I’ve long advocated for wonder walk breaks between virtual meetings. But what about combining walking with a work meeting? I’m not the first or only one to wonder about this.

Granted, in a world of back-to-back virtual calls, the idea of stepping outside for work may feel radical. Stepping outside with a coworker, a direct report, or your boss might feel out of the question.

But we could be overlooking a simple and effective way to support workplace creativity, connection, and well-being. As the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once put it, “It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.”

Recent studies offer evidence that walking not only supports individual creative thinking but also helps reduce stress, improve mood, and strengthen working relationships when practiced together at work.

Stimulate your collective creativity.
A 2014 Stanford study remains foundational: Participants who walked, whether on a treadmill or outdoors, produced significantly more original ideas than those who sat. Creativity increased by over 80 percent, and walking outdoors and not in a straight line tended to spark the most novel responses.

A decade later, a 2024 review in Discover Psychology of dozens of experiments concluded that low-intensity, natural walking reliably boosts originality and divergent thinking. These........

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