Once while procrastinating at work, I stumbled upon the story of a computer hacker and cybercriminal, Albert Gonzalez. At 14, he was the ringleader of a group of mischievous computer geeks who hacked into NASA, drawing the attention of the FBI. Almost 13 years later, and after very little additional formal training, Gonzalez was prosecuted in one of the world’s largest and most complex identity theft cases — he and his colleagues had stolen more than 40 million credit card and ATM numbers.
Why Managers Should Think More Like Hackers
It can help you work around obstacles, find opportunities across silos, and more.
April 06, 2023
Illustration by Mr. Nelson Design
Summary.
Hackers are systems thinkers; they have an attitude that allows them to identify opportunities to make outsized impacts creatively, quickly, and resourcefully. Managers could benefit from thinking more like hackers. Hacking helps us take a step back from the worn-out management tenets of efficiency, long-term planning, hierarchical decision-making, and full information, to adopt instead more adaptable strategies. Adopting a hacker attitude can help managers work around obstacles, find opportunities across siloes, cultivate a culture of pragmatism, mobilize staff around processes instead of end goals, and navigate situations in which there isn’t an obvious answer or clear choice.