Bjorn Edwin

Hello, everybody. I'm Bjorn Edwin from Liatrio.

I have a passion for dance. I also have a passion for helping organizations, teams, and leaders get better.

Today I'm here to share my perspective on enterprise transformation, how it's done right, and how it should be going. All right, let's roll.

I'm going to talk about two things: how enterprise transformation has been going, or gone wrong, and why and how to do it right. As a side effect of this talk, you may also learn to dance a little bit.

First, if an enterprise transformation was a dance-off, I think most of them are doing this robot dance. They're stuck in the old ways. They're managing transformation as a project, trying to change a few things here and there, and expecting big results. That's not the case.

Now, I'd like everybody to join me here and make this interactive. Why don't you take your best shot at the robotic dance? You ready? Let's go.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Awesome. Thank you, everybody. Thanks for this. Thanks for this.

All right. Now, what do organizations get wrong with transformation?

First, I think the transformation word is overloaded and grossly misused. I want to take inspiration from John Deere's talk earlier yesterday from Matt and Amy. It's not transformation. It's a transformative journey.

Enterprises can think they could buy transformation from the big tool and the big consulting companies because everything comes in a box these days, right? Kubernetes in a box, cloud in a box, software in a box, DevOps in a box. It's easy. Get the box, get everything done. It's one size fits all. No.

And here's the best part. As soon as you get the box, they will ask you to think outside the box.

Okay? When things don't go well, what happens? You blame it on the tool or the platform, go to the next big box, you get it, and go with it.

It's like one who cannot dance will blame it on the song or the dance floor. Always.

I think mostly the companies are struggling with where to start and how to go about this. Sometimes people are resistant to change because they're so used to their comfort zone. They have to get out of that. Avoiding going after a real change is like staying still on a dance floor.

Now let me switch gears and talk about how to get it done right, how to go after your transformative journey.

First, let's start with the leadership. Leadership alignment and buy-in is key. Leaders must inspire and bring folks along and drive the change to do all it takes to move forward, like a well-choreographed dance routine. Like this.

Transformation needs clear direction and leadership. And it doesn't just start and end with the leadership. It goes to everybody, right? Everyone has a role to play. Everyone needs to drive the change forward. Everyone needs to be part of the change that they have to be in some cases. And you got to step up.

Now, everybody wants to aim at the stars, but let me talk a little bit about the J-curve effect and how it impacts your transformation initiative.

A typical path for a change is never a straight line. It's not a tangential line. It's a J-curve. You dip in first because you are challenging the status quo. You're unlearning old ways, and then you accelerate towards your right path of journey.

But don't focus on the big J-curves. Focus on small things. Take the baby steps one step at a time, and focus all in on that baby step and go forward with that.

It's like everybody wants to dance and become Michael Jackson, but I bet Michael Jackson started with baby steps, right?

You can't just learn dance and become a pro by watching TikTok videos. Similarly, you can't run your transformation program or your journey by reading and learning about it. That's a starting point. That's an inspiration. You get examples, you get stories to go after it.

You can't just follow it like a playbook. You need to act on it. Every organization is different. Every challenge is different. But I don't think they're unique, though.

Reach out to this dynamic community. I think we might have solved for it. If not, you'll find a partner to go after and solve for the challenge.

Last, for the transformation journey to succeed, you need real people. Have a very crystal clear vision that's inspiring and bring everybody along. Have some solid talent come in to go after some tough challenges. You should continuously learn and improve along the way.

Most importantly, you need some excitement. So I'm going to need everybody's help.

For folks who are sitting down, I want you to do this rhythm from "We Will Rock You" from Queen, right? Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Ready?

Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap.

Now the folks who are standing, I want you to do another wave sign. Join your hands like this and do a wave.

I'm going to call this as a DevOps loop dance.

Awesome. Thank you. That's me. If you'd like to chat more, hit me up.