The Algorithmic Leader

Algorithmic leaders adapt their skills to the complexities of the machine age.

Algorithms are taking over the world, building the “bridge between computation and real-world challenges.” Information about the world today finds its expression in data that reside in almost all human interactions. Leaders who came of age in the analog era may worry whether their skills remain relevant. Ecosystems are rapidly displacing familiar hierarchies. Effective algorithmic leaders understand what generates true value. The best data, for example, are not deciding factors. What matters is the capacity to “connect people, partners and platforms.”

Two French philosophers, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, argued for discarding the tree as an analogy for the growth and dispersal of knowledge. They favored the “rhizome,” a tangled underground mass that forms a vast web, with nodes that send shoots to the surface. It has multiple “entry points,” and stores nutrients in its nodes to efficiently distribute energy. To be a “leader in the rhizome,” reject outmoded structures like the tree. Algorithms facilitate the rhizome model for business because their...