Thinking traps are patterns of faulty reasoning that sneak into high-stakes moments, dressed up as logic or urgency. The more experienced we get, the more dangerous they become—because they often hide behind speed, confidence, or past success.

Let’s explore how to spot them, escape them, and build a culture that makes clear thinking a collective habit - not a heroic exception.

Why This Matters for Strategic Leadership

In a 2023 PwC survey, 66% of executives admitted to making decisions based on instinct or “gut feel” at least once a week. Yet those same leaders also acknowledged a growing regret around missed signals, biased calls, and groupthink.

The implications are real:

• Strategic misfires
  
  
• Burnout from avoidable rework
  
  
• Erosion of team trust and credibility
  
  

As complexity and information velocity increase, so does our risk of relying on mental shortcuts. Our job as leaders isn’t to eliminate instinct - but to temper it with better checks.

The Five Trap Types: Our “SNARE” Model

We use the acronym SNARE to capture the most common categories of thinking traps in executive settings. Each one can distort judgment in its own distinctive way.

S – Status Quo Seduction

This is the comfort trap. When teams default to “what we’ve always done,” they avoid friction—but miss opportunity.

Example: A retail firm continues investing in brick-and-mortar because “that’s where our brand lives,” despite 3 quarters of underperformance in physical sales.

Ask yourself: If we were starting from scratch today, would we choose the same path?

Micro-action: Run a "zero legacy" brainstorm next week—invite your team to redesign your core offering as if none of your current structures existed.

N – Narrative Bias

We love a good story - sometimes too much. When anecdote outweighs evidence, we overvalue vivid events and undervalue base rates.

Example: One customer success story becomes the basis for product strategy, sidelining data from hundreds of less-engaged users.

Ask yourself: Are we building strategy from the strongest signals or the stickiest stories?

Micro-action: Before your next decision, require one data point that disconfirms your preferred narrative.

A – Anchoring

The first number, estimate, or idea we hear becomes our reference point - even when it’s irrelevant.

Example: A senior leader mentions a 20% target in passing. Months later, the team treats it as gospel, even though the market can’t support it.

Ask yourself: What assumption are we treating as fixed that may have just been a starting point?

Micro-action: In budget or forecast meetings, assign one person the role of “reframer”—tasked with proposing three alternative anchors before settling.

R – Risk Myopia

We tend to overreact to near-term, visible risks and underplay long-term, systemic ones.

Example: Cutting employee learning budgets to manage a quarterly dip, only to face capability gaps the following year.

Ask yourself: Are we optimising for what’s loudest or what’s longest-lasting?

Micro-action: In your next risk register, include a “silent risks” section—issues that don’t hurt yet but could undermine you over time.

E – Escalation of Commitment

Also known as “sunk cost fallacy.” The more we’ve invested, the harder it is to stop—even when logic says we should.

Example: A digital transformation drags on for 18 months with diminishing returns, but no one wants to be “the one who pulled the plug.”

Ask yourself: If this were someone else’s project, what advice would we give them?

Micro-action: Institute “no-fault exits - a monthly space to re-evaluate projects with no blame for stopping.

Putting It into Practice: Culture Over Heroics

Escaping thinking traps isn’t about having one hyper-rational person in the room. It’s about creating team-level guardrails. Here’s how to begin:

1. Make trap-spotting part of your meeting culture
   Add “possible traps” as a standing item on key decision agendas. Rotate who calls them out.
   
   
2. Normalise dissent and reversal
   Publicly praise team members who change their mind for the right reasons. Create reputational safety around course correction.
   
   
3. Use structured decision journals
   Record your major decisions with context: what you knew, what you assumed, what you ignored. Review them quarterly to build pattern awareness.
   
   

Pro Tip: Use AI assistants to summarise meeting arguments into pro/con trees. This helps surface hidden anchors or bias patterns.

Common Missteps and How to Avoid Them

Even with awareness, we’ve seen seasoned leaders fall into refined versions of the same traps. Here are four subtle ones to watch for:

• Treating experience as immunity
  “I’ve seen this before” can blind us to novel dynamics. The fix: treat every pattern as provisional, not proven.
  
  
• Over-valorising speed
  Rushed decisions are sometimes necessary—but making them the default becomes dangerous. Pause selectively.
  
  
• Confusing alignment with clarity
  Consensus can hide unspoken reservations. Before moving forward, ask: “What’s the smartest pushback we’re not saying out loud?”
  
  
• Using frameworks as fig leaves
  Just because we mapped a 2x2 doesn’t mean the logic holds. Scrutinise inputs as much as outputs.
  
  

Executive Reflection Prompts

Prompt 1: What’s one major decision I made in the past 6 months that might have been shaped by a thinking trap?
Prompt 2: How does my team signal that it’s safe—and expected—to question dominant logic?

Spend 5 minutes journalling on one of these. Then pick a colleague and compare notes.

What Changes When You Get This Right

When you routinely escape thinking traps:

• Strategy becomes sharper and less reactive
  
  
• Teams feel safer voicing contrarian views
  
  
• Decisions reflect deeper understanding, not just louder voices
  
  

More importantly, you model what clear thinking under pressure looks like. That influence cascades.

It’s not about slowing down—it’s about thinking cleanly when it matters most.

Try This Before Friday

Choose one upcoming decision—big or small—and do a trap pre-mortem:

• What’s the likely trap here?
  
  
• What question would help us escape it?
  
  

Ask it aloud. Then step back and listen.

Team SHIFT

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