Evolutionary Leadership: A Manifesto for Thriving in the Permacrisis
The era of stability and predictability is over. We have entered a state of permanent geopolitical and geoeconomic entropy—a "permacrisis" where unforeseen disruption is the new baseline. In this reality, legacy management models, built on linear projections of the past, are not just obsolete; they are a liability. Mere resilience, the ability to bounce back to a previous state, is no longer a sufficient strategy.This manifesto proposes a new paradigm: an evolutionary approach that does not seek to simply survive crises, but to harness them as a catalyst to thrive in any possible future.This new leadership model is built on the convergence of three foundational pillars: heightened geopolitical and geoeconomic awareness, integrated risk management (encompassing business continuity and cybersecurity), and a new form of "Deliberate" Artificial Intelligence.Principle One: Embrace Uncertainty as the Default State.We must reject the dependency on historical data, which is inadequate for predicting anomalous "black swan" events. The strategic focus must shift toward the unknown, intercepting the faint signals of "grey rhinos"—the highly probable, high-impact threats we tend to ignore. Geopolitical analysis becomes the cornerstone of every strategic decision, mapping sources of entropy to inform risk models. This fosters an evolutionary organizational culture that incentivizes rapid experimentation and learning from failure, embodying the principle that in times of disruption, nothing is lost, everything is transformed.Principle Two: Deploy Strategic Intelligence.This demands an Artificial Intelligence that serves as a true partner in human reasoning. We must move beyond traditional, "System 1" AI—which is fast and automated—to an AI capable of "System 2" thinking: slow, analytical, and deliberate. This manifesto introduces the paradigm of Energy-Based Transformers (EBTs), models that operate through a rigorous process of verification and optimization. The objective is not to ask the AI for an answer, but to task it with finding the most coherent, lowest-energy (i.e., lowest-entropy) solution within the chaos—a solution that is then critically validated by human judgment. AI becomes the tool to reduce disorder and identify signals of order amid the noise of uncertainty.Principle Three: Embed Governance into the Algorithmic Core.Risk management, business continuity, and cybersecurity are not control overlays; they are intrinsic functions of the decision-making system. With EBTs, self-verification becomes an automated internal control, and the measurement of the system's "energy" becomes a real-time risk metric. We champion "algor-ethics," a term coined by Father Paolo Benanti, which involves translating ethical principles into computable algorithms to ensure AI acts as a humanizing force. We advocate for "crystal box" systems—transparent and auditable—in stark contrast to opaque "black boxes." The future of AI must be one of critical self-reflection, capable of "instilling doubt" in its own reasoning to avoid dogmatic rigidity. Ultimately, the human remains central: the algorithm must recognize its own limitations and, when faced with high uncertainty or ethical dilemmas, escalate to human judgment. AI must augment human intelligence, not replace it.A Call to ActionThe role of a leader has fundamentally shifted: from a manager of processes to an architect of intelligent decision-making ecosystems. The goal is to build organizations that don't just withstand uncertainty, but metabolize it, transforming turbulence into the very energy that fuels continuous evolution. This new leadership demands fluidity, anti-fragility, and a perpetual curiosity to actively shape the future.We call on you to be architects of change, not its prisoners.SignatoriesAntonio AlbaneseGiorgio CarsettiFederica Maria Rita LivelliAndrea Viliotti