TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to challenge an over‐reliance on past experience as the cognitive underpinning for strategic decisions. It seeks to argue that, in complex and unknowable conditions, effective leaders use three distinct and complementary thinking capacities, which go beyond those normally learned during their rise to the top.Design/methodology/approach– A conceptual model of thinking capacities is justified through a review of the psychology literature; the face validity of the proposed model is supported through six in‐depth interviews with successful CEOs.Findings– A model of non‐conventional thinking capacities describes how strategic decision‐makers make choices that are better adapted to the conditions of uncertainty, ambiguity and contradiction, which prevail in complex situations. These capacities are complementary to the more conventional approaches generally used in thinking about decisions.Practical implications– The paper aims to stimulate awareness of the limitations of habitual mental responses in the face of difficult strategic decisions. It challenges leaders consciously to extend their abilities beyond conventional expectations to a higher order of thinking that is better suited to multi‐stakeholder situations in complex environments.Originality/value– The paper responds to the challenge of McKenna and Martin‐Smith to develop new theoretical approaches to complex environments. It extends conventional approaches to decision making by synthesising from the literature some essential thinking capacities, which are well suited to the demands of situations dominated by uncertainty, ambiguity and contradiction.
VL  - 47
IS  - 2
SN  - 0025-1747
DO  - 10.1108/00251740910938885
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740910938885
AU  - McKenzie Jane
AU  - Woolf Nick
AU  - van Winkelen Christine
AU  - Morgan Clare
PY  - 2009
Y1  - 2009/01/01
TI  - Cognition in strategic decision making: A model of non‐conventional thinking capacities for complex situations
T2  - Management Decision
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 209
EP  - 232
Y2  - 2024/09/18
ER  -