#591 The Unalgorithmic Self: What Leaders Must Never Hand to AI | Ritu Raj and Niels Brabandt
The Unalgorithmic Self: What Leaders Must Never Hand to an Algorithm
Technology is here to stay, and so is artificial intelligence. The more interesting question for leaders is not whether to use it, but what it does to the way we think, decide and perceive the world. This week I spoke with Ritu Raj, author of The Unalgorithmic Self: Art, AI, and the Future of Human Thinking, published in September 2026.
From Silicon Valley to the canvas
Ritu Raj brings an unusual combination of perspectives. He spent his career building technology companies in Silicon Valley: he founded the cloud company Avasta and Wag Hotels, helped launch the early ride-sharing service SideCar and worked in corporate development at the lab-grown diamond company Diamond Foundry. Then, during the pandemic, alone in his San Francisco loft, he started painting again, something he had last done as a child. Within months, the loft was full of abstract canvases. He eventually left his corporate role, moved to Arizona and built a studio large enough for six-by-six-foot paintings.
That double background matters. Critics of technology are often dismissed as people who do not understand business. Ritu Raj cannot be dismissed that way. He has built the systems he now questions.
Living in a world of algorithms
The starting point of the book is frustration. Almost everything we encounter today has been selected for us by an algorithm: the shows we watch, the news we read, the products we buy, even the toothbrush in the bathroom. Ritu Raj compares this to the calculator. As a child, he could multiply four-digit numbers in his head. Today he could still do it, but why would he, when the phone does it instantly?
His answer is not escape. He does not believe we can, or should, step out of the algorithmic world. The answer is acceptance combined with awareness. Technology brings real efficiency, and leaders should use it fully. The risk lies elsewhere.
AI multiplies intelligence, humans multiply meaning
The line at the heart of the book is simple: AI will multiply intelligence, only humans can multiply meaning. A machine can answer a question, but only a human can wonder. A machine can predict a pattern, but only a human can break one, or live one.
For leaders, this translates into a clear division of labour. Every leader now has access to a machine that analyses, predicts and drafts faster than any team. That is a gift, and it changes the job. What remains for the leader is exactly what the machine cannot carry: judgement when the data runs out, responsibility for the person in front of you, and the attention to notice what no dashboard measures.
The real risk, Ritu Raj argues, is not that machines become more human. It is that we quietly become more like them, optimising instead of deciding.
Who signs the work?
When I asked what readers should take away, he refused to offer golden rules. Instead, he described the practice that keeps him honest. Painting is hand to canvas. The brush loaded with oil paint does things no algorithm can do, and he only has partial control over it. Yet the finished painting is his. He signs it.
That is the question every leader should ask about AI-supported work: who signs it? Who is accountable for the outcome? Saying that the machine did it is not an answer. Use the tools completely, but remember that you are in control, and that your name stands under the result.
Change needs management
Ritu Raj also reminded me of something that applies far beyond AI: without change management, there is no change. Managing change is harder than almost anything else in an organisation, which is precisely why people avoid it. Introducing AI is not a technology project. It is a change in how people think, work and take responsibility, and it needs to be led as such.
Judgement cannot be delegated
There is a practical lesson in this for every leadership team. Many organisations currently measure AI success by usage: how many licences, how many prompts, how many automated workflows. These numbers say little about the quality of decisions. A leader who lets the machine decide has not become more efficient. They have simply handed over the part of the job that justifies their role. The more capable the tools become, the more valuable the human abilities that remain: asking the right question, sensing what is not in the data, and taking responsibility for the consequences.
What this means for your organisation
Three practical consequences follow from this conversation:
1. Use AI for analysis, prediction and drafting, and be explicit about where human judgement takes over.
2. Define accountability before you automate. For every AI-supported output, it must be clear who signs it.
3. Protect time for the work that cannot be measured: noticing people, asking questions, making decisions when the data runs out.
The Unalgorithmic Self is not a technical manual. It explores self, love and spirituality as much as work, and it asks more questions than it answers. In a world where most leadership content explains what AI can do, it is a valuable reminder of what leaders must never hand over. I wish you every success in applying this in your organisation.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
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Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Technology is here and it's here to stay and so is AI. The question is, Does it change the way we think, we act, or how we perceive the world? And we have an expert on the matter with us here today. Hello and welcome, Ritu Raj.
Ritu Raj: Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Thank you very much for taking the time. I mean, you have quite some career. First, when we got in contact and I thought, a full-time painter wants to talk With me about technology, How could that work? Looking at your CV, you were a partner at Accenture, founder of Wag Hotels, Product manager at Sidecar, co-founder of Orchestrator. So a massive tech career In the Silicon Valley from start to finish. And today you do something very different. And you've written a book, which we're going to talk about today, Which I find highly interesting, The Unalgorithmic Self. So my question of course first is what motivated you to write exactly this book at this point in time
Ritu Raj: So two parts of it um since covid I started painting, You know I was caught dev for diamond foundry very well happy happy with my Job expanding like crazy, And then the COVID came and I was like shut in a room where I couldn't go anywhere, And I don't know why I just, Somebody said why didn't you paint you used to paint like whenever you were A kid and I started painting and suddenly, My 1800 square foot loft in San Francisco was full of paintings things. You know, I started, you know, I started by four, you know, two by two feet. And then it became four feet by four feet. And my sweet spots around six feet by six feet. And they take up a lot of room.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: And it was just me and my little cat. And we started painting. I mean, that was it.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah. Yes.
Ritu Raj: And it was, you know, I paint abstract painting. so it's not like you know I'm Doing representational work, Very good so comes go ahead.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Keep going please yes
Ritu Raj: Yeah it comes most of it comes from my childhood my uh, You know I even I travel all over the world and I go to museums all the time always seeking, That image that gets me to stand in front of it and ask me more questions than and give me answers, So that was a genesis of that career of being a painter so I actually stopped Working for Diamond Foundry and moved to Arizona, To find a big canvas to paint on so I wanted to paint like Jackson Pollock, Without any training without anything but I wanted a big space so I found like A more than a 2 000 square foot studio attached to my house, Uh and you can do it in phoenix you can find big Yes.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Absolutely. Yeah.
Ritu Raj: So that's how it all happened. And then your final question was, why the book? I think two parts that happened. One is, I have a curious mind. I'm invented companies, et cetera. The second part is you cannot paint like if you work in a post office for eight hours. You know, you paint when you paint and you don't paint when you don't paint. So I had to find something to do beyond watching soapbox.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: That was the genesis. and then the final genesis was and that will give you An access to the book and I've you know I've gone through your some other podcast also, My I came at it from a very different place in some shape or form I got, So pissed off in the world of algorithms that we live in.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: I think even on the book it says even your toothbrush, Paulie, Was sold to you by an algorithm.
Ritu Raj: Yes. So it's everywhere you go. The TV shows that you watch are algorithms. It's not like you're controlling it. Nothing. It's like they're stringing you Along in however they want to. Everywhere you go is an algorithm. So you're a victim of algorithms. You're trapped in this world of algorithms. You know, when I was a kid, I could multiply four-digit number by four-digit numbers in my head, but not a big deal. And then I got a calculator.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: I do not multiply 54 by 63. You know, I'm just taking an example. I can, but why would I? Because I can just pull out my iPhone and calculate it.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah. The question, of course, many people would now have, let me jump in here, When people say, hey, this is just the world how it is. There is no way to escape, Or is there? What would you say?
Ritu Raj: I don't think it's acceptance. I don't think it's escape is like a day is more Difficult like you can't, You just accept that you have a calculator, Yeah this is life it's just acceptance.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: I remember when my math teacher told me well you're not going to have a calculator When you're out there on the street and well fast forward 20 years I do So here we are. Yeah.
Ritu Raj: And you live off your calculator. You know, so it's acceptance. So there is an acceptance of how the technology elements are great for us. I mean, it's like amazing. It's efficiency in some shape or form. So I, you know, You know, I have this line from the book. When I wanted to, you know, it's like, this is like the genesis of how my book Is set up, which is AI will multiply intelligence. Only human can multiply meaning.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah. I think you also said in the book, as far as I remember, A machine can answer a question. Only human can wonder. And I think you also Said a machine can predict a pattern. Only human can break one.
Ritu Raj: Or can live one.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: And those are my questions for today's generation. There's no escape from it. But then there are some things I would say, I have this, I've been like looking at, what's my message in this world of AI? Or what am I trying to say? And basically it boils down to you know every leader now has a machine that Can analyze predict and draft faster than any team, That is a gift and it changes the job what is left of the leader is exactly What the machine cannot carry. Judgement. When the data runs out, responsibility for the person in front of you and the Attention to notice what no dashboard measures. In the Unalgorithmic Self, I argue that the real risk is not the machines becoming more human, But that we quietly become more like them optimizing instead of deciding.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Absolutely when people now say hey I'm really intrigued by this book and they Wonder when I read through this because I probably it might be Not the easiest read for some because they say I think I sorted my life out And suddenly someone comes along make me question and maybe I find out I'm exactly like that So when people read the book what is in for them regarding getting out of that System of being the algorithmic self compared to the unalgorithmic self
Ritu Raj: Um I I don't think it's like uh, You know I mean I I gotta say this my practice of being a painter keeps me honest, There's no algorithm it's all hand to canvas you know in the paint the paint And the paint brush do things that no algorithm can do, And surprisingly I don't have control, I don't have that control over the brush laden with oil paint on a canvas I Don't have control I have a slight control it's like more like think like AI, But I it's my painting. The painting, the end product is mine. It is not yours. So I would say if somebody reads the book, I don't want them to say, Oh, my God, now these are like some golden rules. No, no, no. I think it's more like returning to self. You know, it's like take control of your own self, like you being a human. There are things that the machines cannot do or AI cannot do, period. And it's, you know, use it. Use it completely. But you got to also remember that you are in control, not the machine. And finally, I think the most important thing for me, for me, I've written a whole book on it. Is... Who signs it? Who signs the book? Who's accountable? Who's accountable for that end product? Can you say the machine did it or you did it? But you have to stand up for this Is, you are the signatory of this piece of work. Like when I paint. I would say that is my only big takeaway from the book. And it like, you know, explores self. it explores love it explores spirituality, So it explores all the dimensions of human beings beyond just work, But you can that's an exploration that no answers.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: No absolutely and also I think we have a big advantage of because often you Have people from the artistic space who say hey this is my take and the answer Usually is well you're from the artistic space you don't even know the business World so who are you to judge And you've been on both sides of the journey here I think there are very few people who make a career like you did In the silicon valley and then suddenly say I'm going to leave to be a painter Most people can't even let go and they do consultancy and whatnot else until Very high age because they need some Sort of confirmation or the external validation through their work yeah
Ritu Raj: And how you know I mean to give you what you're saying back to you in some deeper Form is when we started this conversation, we were in the midst of change in The United States of America, like big change. And my first thing about change is without change management, there's no change. It's so difficult to manage change. It's more difficult to manage change than anything. That's why we don't want to change. That's one reason. So that aspect of thinking never goes away in some shape or form. And I think from my own mental perspective, Satisfaction or whatever you want to say. I'm not going completely crazy. That's why I took on, you know, this abstract art.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: And painting, you know, it just feeds my soul.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Ritu Raj: There is nothing I can do. No abstraction can help me.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah. And that's probably why you chose to go down this route and now be a full-time painter.
Ritu Raj: Yes.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: I think this wraps up this interview perfectly. We see, because you know, On this podcast, we usually have a lot of business people telling you this is What business does. And AI, of course, has been a huge topic, Especially during the last couple of years. The Unalgorithmic Self probably is exactly the view you need right now. So at the end of this podcast and videocast, there's only one thing left for Me to say. Ritu Raj, thank you very much for your time.
Ritu Raj: Thank you.