Bruce Henderson: The Henry Ford of Big Data

Born almost exactly 100 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee, Bruce Henderson was in some respects a man ahead of his time. He would have reveled in the current era of "big data" and the business analytics it permits. But then again, that era might never have arrived, or arrived much later, if it hadn't been for the strategy revolution Henderson helped set in motion.

You probably have never heard of him. And yet Henderson practically created the way that modern corporations understand themselves, including their ever deeper dive into the numbers behind their business. Pound for pound, the firm he founded and the two competitors that grew up in response have done more than anyone else to shape strategies at the largest companies around the world.