Going Digital

Digital technology poses fundamental questions about the way we live, the way we structure organizations and institutions, the way we build up communities and its members, and the way governments are dealing with increasing digital divides around the world. On the one hand, digital technology presents us with opportunities to connect, work, think, and interact in ways we never thought possible. And yet, as innovation sweeps across the world, companies, people, and governments alike are exposed as ill equipped to keep up with the pace of change. Going Digital: Harnessing the Power of Digital Innovation, is an exploration of digital strategy and digital transformation as a mindset: an interconnected way of seeing reality and the people in it in order to create adaptive, agile, and amicable work environments that champion innovation by harnessing individual differences, all while navigating a fractured macroeconomic landscape, revealing disruptive trends and new ways to thrive in business. This is a book of bite-sized chapters written by digital & management guru Anurag Harsh. Through his experience with digital transformation in an industry under fire, he has recast our fraught relationship to all things digital.

We live at a crucial period in time. The rate of technological innovation has outpaced our ability to see into the future with a reliable degree of accuracy. Yes, we are still able to cope with the vagaries of the world, yet no one can precisely say where we will be even 5 or 10 years from now. The 21st-century and its people are marked by great change, staggering accomplishment, and unprecedented uncertainty. For all this, we’ve managed to change the course of humanity in ways our ancestors never dreamed. We have prolonged human life well beyond what was typical. We’ve engineered machinery and digital technology that reduced the need for human involvement, putting more time and energy at our disposal to pursue happiness outside the workroom. We’ve deconstructed the command-and-control corporate hierarchy that created the concept of “work-life balance,” an antidote to the pernicious absorption customary of the workplace. Perhaps in equal measure we’ve opened gaping divides of global proportions. This is the natural fluctuation of human affairs. There has not been, and maybe will never be, a perfect society. We are flawed in all too human ways. And yet, it is those very flaws, when looked at dispassionately and honestly that can reveal the doorways to a better world for us all. In this book, digital and management guru Anurag Harsh has aggregated many years of writing on the subject of digitalization at the corporate, individual and global levels. The topic of digitalization itself is an incomplete one. As such, to speak on the effects of digitalization will inevitably leave questions unanswered, points unaddressed, and perspectives unrecognized. Nonetheless, the author has done his best to cover these topics from as many perspectives as possible as they relate to the subjects of business, economics, and psychology. The book's goal is to present the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the myriad ways digital technology and the mentality its engendered has changed the course of human history, has changed the way people view each other, and has affected business practices. Beyond describing these effects, the book provides practical measures for people and business owners alike to create a culture of innovation that acknowledges individual differences and seeks to harness them; while contextualizing that culture in a broader discourse about government’s role in the digital divides we see opening between peoples today. The book presents the chapters in a way that scaffolds, so that by the end of each section the reader will have an understanding of the central topics orbiting discussions on the economic, social, and psychological effects of digitalization at the corporate, individual and global levels. However, the author urges the reader to treat this book as a unique journey. When you look over the Table of Contents, decide where you want to start based on your interests. After all, customizability is the hallmark of digitalization. When a person or company has truly crafted a digital journey, it matters not where on the path you enter: You will always see, repeated endlessly, every element in the journey. That is the guiding spirit of the next frontier in digital thinking.

Anurag Harsh has been called a renaissance man and wears many hats. He is an entrepreneur, a company executive, a digital and management guru, a blogger, published author of several books, business columnist for leading US publications, an investor, and a classical musician who has performed two sold out solo concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall. His business blog has attracted hundreds of thousands of readers. His Carnegie Hall concert is one of the fastest growing and most watched world music videos online. Over his 20 year career as a business leader he has led the digital transformation of several companies with programs that have deepened customer engagement, introduced new business models, digitized operational processes, enabled greater employee collaboration, and reimagined the way we work. Anurag holds an MBA & MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. @anuragharsh, blogbrain.org