Editorial
Where many experts warn about AI risks and call for external safeguards, this piece focuses on the human leadership plan, an operational advantage of leaders who can stay human in the middle of rapid digital acceleration. In boardrooms and on platforms, leaders who can bridge the gap between their in-person presence and their digital presence will win trust, shape culture and lead more effectively.
This approach sits at the intersection of digital adoption, AI governance and change management, positioning leaders to integrate emerging technologies without losing the human trust, clarity and cultural alignment that make transformation stick.
The Fragile Golden Egg
Imagine our human connections as a fragile golden egg. The outer shell, our digital tools, platforms and AI, gleams with possibility. But inside, at the center, is where the value truly sits. The yolk is us: our empathy, our ability to care, our way of making sense of each other. The risk is that the shell hardens so fast that we forget to strengthen what’s inside. And once the shell cracks? It’s messy. It’s hard to put back together.
This isn’t about fearing technology. It’s about noticing what’s happening, noticing ourselves in the middle of it all and deciding how we want to show up.
Related Article: AI Literacy Is the New Must-Have Workplace Skill
The In-Person vs. Digital Social Divide
When we’re in a room together, we pick up so much without thinking. A glance, a pause, a smile, they all tell us what’s really going on. But online, those clues get stripped away. We’re left trying to fill the gaps, and sometimes we get it wrong. The warm, inspiring leader in person might come across as cold or blunt in email. The colleague who lights up a room might seem flat in a Slack thread. This isn’t because they’ve changed. It's because the tools don’t do the work for us.
This is where that fragile egg comes in again. Offline, it’s yolk meeting yolk, human to human. Online, it can feel like a shell bumping against a shell, and cracks happen.
And that’s where this idea of the Zone of Disrupted Identity (ZDI) shows up. It’s that uncomfortable space where who we are in person and how we come across online don’t line up, and we feel it.
Zone of Disrupted Identity (ZDI):
- At the top is the Protected Zone, where human scaffolding creates buffering and support.
- In the center is the Zone of Disrupted Identity, where technology threatens human worth, role, excellence, visibility and purpose.
- At the bottom is Core Human Identity, encapsulating worth, purpose, agency, voice and excellence.
Building Digital Social Literacy — From Awareness to Practice
So what do we do? Digital social literacy means paying attention. It means realizing that digital spaces need different skills, not just copying and pasting what we’d do in a room.
Here’s what helps:
- Pause — don’t rush to reply. Take a breath, think.
- Check your tone for the space — what’s fine in WhatsApp might sound harsh in an email.
- Look for the clues — short replies, delays, even the time of day a message is sent can tell you something.
- Lead with empathy — if you’re not sure, ask. “Hey, just checking; was that okay?”
Organizations need to support this too. Not just teaching the tools, but teaching how to use them well, with care.
And as people practice digital social literacy, they can look for signs of progress: fewer crossed wires, smoother hybrid meetings, more moments of genuine connection even through a screen.
Frameworks and Tools for Digital Sensing and Empathy
Digital sensing is noticing what’s under the surface. It’s spotting when someone’s off, even through a screen. And digital empathy? That’s what we do with what we’ve noticed. A simple, “How’s today treating you?” can change the feel of a whole exchange.
What this looks like:
- Empathy Mapping: A team might take a phrase like “We need to talk about the project” and explore how it could land: as urgency, critique or support. At my company, we use this kind of tool in our leadership sessions to shift how teams think and engage.
- Reflective Check-Ins: Start meetings with, “One word on how you’re arriving today.” It opens the door to real connection.
- Tone Guidelines: Agree together: caps lock only for true emergencies, exclamation points for warmth.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t one-size-fits-all. Different cultures and generations read digital clues differently. A younger team member might feel at home in chat threads but find formal emails tricky. An older colleague might write beautifully long emails but struggle with fast-moving chat. Part of digital social literacy is spotting these patterns and supporting each other across them.
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Bridging the Digital and In-Person Self: The Role of ZDI & Digital Twin Self
You know that feeling when your email voice sounds nothing like you, or when your chat messages feel clunky, but in person, you’re fine? That’s ZDI. That’s the gap.
The way back is small, steady steps: ask for feedback, check in with yourself and try to bring the same kindness and clarity across spaces. The Digital Twin Self idea is about that alignment, making sure the person people meet online isn’t a stranger to who you are offline.
Staying Human With Digital Social Literacy
We can’t slow down the tech but we can slow ourselves down enough to stay human in the middle of it. Digital social literacy is how we do that. It’s the human plan, and it’s how we protect what matters most inside the egg.
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