Go For a Walk, Get Shit Done

The best meetings happen in the woods

Standing there on the edge of the trail, gazing across the expanse and at the redwood grove across the gulch, the gently blowing mist makes it look like the trees are slipping away, running towards the hills. They aren’t of course, but you can still see the wind.

My partners and I stop our hike, silently wondering if the apparent phenomenon is real or just an optical illusion. Confident no one is losing his mind, we plunge back into the forest and pick up our discussion where we left off.

Every year, my co-founders and I embark on what we call the “The Meeting of the Minds,” during which time we strategize about our now five-years old real estate investment company. What went well in 2013. What didn’t. What are our goals for 2014. Where is the market going and what are we going to do about it?

We discuss personal goals and corporate culture, evaluate hard decisions and identify areas for improvement.

All this far away from the office, deep into the woods or out along the ocean cliffs. This year, we hiked 10 miles in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. In years past we’ve hit up the Marin Headlands, Tilden Park in Berkeley and San Pablo Valley Park in Pacific.

This is work. This is seven hours of intense reflection and hashing out the right direction for our business. No idea is too off the wall for these walks, but we stay on track. This isn’t just brainstorming. We have agendas, take notes. We’re immensely productive.

No cell phones.

While we can’t take credit for inventing so-called “Walking Meetings,” we all look forward to it immensely — not just for the fun and adventure and camaraderie, but for how genuinely helpful it is for the business.

We don’t just end up with a long, well-vetted to do list either: The Meeting of the Minds is reminder of just how great it is to work for yourself. Sometimes you just need to get out there and appreciate what you have.

Conversation slows as we climb back up to the ridge. Wide, soft trails wind away from the jungly creek and back towards the clouds. We stop to marvel at a fallen redwood, which died then probably stood for a hundred years before crashing back to earth. Did anyone hear the fall?

You come back to reality, check your emails and realize that the world didn’t end. That you just unplugged for an entire day and your company didn’t fall apart. Projects didn’t grind a halt, money didn’t disappear from bank accounts.

I’ll never understand why “real” companies don’t encourage this kind of activity. Especially here in San Francisco, companies go to fantastic lengths and great expense to manufacture a productive work environment when the best natural environment for creative, open thinking is right in our back yard.

The website www.bahiker.com lists over 700 trails in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Go for a walk.