D&I: a key driver of digital transFormation
When we hear the term “digital transformation,” our minds most often jump to technological solutions. We equate increased adoption of technology with the promise of greater productivity, economic growth, and competitive advantage.
But when we look at the barriers to digital transformation, it’s human and cultural attitudes to change that most often get in the way of realizing our goals. The fact of an improved technology’s existence is no guarantee of its success, if people and business cultures aren’t ready to adopt it.
Making the Case
As a community of business leaders, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) is uniquely positioned to promote not just the enabling technologies of change but the shift in perceptions and organizational cultures required to embrace change. Through our various committees, we can advance the digital transformation cause from multiple perspectives:
Technology
Human resources
Legal
Investment
Banking and finance
Workplace productivity
But in Japan, where businesses tend to be relatively risk averse, it’s our actions as leaders of businesses and influencers of corporate culture that will have the greatest impact. As leaders, we must foster cultures that accept the risk that comes with change. We need to create an environment that makes it okay to try new approaches—and sometimes to learn through failure. We need to shift the focus from recognizing and rewarding those who successfully execute a proven plan to also make room for those who step up with new ideas for innovation and less certain outcomes.
“A greater appetite for change and innovation in Japanese business culture is not only a prerequisite for digital transformation, but also the key to the workforce challenges facing Japan."
In Silicon Valley, ideas such as pivoting a business midstream, launching a minimum viable product, and continuous beta are the norm. They are what drive an entire ecosystem of investment and innovation. Risk is embedded in the business model as an essential ingredient for inventing new products, services, and entire markets. In some sense, you could say that acceptance of risk acts like the grit in the oyster that leads to the formation of a pearl.
Embrace Diversity
A greater appetite for change and innovation in Japanese business culture is not only a prerequisite for digital transformation, but also the key to the workforce challenges facing Japan. If younger employees—especially so-called digital natives—feel more acceptance in proposing new ideas and challenging the status quo, change will accelerate along with productivity and growth.
Shifting corporate cultures and values is no small task but, here again, the ACCJ has been and continues to be in a unique position to drive change. Because alongside digital transformation we’re focused on diversity and inclusion (D&I). And D&I provides an effective engine for cultural transformation.
At its heart, D&I is about placing equal value on all voices and actively seeking out diversity not only in gender, race, and sexual orientation, but in experience, seniority, background, and perspective.
If a company embraces and internalizes this broad definition of D&I, it will generate a more dynamic environment for digital transformation. By grounding itself in hearing and valuing all voices, that company will have laid the foundation for an innovation pipeline. And, in turn, it will have shifted from focusing on preserving what already exists to focusing on creating something new.
I believe that our members are proactive in the area of promoting D&I at a time when Japanese companies are also focusing and working on increasing their D&I. The ACCJ will need to continue its leadership in this area to share the message that embracing D&I is positive as a driver for the growth of not only digitalization but of the Japanese economy and workforce as a whole.
Jenifer Rogers, ACCJ President
THE JOURNAL
Vol. 58 Issue 4
A flagship publication of The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), The ACCJ Journal is a business magazine with a 58-year history.
Christopher Bryan Jones, Publisher & Editor
