Why You Need A Journey If You Want To Come Up With Good Ideas

As an ideas junkie, I’m passionate about exploring what makes good ideas. For me, journeys are always productive in generating ideas: a train ride, a cycle or a flight always prompts some valuable scribbles in the obligatory moleskine. It’s why I’ve taken mini ‘inspiration jaunts’ (see my book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work...’ for more on this) throughout my career and why I’m taking a train to Paris next month to start my third book.

Last week I met up with Martijn Sjoorda for what is becoming our bi-annual lunch. Martijn is Research Director at Fresh Orange in the Netherlands and is an expert in organisational development. Martijn takes the ‘ideas + journeys’ formula beyond the individual; his company takes teams on train journeys across Europe to help unlock innovation and explore leadership potential. After lunch we had a stroll and I asked Martijn to explain the science behind taking journeys; why changing our environment is so productive.