The Digital Mindset: What It Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI

The pressure to "be digital" has never been greater, but you can meet the challenge.

The digital revolution is here, changing how work gets done, how industries are structured, and how people from all walks of life work, behave, and relate to each other. To thrive in a world driven by data and powered by algorithms, we must learn to see, think, and act in new ways. We need to develop a digital mindset.

But what does that mean? Some fear it means that we all need to become technologists who master the intricacies of coding, algorithms, AI, machine learning, robotics, and who-knows-what's-next.

That's not the case. You can develop a digital mindset, and this book shows you how. It introduces three approaches--Collaboration, Computation, and Change--and the perspectives and actions within each approach that will enable you to develop the digital skills you need. With a digital mindset, you'll ask the right questions, make smart decisions, and appreciate new possibilities for a digital future. Leaders who adopt these approaches will be able to develop their organization's talent and prepare their company for successful and continued digital transformation.

Award-winning researchers and professors Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley will show you how to do it and let you in on the surprising and welcome secret: developing a digital mindset isn't as hard as you think. Most people can become digitally savvy if they follow the "30 percent rule"--the minimum threshold that gives us enough digital literacy to understand and take advantage of the digital threads woven into the fabric of our world.

A digital mindset will future-proof you, your career, and your organization. Learn how to develop one here.

Paul Leonardi (@pleonardi1) is the Duca Family Professor of Technology Management at University of California Santa Barbara. He is an expert on digital transformation and organizational change. He advises senior leaders on how to organize their workforces to compete with data, analytics, and new technologies and consults with companies such as Microsoft, General Motors, and Discover about using digital tools to enhance internal knowledge-sharing, how to structure global product-development operations, and how to manage the human aspects of new-technology implementation. He is also a regular keynote speaker for corporate trainings and user conferences on digital transformation, innovation, and change.

An award-winning researcher and teacher, Leonardi is the author of two books on technological innovation and organizational change, Car Crashes without Cars and Technology Choices, and he is the editor of two volumes on technology and expertise. His work has been published in top journals and featured in news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Financial Times. Leonardi earned his doctorate from Stanford University.

You can find Paul Leonardi at paulleonardi.com and twitter.com/pleonardi1.

Tsedal Neeley (@tsedal) is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and an award-winning scholar, teacher, and expert on virtual and global work. She regularly advises top leaders who are embarking on virtual work and large-scale change that involves global expansion, digital transformation, and becoming more agile. She is the author of Remote Work Revolution and the award-winning book The Language of Global Success. She serves on the boards of Brightcove, Brown Capital Management, Harvard Business Publishing, and the Partnership. She is also on Rakuten's advisory board.

Named to the Thinkers50 On the Radar list for making lasting contributions to management, Neeley's work has also been published in top journals and featured on the BBC, CNN, NPR, and MarketWatch and in Forbes, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Nikkei, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and in many other outlets. She received her doctorate from Stanford University in management science and engineering, specializing in work, technology, and organizations.

You can find Tsedal Neeley at Tsedal.com and twitter.com/tesdal.