Constructive disruption through radical openness

In the age of digi­ta­liza­tion, the envi­ron­ment is chan­ging rapidly. But to under­stand digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion, most analy­ses ask the wrong ques­tion, namely: How are new tech­no­lo­gies chan­ging us? But the more important ques­tion is: How do we need to change, what quali­ties do we need to have to deal with change? The faster the uphe­avals in society, the more central open­ness beco­mes as a maxim for action. Open­ness is the virtue of the digi­tal era.

Do you try a new dish every time you go to the restau­rant? Do you go to vaca­tion spots they don’t know yet? Then you quite proba­bly have a high score on the perso­na­lity trait “open­ness”. People who are open to the world are more likely to vote for progres­sive and libe­ral parties. Rese­arch shows that open­ness is a better indi­ca­tor for predic­ting voting beha­vior than clas­sic charac­te­ristics such as views on tax policy. Are you parti­cu­larly struc­tu­red, disci­pli­ned and do you keep your promi­ses? Then you have
presu­ma­bly a high value for “relia­bi­lity”. Relia­ble people value order and are rarely late for appoint­ments. Not surpri­sin­gly, relia­ble people tend to vote for tradi­tio­nal and conser­va­tive parties.

Open­ness indi­ca­tes progres­sive thin­king, while relia­bi­lity indi­ca­tes more tradi­tio­nal thin­king. Psycho­lo­gists around the world have proven this. Since both charac­te­ristics are inde­pen­dent of each other, the prize ques­tion was: How does someone behave who is both open and relia­ble, not only in terms of poli­tics, but also in terms of work and life?