Let's move onto Digital Transformation. You have helped many companies thrive, especially around large newsrooms and media. What does Digital Transformation mean to you?
Digital Transformation is trying to share with other companies and big bosses the need and understanding that we are now Digital. They have to realise that whatever they do has an exposure. DT is taking advantage of all the technologies. I mean, how do you take advantage not just from social platforms, but also big data, algorithms, etc. The thing here again , is that I realise that when you are working on a new Digital transformation for a new company, what you can see is that they have challenges in their analog side.
Sometimes companies forget what their focus is, they need to re connect with their audience. Digital and Social we should compare them to a speaker. You need to turn the speaker on. Whatever you have to say, it’s going to get amplified online. Larger audiences will be reached. But if your original core message is not defined, then you will have more trouble, because you are telling people you have a problem.
Before turning the speaker on, you have to have everything in order, have clear goals and focus of your message. DT is important. I believe eventually we won’t be talking about DT, because everyone will be doing it, it will become part of the daily routine.
Of course, to pay attention to the effects of DT on society. How technology is affecting society. Sometimes we want to go very fast, but we forget half of the population of the world is not yet connected.
If we go too fast, we are going to create a big divide between the connected and the unconnected.
If we talk about companies, is about organising themselves, they have to rethink how the world works now, how communication has changed, how business has changed, etc.
What challenges do companies face on the Digital Transformation era, especially analog companies?
That is hard to answer if we don’t look at an specific example. They have to understand that while they keep on doing things like in the old days, they need to rethink the new. As consumers, we like to do things in a different way, because we have gotten used to the new innovation, for example, people are going to consume your product in a different way and you can be out of the game if you don’t adapt. I remember some students of mine once told me, “we don’t go to a restaurant or to a hotel in Europe if we don’t see a website or Facebook page or Instagram or some comments in Yelp/Trip Advisor”. So if you take that as an example, depending what company you are on, if you don’t offer that to the digital era or consumers, you are potentially out of the game.
You are also the Head of Digital at Broadcaster and in the morning show of Cadena Ser Catalunya. What do you enjoy the most from working with those teams?
They are very different duties on both of them. On Broadcaster we have two lines of business. One is more focused on media, and the other is focused on companies, helping them become their own media. And what I love to do is to tailor, to become an artisan of craftsmanship on their stories. I love to listen to them, to understand what they do and to create a new strategy, to design a strategy so we reach their values. So we create something for them where they can express themselves.
What is amazing, in radio for example, is how to find new ways to explain stories, try to avoid the same routine, because it can bore people and it can kill the business. Is being creative.
Thanks to your success you have had so far, you also do keynotes and hosting at major events. What do you enjoy about being able to share your stories and other people's stories to an audience?
I love to explain my stories, it’s a little bit similar as to being in the classroom, is about sharing an experience, sharing my knowledge in the best way possible. When I do that I feel amazing, it emerges a magical moment, because I feel like I am sharing something special with people. It makes me vibrate, it brings me to an emotional state because I see that people came to listen to me and that is always mind-blowing….
On the other side, when I host and chair big events, normally connected with digital, it lets me prepare the sessions knowing every single detail about the people and the topic who are going to be in the panel. It’s trying to learn as much as possible about them. As a journalist, is trying to read those minds in order to make that panel flow as much as possible. Everything flows if you can direct it well. It is like directing an orchestra. I feel very responsible when I do that, because I have 5-6 people who are dependant on me giving them direction. My aim, is that they do the best when they talk about their topic.