What Do the Best Strategic Thinkers Do?

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study is to better understand the concept of strategic thinking. There is a lack of scientific knowledge and consensus in the area of strategic thinking. This is, however, important since organisations are exposed to environments with high levels of uncertainty and complexity these days. To remain competitive in such volatile environments, the need for employees and managers with the ability to think strategically has never been greater than now. Having stated that, strategic thinking regardless of its substantial need still lacks consensus about its definition and what it entails in academia. Moreover, there is no externally validated tool that measures the ability of strategic thinking. Thus, we will contribute towards validating the Cognitive Process Profile assessment as means of accurately measuring strategic thinking ability. Research Questions 1. What are the most important cognitive elements of strategic thinking? 2. Is the CPP assessment a valid tool to measure strategic thinking? Methodology To answer our research questions, we collected data via three data collection methods to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Our data collection methods were a self-completion voting questionnaire, several 360-degree semi-structured telephone interviews and the Cognitive Process Profile (CPP) assessment. For the data analysis, we used SPSS Statistics. Findings Our findings show that the most important cognitive elements of strategic thinking are creative, visionary, rule oriented and quick insight learning. These elements facilitate one’s ability to think strategically. Conversely, being flexible and process oriented may hinder strategic thinking capabilities. Finally, we show that the CPP assessment is a valid tool to measure strategic thinking.