Decoding the Future: An Interview with Mitch Joel, Founder of Six Pixels Group, and Digital Seer

Most traditional businesses are just now getting used to the idea of a mobile-first world where people spend six hours a day immersed in digital media. But as the digital economy starts to take over, businesses will have to be ready for even more tumultuous change.


A new wave of disruptive technology is coming. It will usher in a post-digital age of continuous connectivity and transform how society functions: what’s been called the 4th Industrial Revolution. AI-powered smart speakers, streaming services, messaging platforms, apps, mobile commerce, 5G-connected devices, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain – all converging to transform how people live their lives.


No wonder IDC is forecasting over $1 trillion in digital transformation spending this year, an increase of 18% over 2018, as businesses frantically try to upgrade and modernize their infrastructure and systems. But most businesses remain “digitally distraught”, as IDC puts it. New ways of connecting with customers means new ways of doing business – hard to pull off if the C-suite can’t see past the next earnings report. Digital transformation is not for the “faint of heart”, IDC warns. It takes an enterprise-wide commitment to change. It requires an inspiring vision of how to create an unforgettable customer experience. And it means rewiring the business to become more agile, collaborative, daring, innovative. In other words, it means acting more like “digital natives”.


Since the number one goal of digital transformation is almost always to improve the customer experience, marketing should be leading the way. Yet, according to Forrester, that job is usually handed to the CIO, who’s more likely to be thinking digital-first, not customer-first. Which is why efforts at digital transformation generally run aground: siloed mentalities, timid goal-setting and risk aversion get in the way of being customer-obsessed. To act like a “digital native” demands an inquiring mind and a constant itch to defy convention.


Those attributes perfectly describe Mitch Joel, the Montrealer who’s made a name for himself as a digital expert specializing in decoding the future, as he puts it. He built his reputation as a trailblazer in the early days of the digital revolution, dating back to the start-up of his digital agency Twist Image in 2002, which he later sold to WPP. Mitch writes a popular blog called “Six Pixels of Separation” which he started 16 years ago and produces a weekly podcast by that same name. He’s also written a couple of best-selling books, the second of which, “CTRL ALT Delete”, was about “the evolution and reboot of business”. So it was natural that digital transformation would be the main subject of our conversation. But first I wanted to know – how did he go from being a music journalist and publisher at the start of his career to becoming a renowned digital seer?