Digital Humans: Thriving in an Online World

Embrace the Human Side of Organisational Digital Transformation

Digital Humans: Thriving in an Online World is an insightful, engaging and interdisciplinary discussion of how best to transform your organisation into a nimble, digital enterprise with human beings firmly established at the centre of it. The authors draw on complexity theory, anthropology, history, organisational transformation and behavioural science to demonstrate the characteristics that define successful digital organisations.

You'll discover the importance of focusing on human beings even as you make the shift to digital and learn to understand the importance of our new digital ecosystems. Illuminating case studies and examples of organisations that have successfully made the jump to digital are explored and the book presents new and effective ways to make strategic decisions about your company's future based on our new physical-digital hybrid reality.

A can't-miss blueprint to a market environment and world that's increasingly fast-moving, complex and rewarding, Digital Humans will find a place in the libraries of managers, executives, and business leaders looking for an engaging roadmap to digital transformation that wouldn't have us leave our humanity behind.

Acknowledgements ix

About This Book xi

Introduction xiii

Part One Living in Our Online World 1

Our Brave New Digital World 3

Living in a Changing World 17

The Activated Organization 45

Part Two New Thinking for Digital Humans and Their Organizations 57

1 The Digital Spine 59

2 Build Together 75

3 The Organization of One 99

4 Add-app-ability 113

5 Theatres of Work 129

6 Build Beautiful Things 145

7 Playing Games 157

8 The Power of Small Things 171

9 Targets and the Mirror 187

10 Always Learning 199

11 Creating Meaningful Alternatives 215

12 Turn It On 227

Conclusion: Reflections on New Thinking for Our Brave New Digital World 245

Terms of Art 249

About the Authors 259

Index 261

PAUL ASHCROFT is Co-founder of The Ludic Group. He is an expert in applying the principles of innovation, design thinking and digital to large scale transformation, people engagement and capability building.

GARRICK JONES is Co-founder of The Ludic Group. He is a businessperson, academic and musician based in London and a Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he launched the groundbreaking Open Innovation Programme.

Our society is facing huge challenges and opportunities, from achieving net zero to living with quantum computing. What does that mean for how we live and work? Is it consistent with our need to connect with other people and find meaning and purpose? Can we transform our organisations into companies that are nimble enough to keep up with rapid change but designed to keep humans at the heart of what they do?

In Digital Humans: Thriving in an Online World, a team of renowned innovators and digital strategists argue that, despite the speed and complexity that permeate contemporary society, we can find ways to transform ourselves and our organisations to accommodate our humanity in a sea of networks, people, and technology.

In this book, you’ll discover an interdisciplinary discussion that draws on complexity theory, anthropology, history, organisational transformation and behavioural science to highlight the factors that underpin the success of leading digital organisations. The authors draw from over two decades of helping companies transform and their experience of the accelerated shift to hybrid and remote work that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital Humans explains the importance of keeping human beings at the centre of the digital age and shows you how to understand our new digital ecosystems. It offers case studies and examples of how to make the shift to digital and adapt to a new physical-digital hybrid reality as you make strategic decisions about the direction of your firm.

An essential roadmap to an increasingly complicated and fast-moving business environment, Digital Humans will earn a place on the bookshelves of executives, managers, and business leaders, as well as the heads of business development and innovation teams.