When women talk about digital euphoria with a lot of empathy!

We live in a time where the social environment is immersed in smartphones, and the entrepreneurial landscape, along with politics, praises Industry 4.0, without being able to say what Industry 3.0 would have been. The interest in digitization is great, the hype around the topic immense. This constantly reminds us of a story recently published in our book "Menschtage": "A communicative security measure: fasting PowerPoints." Do you remember when we expected Powerpoint to be the final solution to all communication deficits, as long as the slides are full, so full that we can't even keep up with reading them, full of smart words that we can't even understand anymore? Today we know that bombarding Powerpoint slides with text in every imaginable form, i.e., data, facts, numbers as far as the slide and the eye can see, is the most merciless way of presenting, which, of course, can only lead to states of near unconsciousness or narcotic conditions for the audience. By narcotic, we don't mean intoxicating, but rather numbing. Or as a colleague recently described at a networking event, when a customer asked him, "Do you have a Powerpoint presentation, or do you have something to say?" The enthusiasm for PPT has now sobered up. In the past, being considered outdated meant packaging one's topics in a concise 8-minute presentation with humorous, expressive slides. Many business leaders have now realized that the key is to communicate content in a way that maximizes audience engagement. "Information paired with emotion does make sense after all." Of course, digitalization is changing human work processes, certain forms of work will disappear. But not everything can or should be digitized. Another example that vividly illustrates the limits of digitalization, as we believe, is e-learning. We still remember e-learning vividly, a learning software that was supposed to impart knowledge to employees. The goal was to technicize training and save training departments, if they existed. It didn't work. We don't know of any of these supposedly good learning software programs that have prevailed. Why do you think that is? Because learning is a social process; even MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, have not prevailed, and their boom has long since dissipated. What matters are the learning environment, personal contact, inspiration from a leader, and the feeling of belonging to a social system. This is also demonstrated in the widely cited Hattie study: the only factor that can truly influence training is the social interaction between convincing and skilled trainers and learners, not the technology being used. What information will we need in the future, what processes do we need to digitize? How do we gain an overview, or are we already drowning? Do digital processes provide more orientation and profit, or more external control and vulnerability of the systems? To answer all these open questions and to be successful in the digital world, we need, sorry dear readers, "soft facts" in the form of a suitable, future-oriented corporate culture. In other words, it is pointless to think about smart products, robots, and new IT processes if we don't also consider individualization, self-responsibility, autonomy, and, for example, flexible project culture. Whether you agree or not, an "entrepreneurial digital mindset" also includes curiosity and openness, but also permeability and communication. In addition to expertise, new digital visions, and strategies, social competence is crucial. Asking questions, engaging in dialogue, reflecting, and expanding one's own horizons. We believe in a strong "I" for a common "WE" – and that doesn't come in a digitized version or as an algorithm!