“We don't have a choice on whether we digitally transform,” Erik Qualman said. “The only question is how well we do it.” (Photo: Charles Garnar)

Every business professional has a reputation in the business community as well as an individual “profile” — what people think of you, whether they know you or not. In the digital world, this profile is your digital stamp. “All of us have digital stamps as individuals and companies and brands,” said Erik Qualman in the opening keynote on April 2 at the 15th Annual BenefitsPRO Broker Expo in Miami, Florida. He then introduced the audience to a new formula: Digital Stamp = Digital Footprints + Digital Shadows. Our digital footprints are what we post online or the trail we leave when we visit websites, for example. Digital Shadows are what others post about us online — when someone comments on a Facebook post or Instagram photo, for example.

“Privacy is now dead,” Qualman admitted. “Any shred we can give back to employees and customers they'll thanks us for. That helps digital leaders create trust.”

Qualman's presentation, “Digital Leadership: Becoming the Disruptor vs. the Disrupted,” focused on how to use those digital tools to create core habits that we can use day to day to be better leaders, more productive, and happier. To get the audience thinking about digital leadership and where we're headed, he pointed out the following trends:

• In 2020 the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse.
• 80 percent of mobile consumption is video.
• Humans have a shrinking attention span: A goldfish can focus for 8 seconds, humans only 7 seconds.

“We don't have a choice on whether we digitally transform,” Qualman said. “The only question is how well we do it.”

Learning 'socialnomics'

As Qualman explained, referring to his book of the same name, “Socialnomics” is word of mouth on steroids, what he describes as “world of mouth.” Fifty years ago, word of mouth was local. Brokers got referrals from local businesses, friends or neighbors. Now, thanks to social media, that has become “world of mouth,” and referrals can come from across the country or across the world.

Thinking has shifted so that integrity and reputation are now the same thing, said Qualman, which was not always the case. “We now live in a fully transparent, post-privacy world,” he added, “and that's a good shift. But everyone in this room has been practicing that all along.”

Reassuring the audience, Qualman said, “Digital isn't designed to replace face-to-face interaction. It won't replace meeting for coffee or a meal.” It's designed to replace distance and deepen relationships because brokers can now use video conferencing, email or social media to stay in touch. “We live in the Jetsons era. But those who live like the Flintstones win.”

Five habits of digital leaders

Qualman then introduced the audience to the concept of S-T-A-M-P and the five habits of digital leaders, similar to Stephen Covey's well-known “7 Habits of Highly Successful People,” which most attendees had read. The letters stand for:

Simple True Act Map People

Qualman asked the audience to think about which one they're already strongest in. “It's OK to only be good at one or two, not all five,” he stressed. He then reviewed the key attributes of each one, encouraging the audience to think about how to leverage those attributes to be better digital leaders.

Simple — In Qualman's view, keeping things simple wins but it's difficult. When he asked for a show of hands of those who make to-do lists, almost all hands went up, and most admitted writing those lists with pen and paper. Making a “not-to-do” list is better, he said, recommending that you make a “not yet” list for everything new — projects, tasks or strategic plans.

Lists are important to use, Qualman said, because we think we're multi-tasking but we're actually “switch-tasking.” When we're trying to multi-task, we get less done because the brain is always switching back and forth between two or more tasks. Research has shown that “switch tasking” is the equivalent of not sleeping for 36 hours.

As our mothers told us, we're more productive if we focus on one thing at a time. “We work best in 20-minute segments followed by strategic breaks,” said Qualman, encouraging the audience to keep 20-20-20 in mind. We should try to move every 20 minutes, and look 20 feet in the distance at a fixed object for 20 seconds. This relieves eye strain, which causes the whole body to be tired and keeps us from doing our best work.

True — Most digital leaders know who they are and how they want to achieve their goals, Qualman said. When they've got this figured out, they take their teams with them. They've also thought about the one word that they want people to think of when they think of the leader, for example, inspire, passionate, kind, considerate or brave. Qualman's word is “empower.” He wants to be the leader that empowers others to do better, be better.

“What one word do you want to describe you?” he asked the audience. “Think about it and focus on it.”

Act — “Nothing happens without action,” Qualman said, “but why don't we take action as individuals and as teams? The number one reason is that we're afraid to fail. Digital leaders are not afraid to fail.”

Qualman observed that we don't evaluate failure as organizations. We need to ask ourselves, “How do we embrace failure as individuals and as organizations?” That allows you to learn and avoid making the same mistake twice.

“Become 'flawsome.' Embracing our flaws helps you become awesome,” Qualman said.

Map — “We need a firm destination, and we need to be flexible about how we get there,” said Qualman. He noted that the path to success consists of leaping over hurdle after hurdle. One turnaround specialist he spoke to explained that when she starts working with a company in trouble, she meets with its top 50 customers, asking them, “What's the main product you buy from us that you use most, and why do you buy it from us?” She then focuses everything else on those answers.

Qualman asked the audience, “Are you taking the information you're learning and doing something with it?” He also urged them to become pioneers and challenge the status quo, as the best digital leaders do. “If you aren't getting pushback, then you aren't pioneering,” he added, noting that you shouldn't use old maps to get to new destinations.

People — “Surround yourself with the right people,” Qualman said. “Augment your personal networking, which you're already good at or you wouldn't be at this meeting, with digital networking.”

Qualman recommended that everyone “Post it forward.” He suggested taking three minutes a day to forward emails or posts to people who might be interested in the content. He also recommended endorsing someone on LinkedIn for a skill you know they're genuinely good at. “When you do that you're networking before you actually need the network,” he said.

“Digital stamps are very powerful right now,” Qualman concluded. With the right tools, brokers can use the stamps to become digital leaders. “At the end of the day you're creating a smile,” he said, “solving a problem for someone.”