“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.”