Leading futurist, Mike Walsh, thinks that “computational thinking” may be the answer for how leadership can survive the smart machine age.
Now that you understand the basic approach of first principles thinking, it is time to use it in a way that will allow you to work more effectively with algorithms and AI. Knowing how to program a computer is not as important as knowing how to think in a way that allows computers to help you be more effective. Rather than artificial intelligence, think of it as augmented intelligence. Or simply: computational thinking.
He also says:
What makes computational thinking, as opposed to mathematical or theoretical thinking, useful in the real world is that it incorporates practical constraints. When facing a particular challenge, an algorithmic leader might consider how difficult a problem is to solve, the best way to solve it, how long the available computing resources might take to do it, and whether an approximate solution might be good enough. From this perspective, computational thinking is about reformulating seemingly intractable problems into ones that we know how to solve by reducing or transforming them in some way.
You might use computational thinking to work out where your best employees come from, to determine the real reason your customers don’t renew their contracts, why there are constant breakdowns on your production line, or even which of your marketing strategies is actually working. Computational thinking is simply a structured, iterative approach that takes into account all the data now available for us to hone our judgment calls.
However, aside from making you a smarter leader, computational thinking has the potential to change the way we do things at a bigger scale, and in doing so, transform entire industries.
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Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing business for the 21st century. His expertise is giving leaders advise on how to thrive in this era of disruptive technological change. Mikes travels the world over 300 days a year, interviewing innovators, entrepreneurs and corporate revolutionaries to give his clients and audiences the freshest and best vision of tomorrow’s opportunities.
Mike has delivered close to a thousand keynote speeches to companies in almost every industry around the globe. In 2014, Mike was invited to be a main stage keynote speaker at the renowed Million Dollar Round Table where his customized presentation reached more than 8,000 people.
Aside from being a favored speaker to several global Fortune 500 companies, Mike is also a prolific writer. His international publications include articles in BusinessWeek, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of the best-selling bookFUTURETAINMENT (published by Phaidon and winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York) and The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas.Mike was the founder of Jupiter Research (Australia), was a senior strategist at News Corporation (Asia Pacific Region). He is currently a board member and strategic investor in the North Alliance, Sc
Mike was the founder of Jupiter Research (Australia), was a senior strategist at News Corporation (Asia Pacific Region). He is currently a board member and strategic investor in the North Alliance, Scandinavia’s leading digital marketing group.
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