Organizations Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-organizations-fail/) - Most organizations are highly efficient at specific tasks, but often fail when presented with a problem they weren’t designed for.
- [Marketers Need To Shift From Crafting Messages To Creating Experiences](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/marketers-need-to-shift-from-crafting-messages-to-creating-experiences/) - Instead of carnival barkers, we must begin to think like concierges, helping and assisting customers as we collect data in real time.
- [How Ebay's Spinoff Of PayPal Can Be A Model For Crisis Management](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-ebays-spinoff-of-paypal-can-be-a-model-for-crisis-management/) - Nobody seeks out a crisis. Yet that should not blind us to the fact that a crisis, effectively managed, can positively impact performance for years to come.
- [Content Is Crap And Other Rules For Marketers](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/content-is-crap-and-other-rules-for-marketers/) - We never call anything that’s good “content.” Nobody walks out of a movie they loved and says, “Wow! What great content!”
- [What Should We Do When The Government Makes And Industry Takes?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/what-should-we-do-when-the-government-makes-and-industry-takes/) - Virtually every technological wonder and miracle cure that we enjoy today has its roots in some government program.
- [How I Learned To Hack](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-i-learned-how-to-hack/) - In a disruptive age, the ability to adapt is the ability to compete and everyone needs to learn how to hack.
- [4 Questions Every Business Needs To Answer](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-questions-every-business-needs-to-answer/) - It's become clear that the status quo is untenable, we all need to ask ourselves some hard questions and continually come up with better answers.
- [Marketers Need To Rethink The Customer Decision Journey](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/marketers-need-to-rethink-the-customer-decision-journey/) - We still have yet to bridge the gap between crafting messages and designing experiences.
- [Culture Isn’t Everything](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/culture-isnt-everything/) - Culture is no panacea. It only becomes effective when its purpose is made clear.
- [The Myth Of The Heroic Leader](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-myth-of-the-heroic-leader/) - We should be developing people to thrive on the challenges that create opportunities for heroism. Instead, we train them to be more easily fit into a system.
- [The Logic of Code](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-logic-of-code/) - Coding has become a matter of basic literacy. Today's codes will one day be obsolete, but their logic will live on.
- [We Need To Stop Chasing The Last Big Thing And Start Preparing For the Next One](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/we-need-to-stop-chasing-the-last-big-thing-and-start-preparing-for-the-next-one/) - Nobody knows what the future will bring or what specific skills we will need to thrive. We need to build skills that will help us to adapt.
- [The Best Way To Innovate Is To Do It With Purpose](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-best-way-to-innovate-is-to-do-it-with-purpose/) - Often the best way to build a resume—and avoid mediocrity—is to start thinking about your eulogy and what impact you want to make on the world.
- [How To Transform Your Brand Into A Movement](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-transform-your-brand-into-a-movement/) - Creating a powerful movement has little to do with fancy social media strategies. Rather, platforms for change thrive as ecosystems centered around a potent idea.
- [What Marketers Can Learn From The Civil Rights Movement](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/what-marketers-can-learn-from-the-civil-rights-movement/) - Great brands, like great movements, aspire not merely to promote an idea, but to create a positive impact on the world.
- [Why 140 Characters Are Better Than A Flying Car](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/has-innovation-died/) - In the final analysis, the value of a technology isn’t its capacity to improve on achievements of the past but to unlock the potential of a better future.
- [3 Things That Will Eventually Kill Your Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/3-things-that-will-eventually-kill-your-business/) - The truth is that you probably won’t see trouble coming, because whatever threatens to kill your company in the future is likely a source of its strength today.
- [Why Business Defies Logic](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-business-defies-logic/) - "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
- [Can America Renew Its Commitment To Science?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/can-america-renew-its-commitment-to-science/) - If we are to continue our legacy of technological excellence, it will take more than just an act of Congress. We need to renew our national spirit.
- [How The Collapse Of The Cable Business Model Will Bring A New Era Of Television](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-the-collapse-of-the-cable-business-model-will-bring-a-new-era-of-television/) - As the cable business model starting to unravel, we can expect an explosion of creative energy that will usher in a new golden age of TV.
- [Despite The Headlines, The Future Has Never Been Brighter](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/despite-the-headlines-the-future-has-never-been-brighter/) - The mark of an age is not the problems it faces, but the solutions it creates.
- [How We Should Prepare Our Kids For The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-prepare-our-kids-for-the-future/) - Education is more important than ever, but we should focus on the skills of the future, not the past
- [How To Build Trust, Even With Your Enemies](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-build-trust-even-with-your-enemies/) - Trust is personal, not professional. It can’t be legislated or mandated but arises out of shared experience.
- [Managing the Hype Cycle](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/managing-the-hype-cycle/) - Hype, much like the proverbial soldier’s girlfriend, doesn’t exactly lie, but doesn’t tell the whole truth either.
- [How To Build An Effective Culture](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-build-an-effective-culture/) - It is not enough to promote a strong culture. You have to ask, culture in the service of what?
- [Happy 6th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/happy-6th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - To celebrate, here are some of my favorite posts over the past year.
- [How Philosophy Can Make You A Better Manager](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-philosophy-can-make-you-a-better-manager/) - The true value of philosophy is not only that it can lead to valuable self reflection, but also help us think more clearly about the issues we face everyday.
- [How To Create A Movement Within Your Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-create-a-movement-within-your-organization/) - Why is it that so much in the digital age seems to self organize and spread virally, but so hard to unite an organization around a single idea?
- [How The Impossible Becomes Possible](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-the-impossible-becomes-possible/) - The impossible becomes possible not just through a flash of inspiration, but from the discovery of new truths and inspiring others to see their potential.
- [The Physics Of Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-physics-of-disruption/) - Once a model becomes hardwired, we begin to see it as the natural order of things rather than that which we have created ourselves.
- [The Clothesline Paradox](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-clothesline-paradox/) - What do we aspire to today? Where is our public sense of mission? If we truly are an exceptional nation, what is our next great national ambition?
- [How America Became Exceptional](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-america-became-exceptional/) - Throughout our history it has been our openness—to new people as well as new ideas—that made America great.
- [How I Cut The Cable (And How You Can Too!)](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-i-cut-the-cable-and-how-you-can-too/) - We've reached a tipping point. As the cable business model begins to unravel, options for going cable free are expanding. Here’s how you can cut the cable and never look back.
- [Let’s Face It, We Don’t Really Care About Privacy](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/lets-face-it-we-dont-really-care-about-privacy/) - Privacy isn't something we don’t put a whole lot of thought or effort into maintaining, but maybe we should. We seldom realize the value of something until it’s been lost.
- [The Profit Paradox](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-profit-paradox/) - Any business that doesn’t make money won’t be around for very long. Any idiot knows that. Unfortunately, idiots who do know that go out of business all the time. Businesses who profit without purpose will ultimately end up with neither.
- [In Defense of Facebook](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/in-defense-of-facebook/) - Why do the recent troubles with the Facebook IPO seem to give so many so much pleasure? The answer is simple. Some people are just nasty and petty.
- [The Difference Between Revolution and Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-difference-between-revolution-and-disruption/) - Jack Dorsey recently urged us to seek out revolution rather than disruption. Here is my response (or rather, clarification).
- [4 Management Lessons From Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/4-management-lessons-from-philadelphia-eagles-coach-chip-kelly/) - Chip Kelly’s football formula has lessons that apply far beyond the gridiron. Managers, take notice.
- [A New Era For Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/a-new-era-for-data/) - We rarely take notice of underlying technologies. However, what's about to be unleashed promise to be no less transformative than the PC or the Internet.
- [The Future Of TV Is Here.  Can Cable Survive?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-future-of-tv-is-here-can-cable-survive/) - The cable business, as we have come to know it, will soon be a thing of the past.
- [6 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Managing People](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/6-things-i-wish-someone-told-me-before-i-started-managing-people/) - Nothing really prepares you to lead other people, but here are 6 things I wish someone had told me before I became a manager.
- [Effective Feedback: The Little Known Secret To Pixar’s Creative Success](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/effective-feedback-the-little-known-secret-to-pixars-creative-success/) - While at most places, feedback is often informal and freewheeling, at Pixar, it is a highly disciplined affair. As it turns out, that makes all the difference.
- [Good Disruption / Bad Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/good-disruption-bad-disruption/) - The question is not whether disruption itself is good or bad, but disruption in the service of what?
- [How to Approach Marketing ROI](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/how-to-approach-marketing-roi/) - The most important thing to remember about Marketing ROI is that there is no perfect formula. You have to choose the approach that best fits your needs
- [How Numbers Lie](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-numbers-lie/) - While the idea of “scientifically engineered” solutions sounds attractive, there is never a magic formula that can solve all our problems.
- [The War On Science](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-war-on-science/) - Science is not certainty. It matters not because of its greater truth, but its lesser solipsism.
- [Summer Reading List:  Big Ideas Explained Simply](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/summer-reading-list-big-ideas-explained-simply/) - A list of great books that explain big ideas, but are easy and fun to read.
- [To Prepare For The Future You Need To Shape It—Or Someone Else Will](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/to-prepare-for-the-future-you-need-to-shape-it-or-someone-else-will/) - Those that lack the courage to predict and shape their future may become victims of an unwelcome destiny.”
- [The Mathematics of "Anything Can Happen"](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-mathematics-of-anything-can-happen/) - Serious business people aren’t dreamers, they’re realists. They know the odds and bet with the smart money. The problem is that the smart money isn’t always so smart.
- [The One Thing That Can Transform An Idea Into A Phenomenon](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-one-thing-that-can-transform-an-idea-into-a-phenomenon/) - It’s the interface, not the mechanics, that truly makes an idea “insanely great.”
- [Why Managers Now Need To Become Leaders](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-managers-now-need-to-become-leaders/) - Successful managers today are no longer supervisors, nor are they deciders, but formulators of strategic intent
- [The Uncertainty Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-uncertainty-problem/) - True leaders don’t avoid uncertainty, but take it upon themselves in order to provide stability for those around them.
- [Why Big Data Matters](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/why-big-data-matters/) - Big data means much more than a change in technology, it represents a structural transformation is how we will manage our enterprises.
- [Why Stock Buybacks Are Good For The Economy And Country](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-stock-buybacks-are-good-for-the-economy-and-country/) - When firms have excess capital the most best thing they can do is return it to investors so that it can be deployed elsewhere.
- [Why Your Business Model Will Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-your-business-model-will-fail/) - The past is no longer prologue. We need to continually reevaluate how create, deliver and capture value. In an age of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt.
- [The Revolution Will Not Be Centralized](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-revolution-will-not-be-centralized/) - The existential crisis of the digital age is not one of personal identity, but institutional purpose.
- [How To Balance Push And Pull Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-to-balance-push-and-pull-marketing/) - In the final analysis, it is the mission that must drive the strategy, not a preference for one set of tactics over another.
- [Why The Cloud Will Be Like The PC All Over Again](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-the-cloud-will-be-like-the-pc-all-over-again/) - Much like a generation ago, we are entering a new era of computing and, just like back then, it will change everything.
- [How One Woman Is Working To Transform The Healthcare System From Within](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-one-woman-is-working-to-transform-the-healthcare-system-from-within/) - Revolutionizing healthcare will take more than fancy technology, data and analytics. We need to build a movement.
- [Why Big Organizations Are Broken](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-big-organizations-are-broken/) - Now that access to resources has become nearly universal, leadership is more important than authority.
- [The Tony Soprano Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-tony-soprano-problem/) - The role of leaders has changed. We can no longer command people to do what we want, but must inspire them to want what we want.
- [The Science Behind Better Networking](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-science-behind-better-networking/) - While it’s nice to think that we can meet a stranger on a plane that can change our lives, we’re better off meeting people we already have a connection to.
- [How IBM Plans To Help Reinvent The Modern Corporation](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-ibm-plans-to-help-reinvent-the-modern-corporation/) - Throughout its history, IBM has played a special role in helping companies adapt to new technology. Now, the form is aiming to change corporate cultures too.
- [The Cloud Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-cloud-disruption/) - We no longer have to wonder whether or not technology is threatening to upend our business. Rest assured, we’re all being disrupted now.
- [You Can Only Win The Future If You Invest In It](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/you-can-only-win-the-future-if-you-invest-in-it/) - Investment in science and basic research made America the most innovative nation on earth. That legacy is now under attack.
- [If Journalism Is Going To Survive As A Business, We Need To Rethink The Chinese Wall](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/if-journalism-is-going-to-survive-as-a-business-we-need-to-rethink-the-chinese-wall/) - Great businesses are never built through excessive reverence of a storied past.
- [Why Isn’t What’s Good For Microsoft Good For The Country?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-isnt-whats-good-for-microsoft-good-for-the-country/) - If a company like Microsoft can see the value in science, why can’t the rest of us? Why can’t we be as wise in our public lives as in our private industry?
- [How PARC Saved Xerox](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-parc-saved-xerox/) - In the final analysis, Xerox’s problems had nothing to do with PARC, but its inability to make crucial shifts in thinking about its core business.
- [4 Innovation Lessons From The History Of Warfare](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/4-innovation-lessons-from-the-history-of-warfare/) - Decisions made when life and death hang in the balance take on a certain clarity that others do not and, at least in that sense, warfare can be instructive.
- [The Big Marketing Shift](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-big-marketing-shift/) - We can no longer think in terms of rifles vs. shotguns or push vs. pull. It’s not nodes that we need to target, but the networks.
- [Is Your Platform Burning?](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/is-your-platform-burning/) - When your platform is burning, don't try to rebuild it in a new form. You will need to connect to new ecosystems and reimagine how your business works.
- [3 Things That Can Stall Innovation (And How To Overcome Them)](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/3-things-that-can-stall-innovation-and-how-to-overcome-them/) - Creating real change takes more than happy talk. Mantras and buzzwords are no substitute for solving real problems
- [We Need To Innovate The Science Business Model](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/we-need-to-innovate-the-science-business-model/) - We need to look beyond the mere applications of science and learn to value the wonder of discovery once again.
- [A Radical Shift Toward Design](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/a-radical-shift-toward-design/) - In today’s marketplace, function will only get you to the game, it takes passionate design to win.
- [Where To Look For The Next Big Thing](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/where-to-look-for-the-next-big-thing/) - The place to look for breakthrough innovations is not in any specific field, but where domains intersect in spaces we have not yet defined.
- [How Data Will Transform Science](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-data-will-transform-science/) - While the rest of the world has become driven by new approaches to data and technology, science remains, to an alarming degree, stuck in the last century.
- [The Energy Revolution Will Transform How We Live and Work](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-the-energy-revolution-will-transform-how-we-live-and-work/) - We’re shifting from distribution of centralized capabilities and resources to distributed capabilities and resources that are produced and accessed locally.
- [The Usefulness of Useless Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-usefulness-of-useless-things/) - The greatest achievements of practical men are, in fact, born out of dreamers' pursuit of useless things.
- [How Communication Drives Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-communication-drives-innovation/) - It's become trendy to say that our present time is an information age, but that’s not quite right. We live in a communication age and it’s time we start taking it seriously.
- [The Access Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/the-access-economy/) - The last century was driven by mass production and increasing efficiency. This one will be a semantic century, in which how you connect will determine how you perform.
- [4 Content Marketing Myths](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/4-content-marketing-myths/) - Don't just join the conversation, lead it.
- [Tim Cook Is No Steve Jobs... And That May Be A Good Thing](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/tim-cook-is-no-steve-jobs-and-that-may-be-a-good-thing/) - Entrepreneurs are poets. Executives manage in prose, making sure that things run smoothly and meeting the needs of employees, partners and consumers.
- [Why Smart Companies Put People First](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-smart-companies-put-people-first/) - The best companies see people as more than a mere means to an end, but an end in themselves.
- [Here’s What Killed The British Technology Industry](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/heres-what-killed-the-british-technology-industry/) - In the case of Alan Turing, we should not only remember what he lived for, but what he died for. Which was nothing.
- [Why The Future Of Technology Is All Too Human](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-the-future-of-technology-is-all-too-human/) - While the past favored those who could retain and process information, the future belongs to those who can imagine a better world and work with others to make it happen.
- [How Google Attacks Problems—Not People](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/how-google-attacks-problems-not-people/) - In strong cultures, everybody knows where they want to go and do what they need to get there. In weak cultures, people just do what they're told.
- [Why Games Might Be The Next Big Thing In Education](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/why-games-might-be-the-next-big-thing-in-education/) - Digital technology is beginning to blur the lines between serious learning and goofing off.
- [5 Business Lessons From The Debacle At The New Republic](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/5-business-lessons-from-the-debacle-at-the-new-republic/) - The debacle at The New Republic has very little to do with "old vs. new." Rather, it is a tale of incompetent management who ravaged a century old institution.
- [The Visceral Abstract](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-visceral-abstract/) - Nearly every facet of our lives is governed by some strange notion that is far removed from everyday experience. Ideas matter. Those who deny science are, in fact, denying the modern world itself.
- [5 Reasons To Be Optimistic About The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2015/5-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-the-future/) - While the problems we face have never been greater, our capacity to meet challenges is outpacing them.
- [Top Posts for 2014](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/top-posts-for-2014/) - The most popular posts on Digital Tonto over the past year
- [The New Role Of Leaders](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-new-role-of-leaders/) - Hierarchy fails in the digital age not because it is illegitimate, but because it is slow and the world has become fast.
- [How Your Mission Drives Your Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-your-mission-drives-your-strategy/) - Great businesses, in the final analysis, are built by passion. Strategies can come and go, but the mission of the enterprise is fundamental to directing action
- [5 Principles of Peak Performance](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/5-principles-of-peak-performance/) - We love hearing about the moment of triumph, but not about the endless hours of repeated frustration and constant exhaustion. Here are 5 principles that determine whether it’s all worth it.
- [Content’s Triumphant Return](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/content’s-triumphant-return/) - Now traditional media is soaring back and social media, many still struggling to find elusive profits, are inking content deals.
- [My First Big Sale (…and the secret of how I did it)](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/my-first-big-sale/) - With all of the advice offered by sales gurus, 7 steps seminars and talk about proper presentation of “USP’s” there really is no substitute for listening and following directions.
- [The Unlikely Marriage Between Apple and IBM](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-unlikely-marriage-between-apple-and-ibm/) - strategy is no longer a game of chess because the board is no longer set out in orderly lines. Today, firms prosper by widening and deepening connections to talent, information, partners and consumers. In that sense, the Apple-IBM alliance is a bold stroke that will likely reverberate for years to come.
- [The Social Tax: Why Firms That Ignore Social Engagement Pay A Heavy Price](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-social-tax-why-firms-that-ignore-social-engagement-pay-a-heavy-price/) - Anonymity has become a pipe-dream and a dangerous one at that. Those who do not effectively engage will pay a hefty social tax.
- [The Strategic Power of Games](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-strategic-power-of-games/) - It’s no longer enough to simply fail “fast and cheap.” Games help us simulate failure in order to succeed in the real world.
- [Could Ukraine Be The Next Silicon Valley?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/could-ukraine-be-the-next-silicon-valley/) - While it may seem unlikely for Ukraine to become the next tech mecca, it's got some surprising advantages. I wouldn’t bet against it.
- [The Truth About Foxcatcher](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-truth-about-foxcatcher/) - The unfortunate truth about Foxcatcher is that we were all complicit. We all knew that John du Pont was unstable and many suspected that he was dangerous.
- [Strategy Is No Longer A Game Of Chess](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/strategy-is-no-longer-a-game-of-chess/) - By relying on traditional notions of power and influence, today’s authoritarians are fighting a 20th century battle in a 21st century world.
- [What’s Wrong With The Internet?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/whats-wrong-with-the-internet/) - Despite the outcry following Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA, we regularly submit ourselves to a far higher level of surveillance, without complaint
- [Why It Doesn’t Matter If Consumers Are Willing To Pay For Content](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-it-doesnt-matter-if-consumers-are-willing-to-pay-for-content/) - As long as economics favor free distribution, people will favor products that they don’t have to pay for. That, for the most part, is the market reality today.
- [Sometimes Being Wrong Can Be More Valuable Than Being Right](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/sometimes-being-wrong-can-be-more-valuable-than-being-right/) - We tend to separate success and failure into two separate categories, but actually they are very much intertwined.
- [Disruption Can Be Beat: How A Small Radio Shop Found Itself At The Center Of The Internet Of Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/disruption-can-be-beat-how-a-small-radio-shop-found-itself-at-the-center-of-the-internet-of-things/) - Disruption can wreak havoc, but for those that are nimble and responsive to new market challenges it can also mean limitless opportunity.
- [Publishers Must Learn To Innovate Their Business Models](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/publishers-must-learn-to-innovate-their-business-models/) - The real problems publishers face today are not ones of talent or even technology, but culture.
- [What Makes A Viral Hit?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/what-makes-a-viral-hit/) - We don’t need to tap into mysterious powers of influence to make an idea spread. In reality, what’s essential is a good story and a density of social relationships.
- [The Very Strange Politics of Silicon Valley](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-very-strange-politics-of-silicon-valley/) - Don't confuse reductionism with science. The world is a messy place and doesn’t yield softly to mathematical formulas or pure logic.
- [The Economics of Happiness](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-economics-of-happiness/) - For decades, GDP has been the primary measure of the success of a society. Is it any wonder than we’re ever more prosperous but no more happy?
- [Today, Strategy Must Take Into Account New Sources Of Power](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/today-strategy-must-take-into-account-new-sources-of-power/) - The will to power no longer implies climbing to the top of the heap, but edging towards the center of the circle. That’s made power far less stable, but no less desirable.
- [Thick Value vs Thin Value](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/thick-value-vs-thin-value/) - In a highly connected, global economy we are truly our brother’s keeper and that’s a reality that, increasingly, we ignore at our own peril.
- [How to Combine Marketing Tech With Marketing Guts](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-combine-marketing-tech-with-marketing-guts/) - Big data makes it easier to test concepts, but marketing is still about coming up with the big idea. Algorithms are great at optimization, but terrible at imagination.
- [How The Future Is Really Built](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-the-future-is-really-built/) - Brilliance often comes in the guise of an idiot, muttering incoherently about something nonsensical, but midwifed by those who notice wheat amongst the chaff
- [Peter Thiel’s 4 Rules For Creating A Great Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/peter-thiels-4-rules-for-creating-a-great-business/) - The "Don" of the PayPal Mafia urges us not to compete, but to build a network driven business based on proprietary technology.
- [How The Machines Are Learning To Take Over](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-the-machines-are-learning-to-take-over/) - As computers mature, they are beginning to take over many tasks we consider to be uniquely human.
- [Why Some Content Marketers Succeed When Others Fail](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-some-content-marketers-succeed-when-others-fail/) - What makes a story succeed is not gimmicks or even strategy, but crafting it well.
- [4 Reasons To Kill Influencer Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/4-reasons-to-kill-influencer-marketing/) - If you want your idea to spread, forget about special people with “rare qualities.” Be interesting, reach as many people as you can and encourage them to share.
- [How Technology Evolves](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/how-technology-evolves/) - Perhaps what we fear most about technology is ourselves. For better or worse, technology’s evolution and our own are inseparable.
- [Who Needs Paper Route When You Can Start A Robotics Company?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/who-needs-paper-route-when-you-can-start-a-robotics-company/) - BIF 10 featured a wide array of impressive innovators, but what really stole the show was a young girl who created her own robotics company.
- [Why Your Social Strategy Is Broken And How To Fix It](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-your-social-strategy-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it/) - For any social strategy to succeed, it must solve a social problem. Joining the conversation is not enough, you must lead it.
- [Forget About Influence And Change Management, It's Time To Lead A Revolution!](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/forget-about-influence-and-change-management-its-time-to-lead-a-revolution/) - As technology cycles are becoming shorter than corporate decision cycles, change management is becoming increasingly difficult to execute in the real world.
- [Design Is Eating The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/design-is-eating-the-world/) - The future, will not be made as much as it will be designed and anyone who wants to have a successful future, needs to learn design skills.
- [Don’t Embrace Failure, Transcend It](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/dont-embrace-failure-transcend-it/) - Failing fast and cheap is not a strategy, but a result of lazy thinking. There is nothing noble about failure and no reason we need to embrace it.
- [5 Things Marketers Should Know But Usually Don’t](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/5-things-marketers-should-know-but-usually-dont/) - Many widely held marketing ideas are misleading, if not completely untrue and that can cause serious problems for your brand.
- [Publishing Is Dead?  Hardly...](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/is-publishing-dead-hardly/) - In fact there has never been a better time for publishers.
- [Don’t Chase Unicorns](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/dont-chase-unicorns/) - We all have an unfortunate tendency to confuse causes and effects.
- [Exploding The Influentials Myth](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/the-tyranny-of-influentials/) - Brands are not built by influential consumers, but by influential ideas.
- [Where Original Ideas Come From](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/where-truly-original-ideas-come-from/) - In order to create new paths, we first must venture outside of those that we have already travelled.
- [How Wells Fargo Learned To Innovate Around the Customer](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-wells-fargo-learned-to-innovate-around-the-customer/) - By building its business around its customers, Wells Fargo enabled them to spend less time wrestling with banking services and more time running their operations.
- [How to Network Your Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-to-network-your-organization/) - The new management imperative is not only to motivate employees, but also to foster the ties that bind them.
- [Happy 5th Birthday Digital Tonto!](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/happy-5th-birthday-digital-tonto/) - It's been 5 years since I started Digital Tonto. As in past years, I’d like to celebrate the occasion with some of my favorite posts.
- [How To Innovate Your Business Model In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-innovate-your-business-model-in-5-not-so-easy-steps/) - A business model is not a search for some timeless holy grail, but a constant pursuit for how you can best create, deliver and capture value.
- [How To Stop Failing At Content Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-stop-failing-at-content-marketing/) - Content is not a long-form version of advertising, but an extension of publishing. The goal isn’t to grab attention, but to hold it.
- [(Ideas Having) Sex and the City](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/ideas-having-sex-and-the-city/) - We fell in love with Carrie Bradshaw not simply because of sex (although that never hurts), but because of the endless possibilities unleashed when DNA combines
- [Why Do Businesses Today Need To Be Creative?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-do-businesses-today-need-to-be-creative/) - To unlock creativity, leadership is more important than authority. It is no longer enough to dictate the “what,” we must learn to inspire the “why.”
- [4 Ways To Beat Disruptive Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/4-ways-to-beat-disruptive-innovation/) - We need to focus on how we can learn, not what we think we know.
- [Why Best Practices Can Lead To Better Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-best-practices-can-lead-to-better-innovation/) - What’s really important is creating a culture of change, where “best practice” is understood to be a transient term, soon to be overtaken by something vastly better.
- [The New Media Value Chain](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-new-media-value-chain/) - For better or worse we now live in a world where information is free, incumbency has been devalued and control is an illusion.
- [3 Things You Should Know The Network Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/3-things-you-should-know-the-network-economy/) - Scientists have gained important insights into how networks function. It’s time we start putting the science to work in how we manage enterprises.
- [Transformation Starts With Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/transformation-starts-with-data/) - Information wants to be free. It’s time to create that our enterprise systems began to behave less like gatekeepers and more like facilitators.
- [Even In An Age of Uncertainty, Managers Still Must Decide](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/even-in-an-age-of-uncertainty-managers-still-must-decide/) - In an age of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt.
- [Simplicity Is Not So Simple](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/the-simple-dilemma/) -  No matter what anyone says, simplicity is anything but simple.
- [Why Are Publishers Trading Digital Dollars for Analog Dimes?](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/why-are-publishers-trading-digital-dollars-for-analog-dimes/) - There has never been a better time for the media business. So why is big media content to trade digital dollars for analog dimes?
- [What Tim Geithner Can Teach Us About Dealing With A Crisis](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/what-tim-geithner-can-teach-us-about-dealing-with-a-crisis/) - There's nothing good about a crisis.
- [How A Genius Thinks](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-a-genius-thinks/) - What made Richard Feynman a special kind of genius was that he let us in. He didn't merely demonstrate brilliance, he shared it so that we could make it our own.
- [Is Disruption Dead?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/is-disruption-dead/) - Like it or not, we can no longer assume stability, but must learn to manage for disruption
- [How To Manage The Skills Gap](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-manage-the-skills-gap/) - Empty platitudes about "recruiting the best and the brightest" will no longer suffice. We need to start thinking seriously about how to manage the skills gap.
- [Why We Believe](https://digitaltonto.com/2011/why-i-believe/) - Our beliefs, in a very real sense, make us who we are. They represent the sum total of our experiences and the basis for our future actions. We should choose them wisely.
- [The Problem With Data Journalism](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-problem-with-data-journalism/) - While data journalism clearly shows promise, so far it’s fallen woefully short.
- [5 Ways Managers Fail Their Employees](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/5-ways-managers-fail-their-employees/) - We are often encouraged to pursue accomplishments, but management is different. It’s about empowering others rather than glorifying ourselves .
- [A New Age Of Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/a-new-age-of-disruption/) - Old notions of change management no longer work because it is not assets we need to leverage, but networks
- [Here's What's Really Holding Back The New York Times](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/heres-whats-really-holding-back-the-new-york-times/) - Digital technology has made the concept of arbitrarily dividing issues into “church and state” not only unrealistic, but untenable.
- [Summer Reading List:  Books That Explain The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/summer-reading-list-books-that-explain-the-future/) - If you want to know what to expect in the years to come, these books not only offer important insights, they are great reads too!
- [The Evolution of Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-evolution-of-intelligence/) - In the future, our world will driven by machine intelligence, but our choices will remain our own.
- [Why Energy Is Technology’s Next Big Thing](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-energy-is-technologys-next-big-thing/) - For the past four decades, energy has cast a shadow over economic and political life. Thankfully, it looks like that’s about to change.
- [Content Is Crap](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/content-is-crap/) - Every brand has a great story to tell. But please, don’t call it content. Content is crap.
- [5 Business Secrets You Probably Never Thought Of](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/5-business-secrets-you-probably-never-thought-of/) - More than we would like to admit, we manage by myth. That’s how things often go awry.
- [The Problem Isn’t The Robots, It’s Us](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-problem-with-robots-isnt-the-robots-its-us/) - As robots replace human jobs, we must learn to do them anew, only human this time.
- [Are You Using Data To Analyze The Past Or To Create A New Future?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/are-you-using-data-to-analyze-the-past-or-to-create-a-new-future/) - History, even if properly construed, can blind us to important possibilities. After all, it is not the rhythms of the past that define us, but our dreams for the future.
- [Talent Is Overrated](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/talent-is-overrated/) - Instead of looking to hire those who meet predetermined job specifications, we need to start developing people who can transcend them.
- [How To Make Your Digital Business Succeed](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-make-your-digital-business-succeed/) - The irony of digital business is that in order for it to succeed, organizations need to become not just more technological, but more human
- [The Passion Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/the-passion-economy/) - In a world of increasing complexity and diversity of skills, it’s becoming less tenable to get people to do what you want. They have to want what you want.
- [How to Blame Your Clients](https://digitaltonto.com/2010/blame-your-clients/) - Those who obsess about profits have never experienced the real joys of self righteous indignation.
- [Why Atoms Are The New Bits](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-atoms-are-the-new-bits/) - The real problem with digital technology is that its impact hasn't spread far enough yet
- [If We Are Going To Compete For The Future, We Need To Do These 6 Things](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/if-we-are-going-to-compete-for-the-future-these-are-6-things-we-need-to-do/) - Success used to be simple. If you did the right things, a decent life was nearly a sure thing. Yet today, technology is taking over and we need to adapt to new rules.
- [Managing For Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/managing-for-disruption/) - At its core, disruption is an informational problem more than anything else.
- [Who’s Afraid Of Nate Silver?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/whos-afraid-of-nate-silver/) - What’s makes Nate Silver scary is that he asks us to take our most heartfelt beliefs and put them to the test.
- [6 Things You Should Know About The Future](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/6-things-you-should-know-about-the-future/) - The future is certainly not what it used to be. We can no longer plan, we can only prepare.
- [How Technology Can Save Government](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-technology-can-save-government/) - It’s becoming increasingly clear that tech denizens can’t truly change the world unless they take an active role in public life.
- [Now, Highly Paid Consultants Are Getting Disrupted Too](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/now-highly-paid-consultants-are-getting-disrupted-too/) - Clients don’t always need a big sales pitch, a hefty strategic document or to be schmoozed by senior executives. Sometimes, they just need work done.
- [Why We Need To Change The Software In Our Organizations](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-we-need-to-change-the-software-in-our-organizations/) - In the last decade, we’ve seen a revolution in technology, which has become intelligent, adaptive and scalable. Shouldn’t we expect the same from our organizations?
- [The New Science Of Effective Organizations](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-new-science-of-effective-organizations/) - We're on the brink of a newly scientific approach to management, where technology and data replace folk wisdom and fads.
- [How To Do Brand Publishing Right](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-do-brand-publishing-right/) - Marketers need to start taking publishing seriously. It’s not a gimmick, but a craft and one that takes work to master.
- [Why Experts Always Seem To Get It Wrong](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-experts-always-seem-to-get-it-wrong/) - Whenever we go looking for easy answers, we’re asking for trouble.
- [How To Access The World's Best Talent—Offshore](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-access-the-worlds-best-talent-offshore/) - To outsource successfully, treat it as any other part of your business—an important capability that you need to invest in, improve upon and take pride in doing well.
- [The New Era Of Talent](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-new-era-of-talent/) - The truth is that today's war for talent is asymmetric. The “best and the brightest” will have to make way for the highly motivated and deeply connected.
- [5 Things Managers Should Know About The Big Data Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/5-things-managers-should-know-about-the-big-data-economy/) - Big data means that we will have to fundamentally rethink how we manage our enterprises.
- [The Inevitable Collision Of Technology and Politics ](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-inevitable-collision-of-technology-and-politics/) - As the industry turns its attention to issues that are more complex than building a better spreadsheet or mobile app, things are likely to get a lot more interesting.
- [How Do You Get People To Pay For Content?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-do-you-get-people-to-pay-for-content/) - If you expect to earn money directly from the consumer for content, you will have to innovate your business model and get creative about how you deliver it.
- [How Technology Enhances Creativity](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-technology-enhances-creativity/) - The truth is that by expanding possibilities and automating part of the creative process, we can all be more creative and productive.
- [Mass Personalization Is Coming.  Are We Ready For It?](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/mass-personalization-is-coming-are-we-ready-for-it/) - As big data opens up a new world of possibilities, we’re going to have to come to terms with what we really want.
- [The Truth About Social Media And Revolution ](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/the-truth-about-social-media-and-revolution/) - The current Euromaidan protests in Ukraine give us a rare opportunity to understand how the world has changed
- [How Games Can Save The World](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-games-can-save-the-world/) - If games can be useful in getting us to buy more stuff, why can’t they also help us to build new skills and lead happier, more productive lives.
- [How To Innovate Your Media Business Model](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/how-to-innovate-your-media-business-model-for-the-digital-age/) - The key to competing in the digital age is realizing that your business model won't last. How you used to make money is irrelevant. If it doesn’t work now, it's just baggage.
- [What Michael Jordan Can Teach Us About Big Data, Strategy And Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/what-michael-jordan-can-teach-us-about-big-data-strategy-and-innovation/) - How we use information to make decisions can make the difference between success and failure, so we better get it right
- [The Future of Publishing](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-future-of-publishing/) - The future of publishing lies in capitalizing on multiple revenue streams and integrating diverse skills effectively.
- [Why Most Marketers Will Fail In The Era Of Big Data](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/why-most-marketers-will-fail-in-the-era-of-big-data/) - The next great shift, in marketing will be automation and it will require not just new skills, but a new perspective and many marketers will fail to adapt.
- [Looking for Support Rather than Illumination](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/looking-for-support-rather-than-illumination/) - We all have a tendency to marry our ideas. Passion and integrity require a certain constancy. However, being a professional entails testing our beliefs.
- [4 Timeless Rules For Content](https://digitaltonto.com/2014/4-timeless-rules-for-content/) - For all the time and money that’s being invested in content, very few are doing it well. Here are some rules to guide you.
- [The Improbable Origins of Modern Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/2012/the-improbable-origins-of-modern-computing/) - What is practical and what is nonsense is often a matter not of merit, but one of time and place. Our digital future will be just as improbable as our digital past.
- [How to Win the War for Talent](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/how-to-win-the-war-for-talent/) - Company performance depends on the talent of its people. However, talent must be developed within corporations rather than sought from the outside.
- [5 Smart Technology Trends For The Next 5 Years](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/5-smart-technology-trends-for-the-next-5-years/) - In the future, things won't be designed for a theoretical average, but will be personalized as our technology learns how to treat us as individuals rather than statistics
- [The Productivity Paradox Revisited](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-productivity-paradox-revisited/) - We used to worry whether IT investment produced any tangible result. Now the fear is that computers have become so productive that our jobs will become obsolete.
- [Top Posts of 2013](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/top-posts-of-2013/) - My top posts of 2013 with an outlook for 2014
- [The 2013 Digital Tonto Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/the-2013-digital-tonto-reading-list/) - Just as in past years (this is my 5th list), this list reflects what I’ve read and written about over the last 12 months.
- [Naturalistic Decision Making](https://digitaltonto.com/2009/how-we-decide/) - For most choices we have to make, an adequate solution will do. One that is simple, available and cost effective will be preferred over one that requires new learning. We are hard wired to accomplish tasks, not to optimize them.
- [How Publishers Can Save Themselves](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-publishers-can-save-themselves/) - There has never been a better time to be a publisher. There have never been more opportunities to build an audience, deliver engaging experiences and monetize them.
- [Should You Be Thinking More About The Customer… Or Less?](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/should-you-be-thinking-more-about-the-customer-or-less/) - Focusing on customers to the exclusion of everyone and everything else can kill a business just as easily as neglect.
- [The New Technology Ecosystem That Will Power Small Business](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-technology-is-helping-small-businesses-compete/) - Bigger is no longer any better. Technology is leveling the playing field.
- [How Big Data Can Create Real Business Value](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-big-data-can-create-real-business-value/) - The best way to approach big data is not to try to build a better system, but to build a better enterprise.
- [5 New Principles Of Strategy For The Digital Age](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/5-new-principles-of-strategy-for-the-digital-age/) - It’s not so important anymore what you have—or even what you know—but how you can forge networks of purpose which can adapt in real time.
- [How Technology Transforms Human Experience](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/how-technology-transforms-human-experience/) - The true value of technology is not that it can replace human experience, but mitigate its deficiencies.
- [4 Popular Marketing Buzzwords That Are Really Complete Nonsense](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/4-popular-marketing-buzzwords-that-are-really-complete-nonsense/) - While buzzwords can be useful and are sometimes even unavoidable, they shouldn’t blind us to simple good sense.
- [Which Tech Giant Has The Best Plan For Global Domination?](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/which-tech-giant-has-the-best-plan-for-global-domination/) - Generally, we think of tech stocks as high fliers who get outsized valuations based on high expectations. However, it seems that now the opposite is true.
- [Why Cities Are Our Most Important Innovation Platform](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/why-cities-are-our-most-important-innovation-platform/) - We need to invest not only in research and development, but in city life, where random collisions transform old work into new work, solve problems and create value
- [Bayesian Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/bayesian-strategy/) - Failing “fast and cheap” is becoming too slow and too expensive.
- [6 Lies We Tell Ourselves](https://digitaltonto.com/2013/6-lies-we-tell-ourselves/) - The fact is that even our best intentions can lead us astray is unsettling and we do what we can to avoid facing uncomfortable truths.

## Pages

- [About Greg Satell](https://digitaltonto.com/about/) - "One of the foremost experts on transformation & change today" Greg Satell is Co-Founder of ChangeOS, a transformation & change advisory, an international keynote speaker, host of the Changemaker Mindset podcast, and bestselling author of Cascades: How to Create a Movement that Drives Transformational Change. His earlier book, Mapping Innovation, was selected as one of
- [Institute for Healthcare Improvement](https://digitaltonto.com/speaking-and-consulting/bonus/) - If you're on this page, you must have attended either my "Physics of Change" keynote the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Leadership Alliance Meeting. Clearly, you are interested in change. Here are three assets that can help you better understand how you can bring about genuine, transformational change. 1. 3 Principles of the Science Behind Cascades.
- [Cascades](https://digitaltonto.com/books/cascades/) - A groundbreaking guide for driving transformational change If you could make a change—any change you wanted—what would it be? Would it be something in your organization or your industry? Maybe something in your community or throughout society as a whole? If you had a magic wand that would allow you to instantly change anything
- [Hire Greg](https://digitaltonto.com/speaking-and-consulting/) - Speaking and Workshops To learn more about my speaking programs and workshops, visit GregSatell.com, my eSpeakers page or send an e-mail to Greg (at) GregSatell (dot) com In an era of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt. That’s why the most important challenge for leaders today is to drive and
- [Books](https://digitaltonto.com/books/) - A groundbreaking guide for driving transformational change Throughout history many have sought to create change and most have failed, but some have succeeded brilliantly. Revolutionaries, corporate turnaround artists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and social visionaries. Starting out with very different challenges, philosophies and personalities, they eventually all arrived at the same principles that allowed them
- [Mapping Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/books/get-the-book/) - We're entering a new era of innovation. Learn the strategies of the world's most inventive startups, corporations and scientific institutions.
- [Mapping Innovation Workshops](https://digitaltonto.com/speaking-and-consulting/mapping-innovation-workshops/) - DON'T BECOME A SQUARE-PEG BUSINESS IN A ROUND-HOLE WORLD. GET THE TOOLS THAT WILL HELP YOU CHART A NEW COURSE The most common misconception about innovation is that it is about ideas. It's not. It's about solving problems and the best innovators — the ones who are able to do it consistently year after

## Categories

- [All Posts](https://digitaltonto.com/category/general/)
- [Media](https://digitaltonto.com/category/digitalmedia/)
- [Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/category/digitalmarketing/)
- [Management](https://digitaltonto.com/category/management/)
- [Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/category/technology/)

## Tags

- [Business](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/business/)
- [CTR](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ctr/)
- [Cost Per Click](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cost-per-click/)
- [Digital Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/digital-marketing/)
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- [Country Expansion](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/country-expansion/)
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- [SEO](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/seo/)
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- [Distressed situations](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/distressed-situations/)
- [Social Media](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-media/)
- [Metrics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/metrics/)
- [Chris Andersen](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/chris-andersen/)
- [Marshall McLuhan](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/marshall-mcluhan/)
- [Productivity Paradox](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/productivity-paradox/)
- [Quantum Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/quantum-computing/)
- [RFID](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/rfid/)
- [Encryption](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/encryption/)
- [Robert Solow](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/robert-solow/)
- [Advertising](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/advertising/)
- [Sales](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/sales/)
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- [Traditional Media](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/traditional-media/)
- [Social Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-networks/)
- [Network Theory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/network-theory/)
- [PPC](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ppc/)
- [Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/strategy/)
- [Web Development](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/web-development/)
- [Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/innovation/)
- [Disruptive Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/disruptive-innovation/)
- [Chris Anderson](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/chris-anderson/)
- [Clayton Christensen](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/clayton-christensen/)
- [Media](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/media/)
- [Magazines](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/magazines/)
- [Publishing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/publishing/)
- [Writing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/writing/)
- [Social Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-marketing/)
- [Media Planning](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/media-planning/)
- [Duncan Watts](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/duncan-watts/)
- [Steven Strogatz](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/steven-strogatz/)
- [Albert-Laszlo Barabasi](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/albert-laszlo-barabasi/)
- [Réka Albert](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/reka-albert/)
- [Mark Granovetter](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/mark-granovetter/)
- [Long Tail](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/long-tail/)
- [Tim Berners-Lee](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/tim-berners-lee/)
- [Gutenberg Galaxy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/gutenberg-galaxy/)
- [Radio](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/radio/)
- [Jon Kleinberg](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jon-kleinberg/)
- [Search](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/search/)
- [Page Rank](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/page-rank/)
- [HITS algorithm](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hits-algorithm/)
- [Richard Feynman](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/richard-feyman/)
- [Experts](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/experts/)
- [Consultants](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/consultants/)
- [Kant](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/kant/)
- [Heidegger](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/heidegger/)
- [Wittgenstein](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/wittgenstein/)
- [Soros](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/soros/)
- [Concumer Targeting](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/concumer-targeting/)
- [Neural Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/neural-networks/)
- [Social Network Analysis](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-network-analysis/)
- [Consumer Targeting](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/consumer-targeting/)
- [Epistemology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/epistemology/)
- [Augmented Reality](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/augmented-reality/)
- [Nanotechnology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/nanotechnology/)
- [Jim Collins](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jim-collis/)
- [Gary Hamel](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/gary-hamel/)
- [Jim Collins](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jim-collins/)
- [Joseph Ledoux](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/joseph-ledoux/)
- [Antonio Damasio](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/antonio-damasio/)
- [ROI](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/roi/)
- [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/benoit-mandelbrot/)
- [Chaos Theory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/chaos-theory/)
- [TV](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/tv/)
- [International Business](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/international-business/)
- [Human Resources](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/human-resources/)
- [Leadership](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/leadership/)
- [Neuroscience](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/neuroscience/)
- [Synapse Development](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/synapse-development/)
- [Analytics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/analytics/)
- [Web Publishing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/web-publishing/)
- [Power Laws](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/power-laws/)
- [Mandlebrot Sets](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/mandlebrot-sets/)
- [Semantic Web](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/semantic-web/)
- [Cargo Cults](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cargo-cults/)
- [Michael Porter](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/michael-porter/)
- [Mathematical Modeling](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/mathematical-modeling/)
- [Malcolm Gladwell](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/malcom-gladwell/)
- [Big Seed Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/big-seed-marketing/)
- [Solomon Asch](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/solomon-asch/)
- [Branding](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/branding/)
- [Richard Florida](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/richard-florida/)
- [Negotiations](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/negotiations/)
- [Game Theory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/game-theory/)
- [Trends](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/trends/)
- [Outdoor Advertising](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/outdoor-advertising/)
- [Decision Making](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/decision-making/)
- [Gary Klein](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/gary-klein/)
- [Intuition](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/intuition/)
- [Newspapers](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/newspapers/)
- [Economics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/economics/)
- [Albert Einstein](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/albert-einstein/)
- [Memes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/memes/)
- [Richard Dawkins](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/richard-dawkins/)
- [Rupert Murdoch](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/rupert-murdoch/)
- [New York Times](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/new-york-times/)
- [David Hume](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/david-hume/)
- [Rene Descartes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/rene-descartes/)
- [Apple](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/apple/)
- [Ronald Coase](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ronald-coase/)
- [Phillip Kotler](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/phillip-kotler/)
- [Advertising Agencies](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/advertising-agencies/)
- [George Soros](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/george-soros/)
- [Gurus](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/gurus/)
- [Andy Grove](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/andy-grove/)
- [Kurt Gödel](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/kurt-godel/)
- [Crowdsourcing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/crowdsourcing/)
- [Anatol Rapoport](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/anatol-rapoport/)
- [Carl Friedrich Gauss](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/carl-friedrich-gauss/)
- [Math](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/math/)
- [Charles Darwin](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/charles-darwin/)
- [Nicholas Nassim Taleb](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/nicholas-nassim-taleb/)
- [John von Neumann](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/john-von-neumann/)
- [John Nash](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/john-nash/)
- [Prisoner's Dilemma](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/prisoners-dilemma/)
- [Free Content](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/free-content/)
- [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ludwig-wittgenstein/)
- [Evolutionary Psychology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/evolutionary-psychology/)
- [Psychographics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/psychographics/)
- [Direct Marketing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/direct-marketing/)
- [Content](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/content/)
- [David Ricardo](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/david-ricardo/)
- [Thomas Kuhn](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/thomas-kuhn/)
- [Fitness Model](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/fitness-model/)
- [Paradigms](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/paradigms/)
- [talent](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/talent/)
- [Robert Shiller](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/robert-shiller/)
- [Kevin Kelly](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/kevin-kelly/)
- [Google](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/google/)
- [Touchpoints](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/touchpoints/)
- [Reading List](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/reading-list/)
- [Paid Owned and Earned Media](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/paid-owned-and-earned-media/)
- [Finance](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/finance/)
- [Facebook](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/facebook/)
- [demand side platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/demand-side-platforms/)
- [Robert Sutton](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/robert-sutton/)
- [No Asshole Rule](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/no-asshole-rule/)
- [Revolutions](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/revolutions/)
- [Valuation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/valuation/)
- [Occam's Razor](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/occams-razor/)
- [Anders Ericsson](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/anders-ericsson/)
- [Passion Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/passion-economy/)
- [Attitudes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/attitudes/)
- [Consumer Analysis](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/consumer-analysis/)
- [Henry Mintzberg](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/henry-mintzberg/)
- [Commander's Intent](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/commanders-intent/)
- [Scrum](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/scrum/)
- [Dan Ariely](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/dan-ariely/)
- [Brand Pathway](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/brand-pathway/)
- [Jane Jacobs](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jane-jacobs/)
- [Free Newspapers](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/free-newspapers/)
- [5 Forces](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/5-forces/)
- [Journalism](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/journalism/)
- [Hype Cycle](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hype-cycle/)
- [Immanuel Kant](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/immanuel-kant/)
- [Nicholas Christakis](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/nicholas-christakis/)
- [James Fowler](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/james-fowler/)
- [Creativity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/creativity/)
- [Crowds](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/crowds/)
- [Ramnujan](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ramnujan/)
- [Genius](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/genius/)
- [Ramanujan](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ramanujan/)
- [G. H. Hardy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/g-h-hardy/)
- [User Experience](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/user-experience/)
- [Cognitive Bias](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cognitive-bias/)
- [Bertrand Russell](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bertrand-russell/)
- [Emergence](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/emergence/)
- [Information Theory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/information-theory/)
- [Claude Shannon](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/claude-shannon/)
- [Complexity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/complexity/)
- [Paid Owned Earned](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/paid-owned-earned/)
- [Logic](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/logic/)
- [Digital Media](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/digital-media/)
- [Inno](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/inno/)
- [Best Posts](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/best-posts/)
- [Charles Bukowski](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/charles-bukowski/)
- [e-commerce](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/e-commerce/)
- [Mobile](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/mobile/)
- [Web of Things](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/web-of-things/)
- [Post-PC](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/post-pc/)
- [Issac Newton](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/issac-newton/)
- [Aristotle](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/aristotle/)
- [Crossing the Chasm](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/crossing-the-chasm/)
- [Steve Jobs](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/steve-jobs/)
- [Alan Turing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/alan-turing/)
- [Michio Kaku](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/michio-kaku/)
- [Moore's law](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/moores-law/)
- [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/fyodor-dostoyevsky/)
- [Isaac Newton](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/isaac-newton/)
- [Bill Gates](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bill-gates/)
- [Path to Purchase](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/path-to-purchase/)
- [The Passion Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-passion-economy/)
- [Design](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/design/)
- [Psychology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/psychology/)
- [Daniel Kahneman](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/daniel-kahneman/)
- [Behavioral Economics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/behavioral-economics/)
- [Top Posts](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/top-posts/)
- [Daniel Pink](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/daniel-pink/)
- [Retail](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/retail/)
- [Microsoft](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/microsoft/)
- [Share of Synapse](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/share-of-synapse/)
- [Technological Forces](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/technological-forces/)
- [Digital Leakage](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/digital-leakage/)
- [Digital Laws](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/digital-laws/)
- [Business Models](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/business-models/)
- [Privacy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/privacy/)
- [Memetics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/memetics/)
- [Jared Diamond](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jared-diamond/)
- [E. O. Wilson](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/e-o-wilson/)
- [The Semantic Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-semantic-economy/)
- [Cooperation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cooperation/)
- [Open Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/open-innovation/)
- [Ray Kurzweil](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ray-kurzweil/)
- [The Singularity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-singularity/)
- [Co-Creation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/co-creation/)
- [Curation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/curation/)
- [Millennials](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/millennials/)
- [Infinite Monkey Theorem](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/infinite-monkey-theorem/)
- [Influentials](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/influentials/)
- [Genomics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/genomics/)
- [Naspers](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/naspers/)
- [Bell Labs](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bell-labs/)
- [Natural Language Processing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/natural-language-processing/)
- [Open Brands](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/open-brands/)
- [Matt Ridley](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/matt-ridley/)
- [Blogging](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/blogging/)
- [The Bloomsbury Group](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-bloomsbury-group/)
- [John Maynard Keynes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/john-maynard-keynes/)
- [Artificial Intelligence](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/)
- [Value Exchange](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/value-exchange/)
- [Performance](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/performance/)
- [Portfolio Matrix](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/portfolio-matrix/)
- [Robotics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/robotics/)
- [John Rawls](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/john-rawls/)
- [Clean Energy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/clean-energy/)
- [Profit Paradox](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/profit-paradox/)
- [Jack Welch](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jack-welch/)
- [Hacking](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hacking/)
- [Flynn Effect](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/flynn-effect/)
- [Innovation Matrix](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/innovation-matrix/)
- [Craig Venter](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/craig-venter/)
- [Media's Golden Rule](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/medias-golden-rule/)
- [Philosophy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/philosophy/)
- [Programmable Matter](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/programmable-matter/)
- [3D Printing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/3d-printing/)
- [Bayes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bayes/)
- [Maker Movement](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/maker-movement/)
- [Nate Silver](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/nate-silver/)
- [New Industrial Revolution](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/new-industrial-revolution/)
- [Big Data](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/big-data/)
- [Emerging Markets](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/emerging-markets/)
- [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/friedrich-nietzsche/)
- [Anonymous](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/anonymous/)
- [Bayesian Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bayesian-strategy/)
- [NFC](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/nfc/)
- [Simulation Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/simulation-economy/)
- [Markov Chains](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/markov-chains/)
- [The Simulation Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-simulation-economy/)
- [Hacker Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hacker-economy/)
- [Accelerating Returns](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/accelerating-returns/)
- [Martin Heidegger](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/martin-heidegger/)
- [Roger L Martin](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/roger-l-martin/)
- [Retargeting](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/retargeting/)
- [Learning Organizations](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/learning-organizations/)
- [Simulatio](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/simulatio/)
- [IBM](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ibm/)
- [Erik Brynjolfsson](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/erik-brynjolfsson/)
- [Andrew McAfee](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/andrew-mcafee/)
- [Race With The Machines](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/race-with-the-machines/)
- [Reverse Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/reverse-innovation/)
- [Tim Cook](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/tim-cook/)
- [Plato](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/plato/)
- [The Lew Learning Organization](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-lew-learning-organization/)
- [Steve Ballmer](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/steve-ballmer/)
- [Marc Andreesen](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/marc-andreesen/)
- [Bay](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bay/)
- [Disruption](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/disruption/)
- [Jeff Bezos](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/jeff-bezos/)
- [Deliberate Practice](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/deliberate-practice/)
- [Flying By Wire](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/flying-by-wire/)
- [Open](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/open/)
- [Scale Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/scale-economy/)
- [Ecosystems](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ecosystems/)
- [Peter Drucker](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/peter-drucker/)
- [Game Mechanics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/game-mechanics/)
- [Ukraine](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ukraine/)
- [Personalization](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/personalization/)
- [Phillip Tetlock](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/phillip-tetlock/)
- [Brand Publishing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/brand-publishing/)
- [Fut](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/fut/)
- [Education](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/education/)
- [Health Care](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/health-care/)
- [Sandy Pentland](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/sandy-pentland/)
- [Henry Luce](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/henry-luce/)
- [Ed Catmull](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ed-catmull/)
- [Cognitive Collaboration](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cognitive-collaboration/)
- [Marketing Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/marketing-technology/)
- [Social Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-platforms/)
- [Peter Thiel](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/peter-thiel/)
- [Culture](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/culture/)
- [Power](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/power/)
- [Cascades](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cascades/)
- [Startups](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/startups/)
- [Games](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/games/)
- [fly](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/fly/)
- [Visceral Abstract](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/visceral-abstract/)
- [Unicorns](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/unicorns/)
- [Platforms. Ecosystems](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/platforms-ecosystems/)
- [Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/platforms/)
- [The Access Economy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-access-economy/)
- [Vannevar Bush](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/vannevar-bush/)
- [Science](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/science/)
- [Mental Models](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/mental-models/)
- [Cloud Computing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cloud-computing/)
- [Movements](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/movements/)
- [The Tony Soprano Problem](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/the-tony-soprano-problem/)
- [Ramsey Theory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ramsey-theory/)
- [Future](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/future/)
- [Team of Teams](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/team-of-teams/)
- [Stanley McChrystal](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/stanley-mcchrystal/)
- [Open Platforms](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/open-platforms/)
- [Management](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/management/)
- [Medicine](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/medicine/)
- [Geoff Colvin](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/geoff-colvin/)
- [Art Of The Shift](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/art-of-the-shift/)
- [Agility](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/agility/)
- [Holacracy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/holacracy/)
- [Cancer](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cancer/)
- [Einstein](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/einstein/)
- [Storytelling](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/storytelling/)
- [Collaboration](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/collaboration/)
- [PARC](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/parc/)
- [Thomas Edison](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/thomas-edison/)
- [Blockchain](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/blockchain/)
- [Stanley](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/stanley/)
- [Lean Launchpad](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/lean-launchpad/)
- [Brand Publising](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/brand-publising/)
- [Cancer Immunotherapy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cancer-immunotherapy/)
- [Penicillin](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/penicillin/)
- [Internet of Things](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/internet-of-things/)
- [CRISPR](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/crispr/)
- [Teamwork](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/teamwork/)
- [Lean Startup](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/lean-startup/)
- [Innovation Planning](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/innovation-planning/)
- [Communication](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/communication/)
- [Entrepreneurship](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/entrepreneurship/)
- [Neuromorphic chips](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/neuromorphic-chips/)
- [Materials Science](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/materials-science/)
- [Gandhi](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/gandhi/)
- [Manufacturing](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/manufacturing/)
- [Automation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/automation/)
- [Dead Sea Strategy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/dead-sea-strategy/)
- [Venture Capital](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/venture-capital/)
- [Exploration](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/exploration/)
- [Grand Challenges](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/grand-challenges/)
- [New Era of Innovation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/new-era-of-innovation/)
- [Hard Tech](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hard-tech/)
- [SMPC](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/smpc/)
- [Social Entrepreneurship](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/social-entrepreneurship/)
- [70-20-10 rule](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/70-20-10-rule/)
- [Semmelweis](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/semmelweis/)
- [Virtual Reality](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/virtual-reality/)
- [Amazon](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/amazon/)
- [Digital Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/digital-transformation/)
- [Transformation](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/transformation/)
- [Keystone Change](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/keystone-change/)
- [Surviving Victory](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/surviving-victory/)
- [Myths](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/myths/)
- [Intel](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/intel/)
- [Open Source](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/open-source/)
- [Diversity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/diversity/)
- [Trust](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/trust/)
- [Networked organizations](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/networked-organizations/)
- [Data](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/data/)
- [Ethics](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/ethics/)
- [China](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/china/)
- [Change](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/change/)
- [Engineering Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/engineering-mindset/)
- [Silicon Valley](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/silicon-valley/)
- [Synthetic Biology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/synthetic-biology/)
- [Shareholder Captitalism](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/shareholder-captitalism/)
- [Capitalism](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/capitalism/)
- [Productivity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/productivity/)
- [Technology](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/technology/)
- [Sustainability](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/sustainability/)
- [Cultural Competence](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/cultural-competence/)
- [Purpose](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/purpose/)
- [Breakthrough](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/breakthrough/)
- [Uncertainty](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/uncertainty/)
- [Resistance](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/resistance/)
- [Dilemma Actions](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/dilemma-actions/)
- [Identity](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/identity/)
- [Resilience](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/resilience/)
- [Persuasion](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/persuasion/)
- [shared values](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/shared-values/)
- [Bias](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/bias/)
- [Speaking](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/speaking/)
- [Emotions](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/emotions/)
- [Values](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/values/)
- [Empathy](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/empathy/)
- [Hierarchies](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/hierarchies/)
- [Networks](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/networks/)
- [Global Village](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/global-village/)
- [VUCA](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/vuca/)
- [truth](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/truth/)
- [Influence](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/influence/)
- [Research](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/research/)
- [Changemaker Mindset](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/changemaker-mindset/)
- [Competition](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/competition/)
- [Inflection Point](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/inflection-point/)
- [Scaling](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/scaling/)
- [Co-optable Resource](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/co-optable-resource/)
- [Annual Trend](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/annual-trend/)
- [Transformation Theater](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/transformation-theater/)
- [Tribes](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/tribes/)
- [Otpor](https://digitaltonto.com/tag/otpor/)