Reinvent: Navigating Business Transformation in a Hyperdigital Era  
Faisal Hoque
Fast Company Press (July 2023)

“What got you here won’t get you there.”  Marshall Goldsmith

I agree with Marshall Goldsmith. In fact, I take his insight a step further: What got you here won’t even allow you to remain here, however and wherever “here” and “there” may be defined.

The global business world today is far more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can recall. Perhaps Faisal Hoque has that in mind when asserting that “organizational transformation with a digital component is a journey littered with landmines. Moreover, it’s a journey that never reaches any sort of ‘destination.’  [I would say ultimate destination. Organizational transformation is — or at least should be — an endless process.] But not only is the journey worthwhile; it’s absolutely essential to identify and respond tonpervasu=ve change in the marketplace, your competitors, and the overall character of the economy.”

In Leading Change, James O’Toole suggests that the greatest resistance to change tends to be cultural in nature, the result of what he so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” John Kotter once told me that the most difficult change to achieve is changing how people think about change.

As I worked my way through Reinvent, I was again reminded of an observation by Alvin Toffler in his classic work Future Shock (1970): “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”Whatever its size and nature may be, no organization can be transformed in a hyperdigital era unless and until its leaders — at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise –“reinvent” themselves. That is, develop high-impact skills  in combination with the right mindset to “learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

These are among the other passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Hoque’s coverage:

o Digitally Enabled Consumers Are Empowered Like Never Before (Pages 13-16)
o An Increasingly Remote Workforce (25-29)
o Enough Caveats — The Pluses of Digitalization (46-49)
o The Catalyst of Remote Work (49-52)
o National and Global Security — A Call to Action (55-58)

o SoneBasics — Definitions and Overall Benefits [of AI and Machine Learning] (63-65)
o Analytics (67-68)
o GreaterAutomation (69-70)
o Transformation “Roadblocks” (82-95)
o [Leadership in a Digital World:] Truly Understand What’s Going On (99-103 and 104-1050

o [Leadership in a Digital World:] An Emphasis on Greater Collaboration (106-108)
o Addressing the Customer Expectations of the Future — Digitally (118-122)
o Address Internal Anxieties (126-128)
o What to Do: Navigating with Lifts (133-137)
NOTE: Learn, Investigate, Formulate, Take Off, and Study
o Create Culture That Includes Value Discipline (145-148)

o Remember, Complete Buy-In is Rarely Possible, — At First (150-152)
o Organization — Are You Ready? (164-169)b
o Knowing Your Target Market (173-176)
o Managing Project Risk Is Becoming More Dynamic (186-190)
o FINAL THOUGHTS (255-259)

I agree with Faisal Hoque: “Given the rate of change we have experienced and will continue to see, it’s been a challenge trying to stay on top of everything that’s taking place. Outside of constant technological evolution and growth, we’ve also been through a ghastly worldwide pandemic and increasing exposures to climate change that impacted not only people’s physical and mental well-being but also the way we think about how we work, [begin italics] why [end italics] we work, and other issues that influence us all — resulting in a completely reinvented playing field that only continues to change.”

In Reinvent, he thoroughly explains HOW to achieve the given objectives when navigating business transformation in a hyperdigital world. These are his concluding thoughts: “Above all, what really matters moving forward is your understanding and recognition of the scope of change, in which you are a valuable player. Armed with that powerful mindset, you’ve positioned yourself to be just as aware of how different your organization will look in the future — and how you can adapt to help that journey continue toward growth and further success.” Reinvent yourself in order to help reinvent your organization in ways and to an extent that new challenges require.

Here are two suggestions while reading Reinvent: Highlight key passages, and, keep a lined notebook near at hand  in which you record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines) and page references as well as your responses to the excellent end-of-chapter “Need to Know” sections.  These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key material later.