Where Do Good Ideas Come From

Where do your best ideas happen?

For many of us, they don’t appear when we’re sat at our desk trying to force a solution. Instead, they arrive when we’re walking, driving, swimming, or doing something routine.

In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I explore why that happens and what neuroscience can teach us about thinking more effectively as leaders.

I explain the difference between two key brain networks – the Central Executive Network and the Default Mode Network – and why both are essential if we want to lead well.

The challenge is that modern leadership often traps us in constant task mode: meetings, emails, decisions, and deadlines. When that happens, we lose access to the reflective thinking that helps us gain perspective, process emotions, and connect ideas in new ways.

And yet perspective is one of the most valuable things a leader can offer.

This episode is a reminder that switching off isn’t indulgent – it’s essential. Because leaders aren’t just paid to do.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why your best ideas often appear when you’re not actively trying to solve the problem
• The difference between the Central Executive Network (task-focused thinking) and the Default Mode Network (reflective thinking)
• Why leaders need both execution and reflection to lead effectively
• How constant busyness can reduce creativity, perspective and emotional processing
• Why creating deliberate thinking space is part of your leadership responsibility

Ben’s Key Takeaway

Leadership is about two things: tasks and people.

The Central Executive Network helps us manage the tasks.

But the Default Mode Network helps us process experiences, understand emotions, and see the bigger picture – both for ourselves and for the people we lead.

If we stay permanently in execution mode, we may become efficient in the short term. But we lose perspective, creativity and our ability to properly understand what’s happening around us.

And perspective is one of the most valuable things a leader can offer.

That’s why creating space to think isn’t a luxury.

It’s leadership work.

Want to learn more about how to be a leader?

Enrolment is now open for the cohort of my ‘Leader in Me’ programme.

If you’re ready to:

Build confidence and capability as a leader

Break free from firefighting and become more proactive

Learn how to inspire your team and deliver results…

Register your interest for the programme here.

 

 

Podcast Transcript

Think about this for a moment… 

Where are you physically when you tend to get your best ideas? 

When do you suddenly find the solution to something you’ve been wrestling with for days? 

I’m fairly sure it’s rarely when you’re sat at your desk. 

For most of us, it’s when we’re driving… swimming lengths… jogging a familiar route… or out walking somewhere like this. 

And there’s a very good reason for that. 

There are two key brain networks at play here. 

The first is called the Central Executive Network. 

This is your task-positive mode. 

It’s active when you’re focused on an external task — analysing data, making decisions, solving problems, replying to emails, contributing in meetings. 

It’s the network we rely on for deliberate, goal-directed thinking. 

And as leaders, we spend a lot of time here. 

The second network is called the Default Mode Network. 

This becomes more active when our attention isn’t focused on an external task – when we’re walking, driving a familiar route, showering, or doing something routine. 

We’re still thinking. 

But our thinking becomes more reflective, more associative. 

This is where we process experiences. 

It’s where we make sense of our emotions – and other people’s. 

It’s heavily involved in perspective-taking, understanding team dynamics, and connecting ideas in new ways. 

In simple terms: 

The Central Executive Network helps you do the work.

The Default Mode Network helps you understand the work – and the people doing it. 

And here’s the important part. 

These two networks tend to work in opposition. 

When one is dominant, the other quietens down. 

So when your Central Executive Network is fully engaged – back-to-back meetings, constant decisions, endless emails – 

your Default Mode Network is less active. 

And that means the part of your brain responsible for reflection, perspective and deeper sense-making is dialled down. 

Switching off, in that sense, isn’t indulgent. 

It’s a neurological necessity. 

Leadership is about two things: tasks and people. 

The Central Executive Network helps us manage the tasks. 

The Default Mode Network helps us understand the people. 

If we live permanently in task mode, we might gain short-term efficiency. 

But we lose perspective. 

We lose space for creative problem-solving. 

And we reduce our capacity to process emotion — ours and other people’s. 

And perspective is one of the most valuable things a leader can offer. 

If our job is to support, develop and look after those we have the privilege and responsibility to lead — so that they can deliver the results we’re accountable for — then we need access to both modes of thinking. 

We need focused execution. 

And we need reflective space. 

I nearly didn’t do this hike. 

I was on the edge of some client work up here in the Lakes, and I wrestled for two weeks with whether to tag an extra day on. 

It felt indulgent. 

It felt unnecessary. 

There was always something more “productive” I could be doing. 

But this… 

This is leadership time. 

And if we don’t schedule it deliberately, it simply doesn’t happen. 

The urgent crowds out the important. 

Every time. 

So here’s the question. 

What are your Default Mode activities? 

When do you create space where your attention isn’t locked onto a task? 

Is it walking?
Swimming?
Long drives?
Time in the gym?
Gardening? 

Whatever it is, schedule it. 

Not as recovery.
Not as a reward.
But as part of your leadership responsibility. 

Because leaders aren’t just paid to do. 

We’re paid to think. 

Look after yourself. 

Look after those you’ve got the privilege and responsibility to lead. 

And until next time… 

Lead on.