If you drive past a new data-center build in Texas or Virginia today, you might catch a strange sight: a row of trailer-mounted jet engines idling beside concrete shells and cooling towers. They’re not there to fly—they’re there to think.

I was fortunate enough to find myself in Japan in late March, just in time for the iconic sakura, or cherry blossom, season. Pink clouds of flowers transformed the streets of Tokyo, all the more beautiful for their transience; the blooms often last for merely a week before they fall like pastel snow. As a guest of Mina Sekiguchi and KPMG’s energy advisory team, I had the chance to reflect on another kind of transformation that has become a priority for many Japanese leaders: how do you reinvent traditional organizations for the algorithmic age?