Something I didn’t expect to learn: walking backwards on a treadmill can actually be good for you. It seems to improve balance, stability, strengthen muscles, and can even enhance cognitive function and help you walk forward with more ease. Who knew?
Treadmill Thinking: Leading Through Crisis in Reverse
And of course, my brain went straight to the metaphor.
Most of the time, we navigate life, change, and exercise leadership with the tools we know best: the safe, familiar ones and those we’ve been taught and tested on.
With every choice we make, our brain weighs a complex mix of factors: moral and economic considerations, past experiences, context, social relevance, and much more.
In the end, in the process of making choices, our brain employs multiple ways of assigning value and finding reward. Yet when we repeatedly make the same choices, the rewards do not always turn out the way we hope.
I do not mean to suggest that choosing an alternative path is straightforward. External constraints, unreasonable expectations, and unpredictable circumstances often limit our options.
Every now and then, we get to flip the script and try something utterly different—like walking backwards. Something that will most likely feel strange and awkward at first, maybe even a little embarrassing. And it will certainly challenge our brains to seek values and rewards that convince us to move forward.
And in those moments —the crises, the disruptions, the times when the rulebook feels irrelevant, sometimes the bravest, smartest move might be to step into something that looks…well, backward.
And this is the uncomfortable truth about the thought leadership game: it’s not built on repeating what everyone already knows. It’s built on being willing to do the odd, the different, the slightly risky thing that others haven’t tried yet. To lead not just by walking straight ahead on a beaten path, but by experimenting, stretching, and modelling resilience in motion.
Chances are, those unconventional ‘backward’ steps could actually spark new ideas, build new skills, and give you a whole new lens on what’s possible (and give your brain a fresh way to see rewards, so your next choice is better guided than the last) - much like the unexpected benefits of walking backwards on a treadmill.
So here’s a thought to carry with you: what’s your version of walking backwards—the step that feels uncomfortable now, but might be exactly what stretches you into something new?