Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 21 | Page 25

COMMENT “A challenge partner should be someone who is not an obvious choice, so be aware of biases in selecting this partner.” genuine new customer value, enduring business models and economic architecture underpinnings. Adopt key mindset traits as a way of evolving your own thinking to have a higher quotient of digital acuity — a sharpness or keenness of thought, vision and understanding in relation to digital technologies as a source of competitive advantage. Reinforce the digital acuity mindset with daily routines and rituals Routines strengthen the brain’s underlying neural networks, which in turn form connections with new experiences and thoughts. Develop, introduce and eventually ingrain in the culture a series of digital beliefs and design principles that reinforce key concepts. Repeated use will enable these concepts to become subconsciously ingrained as a new mindset. This can be as simple as experiencing a new technology each week, such as PokemonGo, a new virtual personal assistant application or virtual reality headset, or model key targeted digital behaviours such as blogging or communicating via video. Graham Waller is Research Vice President at Gartner, the trusted and valuable partner for more than 11,000 distinct enterprises in more than 90 countries worldwide. n www.intelligentcio.com “Truly challenging core beliefs requires the injection of external and brutally honest perspectives.” INTELLIGENTCIO 25