Explain how the components of strategic thinking contribute to rational thinking.

Strategic thinking is actually a part of rational thinking in a sense that only those who approach a situation rationally can think strategically. First off, rational thinking is a process that has three steps which are the input, the processing, and the output. The components of strategic thinking are found in all stages of the process to form the expected output. Most management materials would state six components of strategic thinking which are the anticipation, challenge, interpret, decide, align, and learn. The anticipation and challenge may be found in the input stage (which comprises of research and collecting data), while the interpret, decide, and align would be in the process and output stages. Learn or getting feedback would be after the output is made and tested.