Online meetings are now part of our normal daily routines. They are easy to set up, we have hardware to make them happen, multiple software solutions and high-speed internet enable the connection. But are we really good at communicating virtually? Did we really unmute? This multimedia case builds on a recording of a not-so successful meeting (we will refer to this video as "The Meeting") of a distributed team. The recording is not from a real-life business meeting but a plot scripted by the authors to point out learning content and enacted by professional actors. The 5.5 minutes meeting clip activates a set of challenges that we face in online meetings: - Unclear communication; - Missing connection between the members; - Lack of engagement; - Issues with the technology. During the case discussion students learn how they can master interactions online, create better connections with other meeting participants, and how they can maximize their online presence.

Lucia Fargolo is a dynamic high potential who joined FoodCo - a global fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company at the beginning of their digital transformation journey. After a promotion to department head, Lucia is preparing the global Social Media Marketing strategy. The implementation should start be piloted with a few brands. While Lucia is planning for the launch of the pilot with the brand category managers, there is however a hiccup: one seasoned brand manager seems to be totally off-board with Lucia's plan. He doesn't even show up for the strategy workshop she organized. What should Lucia do now? The company, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this case are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, companies, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Lea Block has tried to initiate digital transformation at Seuzach AG, a large global provider of medical devices for the health care industry. As marketing director, she has identified major shifts in German health care that demand that Seuzach changes its ways of approaching customers. Instead of targeting the specific needs of doctors in hospitals, Seuzach should rather address the new decision makers: the CEOs, CFOs, or CIOs of hospitals, who have a different buying logic. Seuzach should also leap into the future players in the industry through the application of digital innovations which allow for data driven, cloud-based digital services and business models that integrate data across the whole product range. In Seuzach's matrix organization (global product responsibility, supported by regional sales) Lea wants to convince the heads of marketing for the different product businesses to change. She seems to be able to quickly convince her colleagues of what she calls 'digital C-level marketing.' However, as soon as work is supposed to start, she realizes that commitments were less strong than she assumed. A few weeks later, Lea is clearly told that there will be no support for her. The short case study is set when Lea realizes the failure of her digital transformation initiative. This case is an update of the case Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change, a sanitized case that was set in 2007, in response to demands from students to have more up-to-date case as a basis for classroom discussions. As compared to the original case, this case provides an update of the developments in the German healthcare sector and puts stronger emphasis on the technology-related aspects of the proposed changes.

Managers often go through invisible leadership transitions, with additions to the scope of their roles without any changes in their official positions. Survey results show that leaders experience such transitions as 27% more difficult to navigate than formal ones, due to a lack of authority, difficulties in communicating effectively, and insufficient opportunities for self-improvement. The authors offer four key steps that can help leaders through the transition.