(The full article was first published in German by André Meister for HWZ University’s Institute for Digital Business. The full article in English is posted on my website.)

#1 Digital leaders are able to lead experts and teams in virtual organizations, recognizing the potential of diversity such as gender, cultural background, personality, age, skills, and experience.

#2 Digital leaders have these traits: Vision, clear values, being role models, being present, developing employees, being communicative and just, having some expert knowledge, and being self-reflective.

#3 Digital leaders shape agile, flexible, and efficient organizations capable of succeeding in VUCA environments.

#4 Digital leaders transform both the core business for optimization inside of the existing organization and create new businesses fit for tomorrow outside of the core organization while connecting today’s capabilities with tomorrow’s.

#5 Digital leaders understand that “10% better” is not good enough an objective anymore and they aim for 10x better.

#6 Digital leaders understand the success factors of digital businesses: Global platforms, the fusion of new and old functionalities, open organizations, disruptive hypothesis, testing & learning fast, use of assets owned by others, data-driven, design thinking & UX management, consciously dealing with cost of innovation, maintaining a sense of urgency.

#7 Digital leaders promote a spirit of entrepreneurship, accepting naivety, asking for endurance, maintaining the culture, and practicing “chutzpah.”