Intuition, Rationality, and the Limits of Process: How Senior Leaders Make Strategic Decisions in High-Velocity Environments

This paper presents findings from a qualitative empirical study examining how senior leaders make strategic decisions under conditions of time pressure and uncertainty. The central research question is: what is the role of intuition in the strategic decision-making process when decisions are made in high-velocity environments? Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews with CEOs, board directors, founders, and executive directors, conducted using the Critical Incident Technique, the study generates detailed, experience-proximate accounts of real strategic decision episodes. The findings reveal that intuition operates not as a discrete cognitive choice but as an embedded orienting mechanism that shapes early issue framing, option consideration, and the interpretation of emerging information. Rational analysis, while dominant as the language of organisational legitimacy, was frequently applied in compressed, selective, and confirmatory ways, serving to justify decisions already directionally established rather than to evaluate alternatives independently. Decision processes were further shaped by emotional activation, social authority structures, and organisational approval dynamics. The study identifies seven major empirical findings and nine specific process vulnerabilities through which senior decision-making routinely breaks down. These provide the evidential foundation for a structured decision-support tool currently under development. The findings carry direct practical implications for leadership development, executive education, and organisational decision governance.