Compassionate strategy: wayfinding, dwelling, and the practice of decreation

Purpose This paper addresses a gap in understanding the ways of attending and being that enable compassionate strategy. While compassion research identifies noticing triggers as key, and strategy-as-practice acknowledges embodied engagement, neither addresses the phenomenological foundations that make compassionate perception possible in strategic practice. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on theoretical papers and qualitative studies from strategy-as-practice, compassion, and phenomenology literatures, this conceptual synthesis develops an integrated framework identifying three interrelated elements: wayfinding as strategic practice, dwelling as a pre-reflective mode of being enabling direct engagement, and decreation as attending that suspends motives to grasp, assert individualistic agendas and push past planetary boundaries. Findings These three elements enable practitioners to perceive and respond compassionately in complex strategic contexts. Research limitations/implications This conceptual synthesis relies on existing literature rather than primary data collection. While the framework draws connections across strategy-as-practice, compassion, and phenomenology literatures, empirical validation through longitudinal studies of practitioners remains necessary. The framework’s emphasis on pre-reflective modes of being presents methodological challenges, requiring phenomenological methods that capture lived experience. Future research should explore how these practices manifest across diverse organizational contexts and investigate potential tensions between compassionate strategic practice and prevailing organizational pressures for efficiency and control. Practical implications The framework suggests strategic approaches emphasizing immersive engagement over analytical distance, sustained attention over quick resolution, and responsive navigation over rigid planning, challenging assumptions about strategic control while opening pathways for more sustainable organizational futures. Social implications This framework has significant implications for how organizations understand their strategic responsibilities in an era of systemic global challenges. As deepening social inequity and the erosion of community resilience expose the limits of purely instrumentalist approaches to strategy, leaders require new orientations for practice. By foregrounding the attentional and ontological foundations of compassionate strategic engagement, this framework offers a fundamental reorientation in what effective strategy entails. Organizations that cultivate the capacities of dwelling, decreation, and wayfinding are better positioned to perceive emerging challenges, build stakeholder trust, and navigate complexity in ways that generate value beyond narrow economic boundaries. Originality/value This framework extends strategy-as-practice beyond methodological individualism by considering modes of attention and being that enable compassionate response.