Fabian Reck, a PhD candidate at the University of Bamberg, and Alexander Fliaster, a Professor there (and also a Visiting Profressor at IIM Bangalore) have a very interesting paper in the April 10, 2019 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review. The paper reports on a Survey of 211 #ChiefDigitalOfficers of manufacturing companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Based on their observed characteristics, four profiles of Chief Digital Officers (which include a number of executives in the CXO category from CEO to people directly reporting to them) are arrived at.
Chief Digital Officers which fit the#Networker/#Catalyzer profile were found to have been very effective across many situations (varying in the degree of competitive pressure faced by the company, and the amount of control and authority that the CDOs possessed). When both the Competitive Pressure and the degree of Authority of CDOs are high, then the situation best utilizes the strengths of CDOs possessing the Networker/Catalyzer and the Lone Icebreaker profiles, who therefore do better in that set of circumstances than either the Insider Expert or the Innovation Evangelist.
Chief Digital Officers which fit the
Of the four profiles, all except the Lone Icebreaker possess Strong Interpersonal Skills, while only the Insider Expert and the Lone Icebreaker possess deep strategic and business knowledge & IT Expertise. The Innovation Evangelist, possesses limited IT knowledge, but has a deep knowledge of business and economics. Given their strong external and internal networks, they receive a variety of ideas, and evangelize cross-fertilized versions of these ideas in their companies. Thus, Networker/Catalyzer types flourish in a wide combination of external and internal circumstances, while the Lone Icebreaker needs strong executive authority to function well in a highly competitive environment.
What the paper is invaluable in uncovering about the Digital Transformation journey is that as between companies and CDOs, there will not be a one-size fits all formulation, but instead there will be a number of competitive situations and possible CDO profiles, and different situations will call for a play of different strengths for the CDOs to be most effective. All real CDOs will possess some combination of the strengths identified - they will not strictly fall in one or other of these 'profiles'. So the contribution of the paper is in helping identify the strengths that CDOs will need to call upon, based on the specific internal and external environment that they face - so that they can be successful in taking their companies on a successful Digital Transformation journey!
