Strategic Thinking for Leaders: How to Make Better Decisions

My Front Porch Is My Boardroom

It has become a running joke at work that if I’m not at my desk, I’m on my front porch…which is currently where I’m writing from. 

I work from home, and I have a home office that I genuinely like. I have a gorgeous vintage secretary desk I scored antiquing with my mom for $150! But over time, I’ve realized that when I’m not sitting at my desk, I’m almost always outside. My front porch has become an unofficial extension of my office. It’s a place where I take calls, work through problems, read, think, and sometimes just sit for a few minutes when I need to get out of my own head.

Prior to this company, I worked in offices for years, so this isn’t an argument against working in one. There’s a lot I value about being around people, the energy that comes from a team working together, the spontaneous conversations that happen in the hallway, and the collaboration that can come from simply being in the same physical space. I know what an office can create. I’ve just learned that, for me, there is something about being outside that allows my brain to work differently.

There is something about fresh air that clears away some of the noise. Sometimes the porch is completely quiet, and that’s exactly what I need. Other times, I hear people walking down the street, a neighbor talking to someone in their driveway, a car pulling in, or my dogs barking at sweet Sonia, our letter carrier, who no doubt knows more about the neighborhood gossip than me. None of it’s particularly interesting, but somehow that background noise gives my mind enough room to wander without becoming distracted.

And that wandering is often where good thinking happens.

Some of the decisions I’ve made as a leader have come after sitting on that porch and thinking about something long enough for it to stop feeling complicated. I’ll go outside and start thinking about the bigger picture instead of the immediate issue. It has made me appreciate how important it is to create room for strategic thinking, especially as your responsibilities grow.

The more senior you become, there is always another meeting, another decision, another message, another problem that needs an answer. It can become very easy to confuse movement with progress.

But leadership requires more than responding.

It requires noticing.

You have to notice patterns in your business, in your clients, and in your people. You have to notice when something feels different before the numbers necessarily tell you why. You have to give yourself enough space to think beyond the problem directly in front of you and consider what it might mean six months from now.

For me, the porch has become one of the places where I do that.

Maybe it’s because there is no defined beginning or end to the thinking. I can be working one minute and looking out at the street the next. I can be on a call while watching a storm build in the distance. I can close my laptop and sit there for another five minutes, letting my brain catch up with everything it has been processing throughout the day.

And the environment changes with and within me.

In the summer, there is the heat on my skin and the heavy Carolina air. There are thunderstorms rolling somewhere in the distance, and sometimes I can hear the rumble long before the rain reaches us. As the day winds down, the sky seems to change by the minute. The light softens, the neighborhood gets quieter, and I find myself naturally shifting from doing to reflecting.

Winter is a different experience. There are days when the cold feels like it goes straight through me, and I wonder why I insisted on bringing my laptop outside. But even then, there is something about the crispness of the air and the quiet that wakes me up in a different way. 

My dogs are almost always somewhere nearby, too. Their panting, their occasional barking, and their general refusal to acknowledge that I am in the middle of a meeting have become part of the soundtrack of my workday.

And maybe that is what I like most about working from the porch. It doesn’t feel completely separate from life.

The work is still there. The deadlines are still there. The decisions still have to be made. But I’m surrounded by reminders that there is a world happening outside of whatever is currently demanding my attention.

A neighbor walks by. A storm moves in. The dogs fall asleep beside me. The sky changes. Someone gets home from work.

And for a moment, I’m reminded that not everything needs an immediate response.

That has probably been one of the more unexpected lessons of working this way. I used to think productivity was largely about staying in motion. Now, I think some of the most valuable work happens when you stop long enough to observe, reflect, and let your brain make connections without forcing it to.

We spend so much time talking about optimizing our calendars, our processes, our teams, and our businesses. We don't talk nearly as much about leaning into the environment in which we actually think.

Maybe we should.

Not everyone needs a front porch. Some people think best in a coffee shop. Some need a conference room full of people. Some need music, some need silence(me!), and some need to walk until they’ve figured out what they were trying to say.

For me, it just happens to be on the porch.

So yes, it’s become a running joke that if I’m not at my desk, I’m probably outside.

And they’re right and my team knows why.

My front porch has become my second office, my thinking space, and, in some ways, my boardroom. Not because it makes me more productive every minute I’m sitting there, but because it gives me enough space to think about what actually matters.



Sometimes leadership is about knowing when to move…sometimes it’s about knowing when to decide..and sometimes, it’s about sitting on your front porch long enough to see something you can’t see from your desk.