Benefits of walking meetings

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - A hot new trend in business is taking meetings outside of the office and on the road. Not only do walking meetings maximize creative energy, but they even add years to your life.

Serial entrepreneur and brand strategist Jennifer Walsh is a New Yorker on a mission to get people out of their offices and on their feet. So I took a walk with her to see what it's all about.

Walsh says walking elevates your mood, helps with brain-flow and makes both your body and your mind more productive. She believes that when you're walking and are in nature, you really feel again, and says that is so important.

Walsh isn't alone in this line of thinking. The late Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and President Obama have all been known to prefer moving meetings.

Walsh takes her walks with clients and colleagues in Central Park whenever possible. She has even started an online series Walk with Walsh, where she walks and talks with other business people she finds inspiring.

Walsh says she is so fascinated by the brain and what elevates people. Walking meetings make her feel more productive, more joyful, and more capable of doing her job.

According to researchers, walking meetings are better for both your physical and mental health. A 2014 Stanford study found walking increases a person's creative output by about 60 percent. And a 2015 University of Miami study of walking meetings says that walking just 15 minutes a day can tack three years onto your life.

Walsh finds they're a more inspiring way to tackle a whole range of business challenges whether she's trying to accomplish a new mindset around an ad campaign or help a company reach a new level of success.

Even tough conversations can be less intimidating if you have them out of the office. Walsh says a one-on-one between a boss and an employee can be more open and less fearful when you take it outside.

Walsh personally walks rain or shine, even in the cold, if her clients are up to it. Though she does go on hiatus in the hot summer months when nobody wants to come back to the office a sweaty mess.

Her favorite place to go on walking meetings is Central Park, but she says the vibrancy of the High Line is also fantastic for getting your creative juices flowing.

If your office isn't quite ready to get on the move, you can even try sitting outside. Walsh suggests Bryant Park.