Harnessing serendipity: a CEO strategic imperative for the smart machine age

Purpose This paper articulates the strategic imperative for CEOs to harness serendipity and hyper-learning in the smart machine age. Design/methodology/approach This paper is explicitly conceptual in nature and highlights the under-explored intersection of CEO hyper-learning with serendipity as a prelude to organizational renewal. In so doing, insights from multiple literatures are integrated—serendipity, adult learning, and human–intelligent machine interaction. The paper follows a logical and progressive roadmap moving from the macro context of smart machines and serendipitous discovery, to CEO personal development, then to organizational design. The inclusion of diagnostic tools and a strategic agenda enhance practical relevance and design. Findings The core contributions include a conceptual roadmap of hyper-learning integrated with the notion of serendipity. The roadmap includes four evolutionary steps including mastery of self, inner peace, hyper-learning mindset, and hyper-learning behaviors. Suggestions for designing a digital-age serendipitous organization are proffered including building blocks such as human development, enabling organizational structure, leadership model, culture, and behaviors. Each building block offers affordances linked to a serendipity typology. The paper emphasizes inner stillness as a foundational element and positions serendipity as a human differentiator in the smart machine age. Research limitations/implications The paper relies on conceptual arguments and anecdotal confirmatory evidence engaging with executives. Suggestions for research include the need to empirically examine the CEO as the unit of analysis within self-learning and development theory. Practical implications The paper provides diagnostic tools and actionable insights for CEOs to harness serendipity and hyper-learning for self-development, organizational preparedness and renewal. Social implications The paper implies possible social implications such as higher-order educational requirements and job displacement due to advancement of smart machine technologies. Originality/value The paper combines hyper-learning literature with Mertonian discovery framing self-development as a vector of adaptive serendipitous capacity and strategic agility. Barriers to recognizing and socializing serendipity are also identified including retrospective falsification, ephemerality and pride, plus jealousy and hostility.