Numbers
The figures applied in strategic thinking either rely on data for the past or are based on qualitative assumptions that are rarely documented. Connecting quantitative and qualitative analysis adds a lot of value in decision-making.

Political analysis
Strategies greatly depend on the political environment and need to fit into the legal framework.

Customer feedback
It's crucial to understand your clients' needs and the thinking behind them. Ask them directly or use surveys, observe client activity and/or run tests.

Engineer's know-how
Good business decisions should include the knowledge of engineers. They know from experience if one idea or another could work or at least they are willing to explore the possibility.

Gut feeling
doesn't actually exist. People think that they make a decision based on a feeling. This feeling is always a result of a mix of experience, good thinking and evaluations.

Trends & Drivers
Business and political decisions need to take trends and drivers into consideration. The latter is more difficult because of their higher degree of uncertainty and unpredictable impacts.

Options and Alternatives
The development of options is the critical part of strategy development and the best example why tool-based reasoning is of extremely high value.

Stakeholders
It’s a good idea to think about the stakeholders when making important decision. Thinking about their point of view can be a challenging task, but it should be part of good decision-making processes.

Future scenarios
Thinking about the future is needed in order to make better decisions today. The development of scenarios is not rocket science but it is good thinking – as well as extremely valuable in decision-making.

Insights
Pairing insights with instinct is a good combination to enrich decision-making and to generate better results than your competitors.