Leg 9. From Newport to Cardiff (IV). Digital Leaders as Ethical Teachers?
Good morning!
Today we will focus all our attention on understanding the challenge for digital leaders in our quest to develop beautiful businesses for good societies. We are happy to share with you this chapter. It is a theme of hope.
First, let´s see where our fleet is positioned right now. After Akzo Nobel run 24 hours record from yesterday, we are facing a passage of no wind. Little mattered that Akzo Nobel and Brunel were almost flying at around 600 nm-24 hours of sailing yesterday… because suddenly, all of us are facing an almost zero wind wall, a spot of uncertainty. We are all between 500 to 700 nm of Cardiff approximately. This big compression has forced us to sail in lighter conditions during this day.
Position 26 May 2018.
The fleet is expected to arrive in Cardiff in less than three days, and we are just in the middle of our digital disruption journey. We will have to do an extraordinary effort today to post twice, in order to be ready to finish the rest of our material for this leg.
Let´s start today with our theme. Digital Leadership. Please read the slides. Follow the links. All these slides are just a general guideline. It is a guideline material which is crucial to anyone who will follow the path of digital transformation, and it has to be carefully digested by all of us. Thank you.
If you wish to download it in PDF, please click here: Eliescalante Leg 9 Digital Leadership.
During the preparation of today´s theme, and since we are looking at things from the perspective of balance or equilibrium for good societies, we thought we have not defined yet what is a good society. And this chapter is the perfect milieu to do it. why? Because “One of the greatest gifts any generation can give to the next generation is the WISDOM to make the best of what is available and the fortitude to overcome adversity”. (DeGeorge, 1995).
Let´s remind ourselves of what is a good society OK. Let´s see what Richard T. de George wrote in the last chapter of his book “Business Ethics”(4th Edition). Professor T. de George books have been used for several decades in business schools when it comes to teaching ethics. I used it to teach business ethics 14 years ago too. According to Professor T. de George, What is a good society? and why we encourage beautiful businesses?
- Because business is the activity in which human beings associate with one another to exchange goods and services for their mutual advantage. It is not a trading end in itself.
It is a means by which people endeavor to attain a good life for themselves and their loved ones. Business is “THE” central activity of society and “THE” type of human association for economic survival.
- We have destroyed the “value of business” by thinking that value is only measured in terms of dollars and cents, rather than in terms of people. When the profit becomes an end, then people are poorly served because they are forgotten and ignored in the business process (particularly inside the organization).
- Digital Transformation may be the hope we have, to put people at the core again (inside and outside the organization). Again it is all about people, not the digital technologies. Ethics and morality (despite the religion) have the most important part to play in business.
- The central moral obligation of business is not to cause harm to any of those affected by its actions. This is the heart of the new moral mandate when it comes to Industry 4.0 and digital technologies. Let´s not forget it.
- Industry 4.0 is our future opportunity to build a good society model for more than 7 billion people in the world. A society without justice, at least without justice in its basic institutions cannot be a good society. And unfair businesses can´t be tolerated in our quest to find the planet earth balance.
- A good society must have a sufficient amount of wealth, distributed in such a way that all its people have their basic needs satisfied and enough in addition for them to enjoy some of the goods of life.
- Any good society must install a balance between the freedom of economic activities and the security for the quality of life of its people. Equality of opportunities is a treasure in good societies (opportunity defined as truly equal and truly available for all).
The more balanced and ethical is a digital leader, the better will be for the organization to make decisions for the creation of good societies. He or she will be able to say yes or no despite the pressures of the commercial trends, to wait or hold until the people of the organization are ready, to discern between wrong and right, to educate and train his or her team in ethical decision making, and stop what doesn´t bring any good to the organization or our societies.
Moreover, now that we have understood the meaning of a “good society”, let´s finish today´s publication with the following question: Are digital leaders ready to become business digital ethics teachers inside their own organizations?
This is all for today. Wishing you a wonderful Saturday. Blessings and lots of hugs!
Source References:
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/public-sector/articles/decoding-digital-leadership.html
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/The-New-Class-of-Digital-Leaders?gko=a250f
https://philosophy.ku.edu/richard-t-degeorge
http://decide.usc.edu/next-generation-ethics-book
https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2013/08/23/how-to-be-a-digital-leader/#25c574b35a6e
http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/organizing-for-a-digital-world.aspx
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/3-characteristics-of-the-new-digital-leader-mindset/
https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/2017-4-18-5-traits-of-a-successful-digital-leader
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/how-to-be-a-leader-in-the-digital-age/
Disclaimer: All the presentation slides shown on this blog are prepared by Eleonora Escalante MBA-MEng. Nevertheless, all the pictures or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.
Eleonora Escalante Strategy 