What Is a Conceptual Thinker? (Strategy Skills Classics)

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we explain what it means to be a conceptual thinker and how to demonstrate this skill.
If you work at any major consulting firm - and especially if you want to be promoted - you must prove you are a conceptual thinker. The only problem is that it is hard to define the word conceptual.
In this podcast, we explain a similar problem experienced by a consultant on the Corporate Strategy & Transformation Study and how I helped them improve. The definition also explains why a conceptual thinker is a functional specialist (in strategy, operations, corporate finance, etc.) and almost never a specialist in sectors.
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[@maloneaqua]

Mk. As a conceptual thinker, you explained this entire video with specific examples anecdotes, rather than themes or patterns.
You also spoke as though each person either is, or isn’t a certain type of thinker. Linear (or sequential) thinkers, and experiential (or visual thinkers) CAN be taught how to develop skills of conceptual thinkers…. It is skill building. In the same way that as a conceptual thinker, I have to adjust my approach in conversation and presentations when I know, I am talking to a group full of people who only think sequentially.

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

You guys should consider doing a short, running video series of the current Elon Musk / Twitter situation.
It's quite interesting on many fronts, from politics, to engineering, to corporate culture and its transformation, to having to rapidly monetize through new routes.
Like, an interesting aspect of the moderation issue is who all might boycott you - like the advertisers.
But beyond that, even Google and Apple can exert influence on what content apps can have, because their stores gatekeep so many potential customers.
There are probably many interesting insights to be derived there with respect to the general business landscape... And the kinds of things that people don't even realize impact your business choices.

[@GrimmFLawless]

I can draw parallels between different fields of study, recognize patterns between things that seem unrelated at first glance and view most things as being on a continuum as opposed to binary thinking.
Ex: Pandora’s box from mythology, Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment representing superposition in Quantum Mechanics.
The moderate in political theory
Ambivalence in behavioral psychology
Intermediary jobs like brokers, liaisons, agents etc
The sky as the bridge between the finite earth and the infinite universe
Agnosticism in religion
Conceptual thinking itself using both left brain concrete thinking and right brained abstract thinking all represent a middle ground between two opposing extremes to reveal the false dichotomies so prevalent within society

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

This raises a question of how one would gain credibility in becoming a strategist and how more people could do it.
And experience aside, if one wants to be able to create some quick wins as proof, what might be needed on the side of the corporations to make that possible?
What kinds of tools do companies need, to make these broad strategic decisions easier? So that maybe they wouldn't even need to luck into finding a good strategist.