Leading digital transformation at your company will clearly be a large feat. While it seems like a lot for just one person to handle, what we have observed is that legacy companies that achieve real success at transformation are able to do it, at least in part, because they have what we call an “innovation hero.” This is someone who has the vision and tenacity to make it their personal, 24/7 mission to drag their enterprise toward digital excellence, no matter how challenging or how much resistance they face. Even if it costs them their job.

While this may seem like a big responsibility, just consider the challenge you’re facing: an existential digital threat for which the typical methods and processes most large brands have established are no match. As a result, to be the leader your company needs, you’ll need to develop some superpowers:

• Super Vision: Innovation heroes see threats to the business clearly and can envision how transforming customer experience, technology capabili- ties, and the organization itself will enable it to meet the opportunities of the future.
• Courage & Strength: Innovation heroes are not focused on “covering their butts” or deterred by setbacks. They persist. They fight.
• Speaks All Languages: Innovation heroes can convey and translate their message into the languages of business, IT, marketing, finance, legal, and user experience.
• Is a Champion of the People: Innovation heroes drive business success by prioritizing the needs of the company’s customers, as well as its rank and file employees.
• Time Travel: The Innovation hero focuses both on driving the multi-year “big picture” and on executing the near-term wins that demonstrate success—helping fund future transformation.
• Generosity & Humility: The innovation hero is looking to drive a glorious outcome, but not to achieve personal glory. 
• Allies with Other Superheros: Digital transformation requires many parts of the organization to work together to win. Innovation heroes persuade leaders across different departments and divisions to come onboard 

As you embark on digital transformation, these heroic qualities are essential to seeing it all through, but remember that no superhero does it alone. As a leader, a key part of your job is assembling a leadership team of superheroes, all of whom embody core characteristics, but each of whom can bring a special area of strength. The members you’ll need for your Superteam are: 

• The Business Leader
• The Product Leader
• The User Experience Leader
• The Technical Leader
• The Content Leader
• The Operations Leader
• The Marketing Leader

As you work on developing your own superpowers and building your superteam, remember that the clarity of each leader’s vision builds on the others, and that success requires a culture of collaboration between all the different types of leaders.