Leadership is traditionally understood as a social influence process, but leaders also have to think. This study, using a simulated leadership task, exposed participants to a complex, ambiguous organizational crisis and required them to generate a problem solution and vision. A negative or positive outcome frame and a prevention or promotion strategic orientation were manipulated, along with attribution of responsibility. A balanced orientation to the problem, either a negative outcome frame accompanied by a promotion strategy or a positive outcome frame accompanied by a prevention strategy, produced solutions and visions of highest quality. Attribution of responsibility influenced the originality of solutions. The findings with regard to the effectiveness of a balanced orientation call into question the emphasis of many current leadership theories on positivity. It appears that some negativity is required, suggesting that effective leaders must be able to effectively shift between positivity and negativity.