Embracing the Digital Mindset: Shaping Our Future with Technology

According to Carol Dweck, who coined the term, mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. A digital mindset therefore must be the understanding and beliefs about all things digital that shape how we live, work and play. So having a digital mindset is all about how we interact with today’s burgeoning technology.

“A digital mindset is a set of attitudes and behaviours that enable people and organizations to foresee possibilities enabled by technology.” Major shifts in Social Media, Big Data, Mobility, Cloud, AI and Robotics are some of the big digital forces that are disrupting the world today. To succeed in this world we must create and implement a business strategy that accounts for the major shifts caused by these forces.

Carol Dweck explained that there are really two mindsets Fixed and Growth. A person with a growth mindset believes that talents and abilities can be developed over time through effort and persistence. People with this mindset don’t necessarily believe that everyone can become Einstein or Mozart just because they try. They do, however, believe that everyone can get smarter or more talented if they work at it. Essentially being open-minded and curious about technology.

A digital mindset will need to be developed in every organisation and in most colleagues. A focus on the process of changing towards a more digital world. A focus on curiosity and experimentation. And remember to praise and celebrate the learning process rather than the outcomes.

The organisation will need to develop a new way of thinking about technology. This may involve formal education and learning, new systems, new digital vision or new ways of exploiting technology to enable current processes. The art of the possible. Otto von Bismarck said, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable the art of the next best”. Leadership’s role is to influence the organisation to chart a digital course and to influence its adoption and success.

In todays internet world, globalisation has arrived. We must take competitive advantage of this technology or others will.