Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal dives deeper and looks at diversity, equity, and inclusion from different angles with the help of seven stellar voices who lend their expertise to educate, examine, enumerate, and offer solutions.

Since coming into prominence within financial services applications via technologies like cryptocurrencies and digital asset exchange, the race to find breakthrough applications in blockchain in other industries has been intense. However, despite major investments in knowledge, PoCs, and pilots, the results and value generated from these efforts remain modest, and it remains unclear whether blockchain technology really is the silver bullet that companies have hoped for. This is particularly true in the transport industry, identified early on as a promising area for blockchain applications due to its large number of independent but linked players, decentralized nature, and need to deal with issues like verifying authenticity and improving traceability and transparency, all while reducing transaction costs. In this Advisor, we share four cornerstones for executives in transport and many other industries to follow.

Examine today’s low-code/no-code (LC/NC) solu­tions — declarative development options with relatively low learning curves that provide a company’s workforce with the tools needed to easily create software to grow and transform the business.

In this interview, transformational coach Areej Khataybih offers a psychological perspective on women leaders and what contributes to their success and their challenges. She highlights the challenges that come from internal obstacles and beliefs of not being good enough and the battle of competing with male counterparts and, in the process, denying women’s full selves, the emotional and the logical.

This piece by Viola Maxwell-Thompson outlines a clear case for diversity, equity, and inclusion as a strategic priority. The author begins with a declarative proposition as she describes the next decade’s horizon and the expected growth in computer and mathematical occupations. She acknowledges the committed efforts of corporations that have recommitted themselves toward gender and ethnic diversity, yet demonstrates the lagging percentage of women, the lesser percentage of women of color, and, further still, the stagnant representation of Black and Brown professionals in senior roles.

Michael A. Tennant unapologetically shares hard truths about white supremacy in the US. He generously shares his personal experiences as a “striving and high-achieving” Black professional and the shared experiences among people of color more broadly. He holds nothing back as he counts down 10 common phrases that reinforce inequities, micro­aggressions, and racism.

Samin Saadat and Jim Brosseau take us into their workshops and their research. The authors provide meaningful context to describe the barriers to inclusion, such as the history of management and leadership, communication technologies, and the effects of addictive social media platforms. They offer practical steps for companies to include on their way to becoming a more transparent culture and also outline the costs companies will inevitably pay for failed attempts and a lack of inclusion.

This Cutter Business Technology Journal issue dives deep and looks at diversity, equity, and inclusion from different angles with the help of seven stellar voices who lend their expertise to educate, examine, enumerate, and offer solutions.