Karen Bakker (1971–2023), a renowned Canadian researcher who gave us a wonderful TED Talk entitled ‘Can an orca give a TED Talk led projects that leverage AI and digitalisation to achieve developments in the field of bioacoustics and communication and to hear the sounds of nature that are hidden from our ears because they are outside the frequency range that the human ear is capable of hearing. These advances have made it possible to study how animals communicate with each other.
Karen, thank you for allowing us to hear the hidden sounds of nature!
Digital leadership
The leader of a digital transformation project must achieve change in the way the organisation operates, competes or scales. This is an internal change where technology is internalised in the culture of organisations, decisions are made based on data, products or the way they are sold are redefined, the relationship with the customer is modified, demand analyses are carried out and opportunities are identified based on data. It is a leadership style aligned with the digital strategy of each organisation.
There is a shift to a model where it is critical to create ecosystems capable of adapting and evolving together.
Characteristics of a digital leader
The report prepared by researchers at MIT Sloan; Ready, Chen, Kiron and Pring, tells us first of all that a digital leader must have a digital mindset, and details four types
- Producer: They generate value through innovation and technology. They have a high level of technical knowledge and great execution skills.
- Investor: They are able to take a long-term view and adopt new technologies that increase the organisation’s performance and profits.
- Connector: They are focused on building relationships, networks and creative collaboration. They must create strong teams with a strong sense of trust and belonging.
- Explorer: They are open to stepping outside their comfort zone to experiment with the most disruptive technologies. They must be open, curious and tolerant of risk.
What kind of digital mindset should a digital leader have? The correct answer is a mixture of all four, depending on the context and the project.
Is technology above everything else? No. Leaders in the digital age must be people-centred. Not only by respecting their diversity and inclusion, but also by understanding each role in the team and ensuring that the team is greater than the sum of its parts.
And besides a digital mindset, is there anything else? Yes, skills such as communication, collective intelligence and flexibility are other characteristics that a digital leader should practise. Thanks to the work of Karen Bakker and other experts, we can learn something about the use of these skills by cetaceans.
How cetaceans lead and communicate
In my previous article, I mentioned a conclusion reached by Charles Darwin: ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’
Who are cetaceans? Cetaceans are mammals that returned to the sea. On the evolutionary scale, they are much closer to hippos than to any of the fish with which they share their habitat. There are two genera: baleen cetaceans (Mysiticeti), such as whales or rorquals, and toothed cetaceans (Odontoceti), such as dolphins, orcas, belugas or sperm whales…
Is it profitable to invest in communication strategies? Of course, the success of investing in evolutionary communication strategies for the interests of species has been proven. A recent publication in Nature Communications, echoed by animal biology researcher Victoria de Andrés Fernández from the University of Malaga, shows that sperm whales have a rich language with which they are able to configure semantically different messages depending on what they want to communicate and the context in which they find themselves.
Studies tell us that leadership in this type of herd is achieved through communication based on sounds and signals, which enable the group to coordinate hunting and mutual protection tasks. They are capable of making decisions based on collective intelligence and demonstrating adaptability. It is a form of leadership based on experience and cooperation, not authoritarian dominance. Attitude to avoid.
Behaviours to avoid in digital leadership
The first mistake is not having the right digital mindset for change. If there is no intention, there are no results. According to psychologist M. M. Gollwitzer, intention accounts for 20-30% of achieving goals. To achieve the proposed objective, we need to find the right people and focus on the chosen path with a strategy of intermediate milestones.
As we have seen in the evolutionary field, it is a mistake not to invest time and effort in proper communication with the team or anyone who is directly or indirectly involved in the project.
Underestimating collective intelligence and making decisions based solely on particular interests.
- Ignoring how to manage infoxication. In a digital world and in large teams, it is normal for a lot of information to be generated, so it is necessary to identify the relevant information.
- Not knowing the roles of each team member, not understanding that each role has its place. Lack of help and support among everyone and avoiding overlap between them.
- Not knowing who is part of the project. Digital transformation projects are usually interdisciplinary, involving people from different departments, suppliers and stakeholders.
In digital transformation projects, it is not beneficial to put individual interests before the strength of the team.
Conclusions
Karen Bakker is an example of a digital leader who uses digital transformation in her field. Her work has allowed us to learn that these animals are capable of communicating and making decisions together, being flexible and cooperating, a necessary requirement that we also see in a digital leader.
She was not the first to use digital technologies for natural and sustainable projects, but she knew better than anyone how to communicate and convey her passion to interdisciplinary teams made up of experts in digital bioacoustics, environmental management and governance, biology and ecology. Thanks to her vision of inclusion and social justice, she also teamed up with Canadian indigenous people who contributed a wealth of knowledge about their habitats.
The digital age is leading us to projects where the strength of the team is more important than individual interests, including those of the leader themselves.
We must not fall into the trap of the zero-sum fallacy, where the loss or gain of one member implies the loss or gain of another to the same extent. We must strive for increasing forms of non-zero sum and find solutions with win-win digital transformation.
And finally, we must not overlook the fact that proper digital leadership must guarantee digital rights, in which Telefónica is a global leader in the Digital Rights RDS Ranking of telecommunications companies.
