PHIL JORDAN - SAILING CLOSE HAULED
Latin American environment , that support has been reassuring . “ I explained early into the digital transformation process that I ’ d have to be so disruptive that I ’ d have to be prepared to be fired . José Maria has the same views about the need to be brave to lead real change and that gives me great confidence , the attitude that says we will do it or go down fighting .” It took him quite a long time to find the right engagement and language for digital transformation , he recalls . “ Everyone understood we had to be digital , but wanted to know how and when that would happen , and how digital we are today . I gather from talking to CIOs in other industries that not many businesses have done what we did . I went out looking for a metric ; something that would truly engage the board . Not all the board members have intimate knowledge of how the business really operates . To move to a truly digital world you have to get right inside the operation and really understand how your business works so we looked at every process in every segment of our business in every market , to determine if each process , operation or customer experience was happening in real time and to what extent it was automated . We did the hard work of assessing that , then we rolled it up , and I am able to say now not only what our digital capability is today but where it will be in a year ’ s time and in two . “ I think we have been able to create a language that the board can understand – a language that is communicable so we can describe our journey to the external world , something we can track , and something that targets investment . That is a good example of sense making . Today I can point to which geographies , segments and processes that are not digital enough – to let us make sure the investment is focused in these places . That is how I can bring value to the business as a leader , taking all these inputs , making sense of it and driving a journey of change that is no-regrets .”
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