Tag: Leadership

  • 5 Main Barriers to Digital Engagement

    5 Main Barriers to Digital Engagement

    There are five main barriers to digital engagement by organizations, their leaders, and other senior professionals. This post describes those barriers – including lack of knowledge and understanding, framing that leads to risk aversion, poor/no roadmaps, and inadequate resource allocation – as well as the factors that will help break them down. Additional insights are…

  • Digital Leadership: Opportunities for Cities, States, and Regions

    Digital Leadership: Opportunities for Cities, States, and Regions

    What does it mean for a city (or state or region) to be a digital leader? This post provides ideas to stimulate thinking and discussion by promoting a focus that is broader than the technologies themselves, specific applications like consumer marketing, high-tech start-ups, and the digital sector. Advocating a more strategic and holistic approach, it…

  • Social Media Management: From Novelty to Utility

    Social Media Management: From Novelty to Utility

    Social media is still a novelty to many professionals, especially those in leadership positions. Rather than viewing social and digital technologies as a radical departure from traditional communication approaches, however, it’s better to think of them as “new tools for doing old things” and to remember they are facilitators and enablers, not an end unto…

  • Logo Design in the Digital Era: 6 Critical Factors

    Logo Design in the Digital Era: 6 Critical Factors

    Logo design in the Digital Era requires attention to a unique set of factors to ensure the logo renders well in a range of applications. These considerations include simple design, strong colors, scalability, complementary fonts, monochromatic renderings, deconstruction and reconfiguration. Additional suggestions are welcome. (December 16, 2013)

  • Social Software Platforms: High-Level Guidance for Organizations

    Social Software Platforms: High-Level Guidance for Organizations

    This article offers high-level guidance for organizations looking to acquire and implement a social software solution to facilitate communication and collaboration in a secure environment via a private digital network (e.g., an enterprise 2.0 or social business platform, a social intranet, a digital community). It provides considerations for getting started, selecting a social software product…

  • Private Social Networks: Every Organization Needs Them

    Private Social Networks: Every Organization Needs Them

    This article highlights the risks associated with public social media platforms and describes how private social networks (aka private digital networks) can reduce those risks while also enhancing communication and collaboration among organizational stakeholders. It counters the main points of resistance offered by organizational leaders and articulates the importance of being prepared to establish a…

  • Reducing the Role of Email in Organizations: Change is Overdue

    Reducing the Role of Email in Organizations: Change is Overdue

    Although social technology advocates have been calling for the death of email for several years, it’s still the dominant digital channel by which people in organizations communicate and collaborate. The role of email in our work lives should be reduced, however, both because of its own inefficiencies and the increased availability of better tools. Effective…

  • Digital Era Ideas: 21+ Images

    Digital Era Ideas: 21+ Images

    More than twenty Denovati Group images convey a variety of Digital Era ideas in simple and memorable terms. These images are available for use by others, with proper attribution. We will continue to add images as they are developed.

  • The Early Bird Gets the Worm, but the Brave Bird Gets… the Fries?!?!

    The Early Bird Gets the Worm, but the Brave Bird Gets… the Fries?!?!

    Using a bird metaphor, this post discusses the importance of taking calculated risks to achieve goals, as well as the costs associated with risk aversion. The lessons offered are both timeless and uniquely relevant to the adoption of social and digital technologies. Additional lessons are welcome. (September 25, 2013)

  • Hiring Social Media Experts: Guidance for (Rookie) Buyers

    Hiring Social Media Experts: Guidance for (Rookie) Buyers

    Most people would agree that hiring social media experts – whether you’re looking for a consultant or to fill an in-house role – is a dicey proposition, especially for buyers who aren’t very digitally sophisticated themselves. This post provides general guidance for organizations looking to hire consultants, contractors, and/or employees to lead and help with…

  • Social Media Experts: Why Organizations Need Them

    Social Media Experts: Why Organizations Need Them

    Many people are critical of the notion of social media experts, falsely claiming they don’t exist – and by extension implying they aren’t necessary. These criticisms, combined with the pervasiveness, low cost, and relative ease of use of social technologies, lead many people to assume (also falsely) that DIY and “give it to the intern”…

  • 4 Big Barriers to Social Media Adoption: Key Research Findings

    4 Big Barriers to Social Media Adoption: Key Research Findings

    The results of a unique and ground-breaking research study (n=644+) indicate four main barriers to increased adoption of social technologies in organizations: lack of knowledge and understanding, unprepared leadership, fear, and the absence of a well-grounded business case. This post highlights those findings and offers recommendations for overcoming the barriers. It also provides a link…

  • The Social Media ROI Challenge: Are We Making Progress?

    The Social Media ROI Challenge: Are We Making Progress?

    This post addresses the social media ROI (return on investment) question, focusing in particular on whether we’re making progress in terms of the challenges put forth by organizational leaders and other experienced professionals who have been resisting increased digital engagement. Playing off the ROI acronym, it provides alternatives for interpreting the ROI argument. It then…

  • It’s Time to Get Serious about Digital Technology

    It’s Time to Get Serious about Digital Technology

    Even though we’re in the sixth decade (or more) of the Digital Era, many organizational leaders and other senior professionals have still not fully grasped what that means in terms of their own digital technology awareness, literacy, and engagement. This post offers seven recommended actions that leaders (and others) should commit to immediately and indefinitely.

  • Empowered Employees Increase Productivity

    Empowered Employees Increase Productivity

    A smart and well-designed social intranet enables empowered employees to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively, which in turn can make them more productive and enhance an organization’s ability to achieve its goals and objectives. This post discusses four factors that help create the right environment and facilitate engagement: implementing the right media blend,…