Insight Articles | 科技与传讯业

Entrepreneur and Internet visionary Esther Dyson on trust and risk in cyberspace.

Executives who join companies to lead a digital transformation process are faced with a range of barriers, and may even abandon the project in just a few months. He or she will walk away frustrated and tired of fighting against the tide. The reason for this is that these professionals are hired with the support and incentive of the CEO, but soon find themselves alone.

Technology is transforming the industrial sector, bringing dramatic change in everything from time to market to customization. Realizing these benefits, however, requires organizations to undergo transformational change. But who, exactly, is going to make that change happen?

On May 25, I had the chance to interview Steve Wozniak, also known as “Woz,” at the C2 conference in Montreal. Around 1,200 people gathered inside the conference’s celebrated “Big Top,” a circular stage inside a round circus tent. Woz, of course, was the technological genius who co-founded Apple along with Steve Jobs and personally invented the Apple II computer.

For nearly 40 years, women have outnumbered men in U.S. colleges, but as women move through the workforce, the scales tip in the other direction. Surprisingly, the U.S. market has fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to gender diversity in the boardroom.

The prevailing narrative around the Industrial Revolution in its first, second and third iterations is only partly true. Steam power, electricity and modern computing were in fact breakthrough technologies that rapidly came to the fore, disrupting established industries and creating new ones.

Renowned choreographer Wayne McGregor speaks with Google executive Nikesh Arora about the alchemy of antagonistic forces in the creative process.

The business of learning is being radically transformed: the way we teach, the way we learn, university revenue models and governance. The best-placed leaders to surf that transformation are those who confidently adapt to the new reality, navigate their institutions with nimbleness as competitors emerge, bring along all constituencies – faculty, students, donors, investors, employers, policymakers – and avoid parochialism by fostering diversity at the executive leadership and board level.

In the C-suite, big data leaders must be able to show how big data generates value; how investments in big data initiatives should be targeted; and how fast the organization should move to implement them.

Technological transformation continues to unfold at a relentless pace. To effectively adapt to this new era, companies must recruit and develop a different kind of leadership talent. This is a big ask, because demand for leaders with deep technological acumen far outstrips supply.