The landscape of leadership is strewn with metaphors. Some of them are elegant and fit into their surroundings, others grotesque and make you start. Many of us will have walked away from (or perhaps with) our worries during lockdown.

Robert MacFarlane in his erudite book ‘The Old Ways, Journeys On Foot’ meets a Scot on is travels. A number actually, but one in particular struck a chord. Anna ‘Nan’ Shepherd sounds hardy. Born in Aberdeen in 1893, and living her long life there she walked the Cairngorm mountain paths.

Shepherd, Macfarlane tells us, came to appreciate that mountains are immovable masses to go up and over, but contain absences and space that we can walk into.

Pushing this analogy on a pace, as you walk the hidden tracks of your organisation, those gaps represent untapped potential, latent talent and opportunity. You discover this by taking notice, observing and recording what you see. Resisting perhaps the desire in every new leader for a quick fix, an early marker of your intent.

Experts at Stanford put a number to it; when walking our creating output increases by 60%.[1] Believe that or not, the blood flowing while we walk isn’t simply making us physically fitter. Charles Darwin (hardly a contemporary reference, but bear with me) used a what he called a ‘thinking path’ to cogitate on problems as he perambulated back and forth. Nowadays we’d simply call it ‘walking off a problem’. As a company director of a research agency, there were very few problems that couldn’t be fixed by a day’s walking, a chance to put the problem in its actual scale. Now operating in a simpler setting, a daily walk lets the egg-time, and the thoughts to settle.

I was fortunate to attend a two-day conference in February. It was organised by DCMS, and brought together representatives from 10 communities across the UK, from the silted up Watchett harbour in Somerset to Hackney, then, via Colchester and Coventry, past Lincoln, on through to the arid sounding East Marsh of Grimsby to overlooked Hartlepool.

What brought them together? Place based social action, with funding attached.[2] The New Economics Foundation, active in this space, define social action as:

‘Social action is about people coming together to help improve their lives and solve the problems that are important in their communities. It can broadly be defined as practical action in the service of others, which is (i) carried out by individuals or groups of people working together, (ii) not mandated and not for profit, (iii) done for the good of others – individuals, communities and/or society, and (iv) bringing about social change and or value.’[3]

There were no expectations from the commissioners, this was an event to listen, learn and grow in confidence. On a walking tour we took notice and recorded what we saw; residents had put out empty fizz bottles, not as litter, but full of poo bags. Telecoms boxes had been decorated, underpasses lightened with colourful graffiti art.

As we moved about the area, not rushing through, not racing to make change, there emerged a more rounded view. In the pursuit of the high peaks of leadership, the next success glowing red as the late clouds part. there is value in getting lost in the foothills or your organisation, the tracks less trodden. Giving yourself space and keeping your eyes open. Notice the footprints of your predecessors and visualise a different path ahead.