C. (Clovis) Rondineli Silva

Research on future cognition and leadership development have analysed events predominantly from an episodic perspective and have focused primarily on the capacity of the individual to respond to situations where there is no agreed solution and where the challenge in itself may be completely novel. Very limited attention has been paid on how future cognition can be used together with leadership development to understand the impact on leadership as the authority gained in the hierarch of the organisation as well as followship.

My aim with this dissertation is to build on existing research from various disciplines to measure the process of developing an organisational framework to draw connections and distinctions between various forms of future thinking that serve different functions for adaptive behaviour. I will enquire into what leaders focus on in the process of imaging or stimulating events that may occur in their personal future when appointed to a new leadership role.

These findings may contribute to a new theoretical perspective looking at future cognition and facilitate a better understanding of how leadership development takes place in the leaders’ attainment of their imagined future leader self.