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The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational decision-making. The purpose of the model is to provide an empirical framework for understanding the context for decision-making under conditions of existential threat to organizations, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020.

The model is built on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review, drawing from research in social psychology, management, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior. In general, the authors follow Bargal's (2006) call for action research in the spirit of Lewin (1951).

According to the model, organizational decision-making during the pandemic threat is influenced by (1) existential threat and (2) an unprecedented macroenvironmental context for decision-making. The authors argue that these psychological and macroenvironmental forces may lead to suboptimal decision-making, based on (1) their basic cognitive architecture and (2) specific evolutionary triggers activated by the pandemic. The authors highlight how the interaction between these inputs and the decision context manifest in various social psychological phenomena that are known to impact judgments and decisions.

Simply put, the magnitude and the urgency of the global pandemic call for new and integrative ways of understanding organizational decision-making.

The model is new. Although the authors draw on prior research and theory, the model is uniquely interdisciplinary; further, the authors are able to make specific and unique predictions about the inputs, decision context and their social–psychological consequences for decision-making.

It is becoming more generally accepted that there is a need to develop a new kind of leader to meet the needs of our 21st century VUCA world. The bookcases are full of volumes that describe “what” great leaders should do, but “how” to develop such leaders is usually limited to a macro or systemic solution rather than focusing on granular behavioural change of the individual. This paper describes the qualities and characteristics of Transpersonal Leaders, then focuses on developing these leaders through a new coaching process and finally explains how experienced coaches can be trained to coach these leaders.

Our research over the last 20 years of working with leaders individually and in teams has focused on this issue. We have been developing “21st century ready” leaders, referred to as Transpersonal Leaders, for over 10 years in teams, but only recently have we been developing such leaders through a new coaching process. We have also developed a methodology that codifies the development of Transpersonal Leaders which, in turn, allows us to replicate the programme by training other professionals, potentially in large numbers.

Graduates of the Transpersonal Coach Training Programme say that it has been a transformational personal experience, enabling them to take their leader clients to a new level. Leaders who have been coached say the programme has equipped them to learn a practical approach to becoming an authentic, ethical, caring and more effective leader.

This is a unique approach to coaching leaders but based on proven learning principles.