Why Solitude for Leaders Matters

A note to young leaders.

Here’s a shocking truth.

Professor Tim Wilson ran a series of experiments where he asked participants to sit alone in a bare room for 15 minutes. No phone, music, reading material or writing tools – just thinking.

He also gave them a button, which if pressed, administered a mild electric shock. All participants were asked to press the button once, at the outset – and all said they would pay money to avoid experiencing the shock again.

Yet when left alone with the button for 15 minutes, 67% of men and 25% of women shocked themselves at least once.

So we are prepared to pay dollars to avoid an electric shock – but will then inflict it on ourselves minutes later to escape our own company.

Mmm. 🤔

Are we this uncomfortable with our own thoughts?

And does this explain our addiction to our smart phones?

We’ve engineered a world in which a person can go from cradle to grave without ever being alone with their own thoughts for more than a few minutes.

What, I wonder, are we running away from?

Solitude is not just for monks and mystics. It’s for leaders too.

Those who cultivate it will be less reactive, more self-assured and more capable of original thinking.