The strategic leadership research stream is dominated by the predominantly instrumental approach of the upper echelons research stream. In recent years this research stream has been criticized for failing to develop from an exploration of whether relationships exist between managers’ background characteristics, their strategic choices and firm performances to an exploration of how managers’ characteristics influence outcomes. In this paper we build on the existing work in the stream by suggesting a way forward through the development of discretion as a pivotal concept in the exploration of the black box of demographic research. Specifically we separate the concepts of perceived, enacted, and actual discretion and locate them in a theoretical framework that sets an agenda for future research. Key words choice, cognition, demographics, discretion, leadership, upper echelons