The imperative of strategic foresight to strategic thinking

Abstract

An apparent gap in mainstream strategy literature points to questions relating to the role and competencies of leaders in strategy making. An initial investigation reveals that turbulent change and growing environmental uncertainty demands leadership intuition and skills that are able to anticipate aspects of the future, provide enabling environments significantly different to the recent past and to provide direction for a dynamic 'living organisational strategy'. The paper explores the relation between neuroses of thinking about the future, the roles of leaders, strategic foresight and their connectedness to expanding bottom line measures of organisational performance. These are seen as indicators of leadership skills required to embrace the future and the possible foundations of an imperative for strategic foresight education in leadership development.