What I Learned from Walking with 100 Random People

I hate meetings. I hate meeting rooms. I hate the inefficiency, the talks that never end and the politics involved. “Meetings” has become a dirty word for a good reason.

Moving back to Israel from California, I wanted to find a quick way to meet as many people as possible and reconnect with the Israeli scene. I invited people to join me for a one hour walk in the park and talk about things that matter to them on LinkedIn and Facebook. I was surprised by the receptiveness with which my offer was met.

Rothschild Boulevard in Tel-Aviv

I have since walked with more than a 100 people in a park at the center of Tel-Aviv.

I walked with entrepreneurs, tech employees, journalists and artists. All had one thing in common: they all wanted to meet someone they did not know and talk about stuff that really mattered to them.

I can now confidently say that walking and talking with someone is the single best format for a one on one meeting.

I would recommend it to anyone who really cares about meaningful conversation in difficult personal cases: hiring/firing, crisis management, impossible choices, personal reset, idea pitching, zoom out/in particular issues, exploring complex topics.

Walking is a fantastic thought unlocker. Walking liberates your genuine self out of the constraints of the comfortable walled space. It helps you better articulate thoughts.

It also helps in listening better. Your phone is not in sight. No one is looking straight at you, you’re not waiting in line, and unless you’re walking really fast, walking is not a distraction.

The format itself forces you to be brief and to the point, even if you don’t come with an agenda in mind.

I also learned it’s hard to really be open with people you know. Every entrepreneur knows how hard and lonely you can be on a daily basis. It’s hard to share everything that bothers you even with people you know and meet around you—employees, investors, advisors. Even co-founders.

To really open up you need to zoom out. Find someone you don’t know well to talk things over while walking in a pleasant place. You’ll be surprised.

Bring your employees to walk with one another: this should create new forms of relations and tear down walls of bad communication.

Don’t set an agenda. Just go.Take a walk. Take a hundred walks.

One pro tip: Scheduling so many meetings can be a mess. I used a great service called Calend.ly. Vyte is another option.

This artcile was originally published on Medium.

Ouriel Ohayon is an entrepreneur and investor. He wa the co-founder and CEO of Appsfire, which was acquired by Mobile Network Group in MNG. He is also the co-founder of Paris-based early-stage investment fund ISAI Gestion, an early investor rise-sharing firm BlaBlaCar.