Similar to everything in life, leadership has evolved over the years. Stacy Hines recounts her leadership philosophy growing from being in C-suite corporate, where she led from within a company, to leading a group of companies, and now leading her own company.

Throughout her growth as a leader, Hines developed a core philosophy: “Leadership is as much being as it is doing. To succeed, we must get the tools to live, love, and lead from a place of wellness,” Hines told Digital Life. From an organisational perspective, her philosophy has driven her management style to be more high-performance and conscious leadership-focused.

Kemal Brown states that his leadership ethos stems from Kaizen, his core philosophy that speaks to perpetually getting better. Authenticity is a critical tool in being a great leader. One must find a self of being to lead an organisation effectively. Brown also states that he is a value-based leader. He established his organisation on six core values, D – dedication, I – integrity, G – gratitude, I – innovation, T – teamwork and trust, and A – attention.

He reminisces on how earlier in his career, as a corporate transformation specialist, he was exposed to the concept of vision value alignment. He then realised that, though businesses may have mission and vision statements, there are not enough workers functioning under those key statements to achieve the goals.

As a leader it is essential to understand who you are, be authentic, and have a vision, values, and missions that drive your goals forward to synthesise success. Though picking up popularity now, digital transformation has always been an ever-evolving process spanning decades. One of the significant digital transformations in more recent times was the changeover from the 20th-century typewriter to Windows 95 in the late 90s. Since then, digital transformation has been given more attention due to the rapid technological advancements in the 21st century.

Hines draws on Mary Morrissey’s famous quote: “Transformation happens twice; first in the mind and then in reality.” She adds that with the dawn of the new digital transformation era organisations have the opportunity to think about what they want to create and take the company through the concept of the idea, involving people, technology, and process; achieving the best outcome possible.

The central notion that companies getting involved in digital transformation should follow is to ensure that they are creating success in a way that is sustainable for the organisation and the people who contribute to the greatness of the organisation, such as employees, stakeholders, and customers. In the conceptualisation stage organisations should assist with the possible challenges in the actualisation stage.

In the actualisation of digital transformation, facing challenges is a necessary part of the transformation process. It helps to give the organisation guidance to evaluate the functionality of procedures resulting in better access to the re-application and implementation of other methods, as well as gaining the necessary support.

Digital transformation is not solely about technology. Technology is the logical evolution of tools we have been using since inception. The only true constant is life changes; if we are not adaptive, it is impossible to function in the modern world.

A good example of failure to adapt to the modern era would be Kodak. If they had accepted that the digital camera was one of the main features of modern-day technology there would be a vast difference in the cellular phones we use today. In digital transformation, organisations must understand that things will advance through technologies, markets will rise and fall, people will change, and all things will have an end.

We cannot expect to digitise all businesses; however, all companies can benefit from technological tools and services and develop fresh approaches to their operations.

As told to Digital Life by Stacy Hines, immediate past president of the JTDA, group strategic planner at the ICB Group, Business Leadership and transformation expert coach, and founder of Epic Transformation. Kemal Brown, founder and chairman of Digita Global Group of companies and member of the Forbes Business Council.