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Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm

A passionate argument that rigorous engagement with the humanities—what the author calls sensemaking—is the essential, irreplaceable skill for understanding human behavior and making wise decisions in a world dangerously seduced by big data and algorithmic thinking.

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What it’s about

In an age that worships STEM, big data, and Silicon Valley's promise that algorithms can explain everything, Christian Madsbjerg makes the urgent case that our fixation on quantification is eroding our ability to understand people, culture, and ourselves. Drawing on twenty years of consulting for the world's largest companies and grounded in twentieth-century philosophy—Heidegger, Husserl, phenomenology, and Peirce's abductive reasoning—Madsbjerg introduces 'sensemaking,' a practice of cultural inquiry rooted in the humanities. Through vivid stories of Ford reinventing luxury cars, George Soros breaking the Bank of England, a poet rebuilding her mind after brain injury, and masters from hostage negotiators to winemakers, the book shows how thick data, immersion in worlds, and analytical empathy generate the insights numbers alone never can. It is both a critique of algorithmic reductionism and a practical guide to cultivating the human intelligence that produces genuine perspective—the one competitive advantage that can never be outsourced.

The through-line

Who it’s for
A leader, executive, or thoughtful professional who wants to genuinely understand people, culture, and markets in order to make wise, meaningful decisions.
The problem
Data, models, and algorithms fail to explain why people actually do what they do, causing missed targets, failed products, and strategic blindness. They feel they have lost their intuition—overwhelmed by abstractions, isolated from real life, and anxious about becoming obsolete.
The plan
  1. Recognize the limits of algorithmic thinking and the Silicon Valley state of mind
  2. Study culture and shared worlds rather than isolated individuals
  3. Gather thick data—context, moods, meaning—not just thin behavioral numbers
  4. Escape the zoo: reframe problems as phenomena and observe human experience in the real world
  5. Practice analytical empathy and abductive reasoning to remain open until insight arrives as grace
The payoff
You regain your intuition and cultivate a genuine perspective on your world · You make killer bets on human behavior and see nonlinear shifts before others do · Your organization innovates around real human experiences and thrives

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