Why Leaders Think Better While Walking
Where were you when you had your best idea last year? Probably not at your desk. What the science of walking and nature says about thinking.
Think of the best idea you had last year. Where were you when it arrived? For a surprising number of people, the answer is not at a desk: on a walk, in the shower, on a train, somewhere the mind was allowed to move.
What happens when we walk
In a series of experiments at Stanford University, Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz compared people thinking while seated with people thinking while walking. Walking raised creative idea generation by around 60 percent, and the effect persisted for a short time after people sat down again. Interestingly, it did not matter much whether they walked outdoors or on a treadmill facing a blank wall.
What nature adds
Nature seems to add something different. Gregory Bratman and colleagues found that a 90-minute walk in a natural setting reduced rumination, the repetitive negative thinking linked to stress and low mood, compared with the same walk along a busy road. Activity in a brain region associated with rumination dropped as well.
Stephen Kaplan's attention restoration theory offers one explanation. Ordinary work demands directed attention, which tires. Natural settings hold attention gently, without effort, and that allows the tired kind of attention to recover. Walking moves ideas; nature seems to quiet the noise around them.
Why it changes a conversation
Walking side by side also changes the social geometry of a conversation. Nobody has to hold eye contact while thinking something difficult. There is no table between people, no screen and nobody at the door. Many people find they say things on a path that they would not say in an office.
Questions worth sitting with
- Where do your clearest thoughts actually happen, and how much of your week do you spend there?
- Which conversation have you been postponing that might go differently side by side rather than face to face?
- What would you notice about a decision if you gave it 30 minutes of walking without your phone?
- Is your schedule designed for thinking, or only for meeting?
Sources: Oppezzo, M. and Schwartz, D. L. (2014), Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition; Bratman, G. N. et al. (2015), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Kaplan, S. (1995), Journal of Environmental Psychology.
These ideas are developed in Michele's book Leadership Coaching with Horses: The Power of Psychometrics and Biofeedback (Routledge, 2025).
If this is familiar, write to Michele's office in confidence: info@nature-motivation.com. Every enquiry is read by Michele.