Emotional Strategic Thinking

Emotional strategic thinking. It sounds like an oxymoron, but exactly the opposite is true. It is essential and we need more of it. Much more. This is what it means and why.

Conventional wisdom and traditional strategy says that emotions have no place in strategic thinking. We need to switch off our emotions, only consider the hard facts, make rational analyses, and objectively choose the right scenarios.

While this may sound sensible, it is not. Why? Because strategy and organizations are all about people, and people have emotions.

Emotions are not just the small part we see when things get too exciting or critical. Emotions are all over the place. They are what makes strategy and organizations tick.

While the traditional approach is to ignore this fact, this doesn’t mean emotions don’t play a role. They do, whether we acknowledge it or not. Therefore, it is better we simply acknowledge this and give emotions the central place in strategic thinking they deserve.

Curiosity:
Self: About your own emotions
Others: About the emotions of others

Open-mindedness:
Self: To what your emotions could be saying
Others: To what their emotions could be saying

Contextualization:
Self: Of your emotions in the light of the past and present situation
Others: Of their emotions in the light of their past and present situation

Connection:
Self: Of your emotions and actions to understand why you do what you do
Others: Of their emotions and actions to understand why they do what they do

Foresight:
Self: Into how your actions impact your aspirations and challenges
Others: Into how their actions impact their aspirations and challenges

Together, these five factors form a process, from curiosity, to open-mindedness, to contextualization, to connection, to foresight. Five steps through which you increasingly use the insights generated to understand yourself and others.
Creating emotional awareness is a crucial skill in strategizing, “others” being any stakeholder of your organization—employees, owners, investors, customers, suppliers, etc. The better you understand them in an emotionally intelligent manner, the better your strategy can be.