Executives’ Perceptual Filters : What They Notice and How They Make Sense

Retrospective explanations of past events encourage academics to overstate the contributions of executives and the benefits of accurate perceptions or careful analyses. Because retrospective analyses oversimplify the connections between behaviors and outcomes, prescriptions derived from retrospective understanding may not help executives who are living amid current events. The paper describes some influences on the perceptual filtering processes that executives use as they observe and try to understand their environments