ABSTRACT
Leaders need to combine thinking and acting, but it becomes increasingly difficult to establish in which order they need to do what. Thought and action are opposite yet complementary activities, so both are required, but the leader must determine in which sequence each needs to be undertaken and how much emphasis each requires. When confronted with a problem, reflective leaders prefer to step back and think before they act. Proactive leaders are less hung up on this desire to see the solution before getting up out of their chairs. Reflectiveness is for bookkeepers and scientists, not for leaders grappling with real world problems in real time. In terms of the problem-solving cycle, the approach taken by proactive leaders is that they start by "deciding" to try out a particular type of solution, based on a quick and dirty, intuitive understanding of what the problem is.
