Looking at the Trees to See the Forest: Construal Level Shifting in General Qasem Soleimani’s Opportunity Creation

Purpose: This paper explores how an exceptional geopolitical leader systematically converts pervasive threats into actionable opportunities in prolonged high‐uncertainty environments by introducing and elaborating the concept of Strategic Construal‑Level Shifting (SCLS).

Design/methodology/approach: The study conducts a reflexive, theory‑driven secondary thematic analysis of a rich qualitative dataset originally collected through grounded theory work, including authenticated biographies, field memoirs, speeches and three semi‑structured interviews with close associates of the late Iranian Major‑General Qasem Soleimani, triangulated across textual and interview sources.

Findings: The analysis identifies four interrelated organizing themes that together constitute SCLS as a dynamic cognitive capability: (1) Field‑Level Micro Situational Awareness through embodied immersion and sensitivity to weak signals; (2) Sensemaking and Pattern Synthesis that connects fragmented cues into coherent strategic narratives; (3) Cognitive Altitude Switching Ability that enables deliberate low‑to‑high shifts between concrete and abstract mental representations; and (4) Decision‑Making Without Detail Paralysis that translates insight into timely, focused action. The findings illustrate how Soleimani repeatedly reframed existential crises—such as the emergence of ISIS and multi‑front proxy conflicts—into strategic openings by sequencing immersion in local realities with higher‑order abstraction grounded in spiritual conviction and frontline proximity.

Originality/value: By extending construal‑level‑shift theory from controlled organizational settings to an extreme, non‑Western geopolitical context, the paper broadens the boundary conditions of construal‑level theory and conceptualizes SCLS as a novel framework for understanding opportunity creation under asymmetric warfare, sacred meaning‑making and persistent existential threat. The study offers theoretically grounded implications for developing cognitive flexibility and opportunity‑creation capabilities among strategic leaders facing volatility, moral burden and ideological stakes.