Hailey, the head of the research and development team at an international cosmetics company, has been entrusted with the task of introducing a new range within its existing product line. Hailey visualizes how this move of introducing new variants could possibly impact the sales of existing products. She also gathers information on whether brand loyal customers would welcome such a move. She goes a step further to gauge the potential impact on total profits of the company and its stock valuation. In the context of the high levels of cognitive activity needed for strategic leadership, Hailey is ______.

a. a transactional leader
b. a cautious leader
c. a systems thinker
d. a pessimistic leader

Explanation: A systematic thinker is the one who understands, how one step in a process would impact the complete system as a whole. The main focus of systematic thinker is to understand different parts of the system and to make them work together.

In the given case, Hailey is trying to analyzer the impact of new range introduction on existing business operations.

Hence, we can conclude that option C is correct.