The Default Mode Network: Why the Future of Work Belongs to Business Leaders Who Have the Space to Think
- Laura Derbyshire
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Busy running you and your team into the ground - for what?
Leaders are exhausted. Teams are busy. Dashboards are churning out KPIs like there's no tomorrow. SLT meetings are running on autopilot.
But is all that effort being reflected in business growth?
It seems like somewhere along the way, the modern workplace confused activity with thinking.
In my experience, the busiest companies are the most chaotic in terms of growth - they're the ones running on left-brain activities and have efficient Type-A senior managers.
The companies that achieve sustainable growth are clear on their goals, cut down on 'work requirements', measure only what matters, hold only meetings that matter, value time, step out of the day-to-day, to think, reflect, and plan - they value 'thinking'.
The Neuroscience We’ve Been Ignoring
Neuroscientists talk about something called the Default Mode Network (DMN).
It’s a network of brain regions that activates when we are not focused on immediate tasks.
When we are reflecting. Imagining. Connecting ideas. Considering future scenarios. Making sense of complex information.
It was identified in the early 2000s by Marcus Raichle and colleagues, who discovered that the brain becomes highly active when it appears to be “at rest” (Raichle et al., PNAS, 2001). That so-called “resting” state is anything but idle. It is when the brain integrates memory, future planning, empathy and creative association.
The Default Mode Network is where strategy lives. It is where category shifts are spotted. Where markets are reframed. Where brand becomes memory, not messaging. Where long-term capital decisions are shaped.
And yet most organisations suppress it. Back-to-back meetings, Slack notifications, Performance dashboards...
We have built companies that optimise the task-positive network (doing, responding, executing) while starving the very system responsible for deep thinking.
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The Cost of Constant Reactivity
When leaders operate permanently in execution mode, they become efficient, but they stop being original.
Research by Harvard’s Shelley Carson and others has linked creative insight to the brain’s ability to switch between focused-attention networks and the Default Mode Network. The oscillation matters. Without cognitive space, the brain cannot integrate disparate information into new patterns.
The modern workday constantly interrupts that oscillation. And in growth businesses, this shows up as:
Incremental strategy instead of bold moves
Brand tweaks instead of category leadership
Optimised performance marketing without long-term memory building
More data, less clarity
It’s why CAC rises while positioning reviews multiply, and it's also why teams “work harder” but feel further from breakthrough growth and feel so busy that they can no longer think past the next week, let alone 6 months or a year's time.
When we work with senior leadership teams and scaleups, the issue isn’t effort,
It’s the absence of a structured thinking space.
In a World of AI: 'Brain Capital' is Required
There’s growing economic thinking around what’s now called “brain capital.”
Neuroscientist and economist Harris Eyre argues that cognitive and emotional capacity are becoming central economic assets. In a world where AI handles processing, human advantage shifts toward imagination, judgment and integrative thinking.
For scaleups and investor-backed businesses, this matters more than ever. Because when capital is tighter, when competition is global and when AI flattens functional advantage, your edge becomes strategic clarity.
And let's be honest for a minute - clarity doesn’t emerge from a weekly status meeting - no matter how much Blank Street coffee you consume.
Strategy Sessions Done Differently: The Default Mode Network in Business
OSER Strategy Sessions were designed as cognitive interventions, deliberate, structured environments where leadership teams can:
Step out of execution mode
Surface real constraints
Map strategic trade-offs
Reconnect brand, growth and capital decisions
Re-engage the Default Mode Network
Because strategy is not a slide deck. We design our sessions to create the psychological and neurological conditions for high-leverage thought, and then we help founders and CEOs to anchor that thought into commercial outcomes.
That means:
Clarity on where to focus
Clarity on what to stop
Clarity on how brand compounds
Clarity on where capital will generate the greatest return.
If your team feels perpetually “on” but strategically foggy, or if growth feels heavier than it should. If you suspect the constraint isn’t marketing, or product, but something deeper…It might be that you just need the time and space to think properly.
Strategy, Thinking & The Default Mode Network - FAQs
What is the Default Mode Network in business and leadership?
The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a neuroscience concept describing the brain network activated during reflection, future planning and integrative thinking. In business leadership, the Default Mode Network supports strategic thinking, scenario planning, brand positioning decisions and long-term growth strategy.
Why is strategic thinking declining in modern workplaces?
Modern work environments prioritise constant execution: meetings, dashboards, performance marketing optimisation and operational tasks. This keeps leaders in reactive mode and suppresses deeper strategic thinking. Over time, businesses optimise activity rather than long-term competitive advantage.
How does the Default Mode Network improve business growth?
Research in neuroscience shows that the DMN supports creativity, memory integration and future simulation. For CEOs and leadership teams, this translates into better market positioning, clearer growth priorities, smarter capital allocation and more coherent brand strategy.
What is an OSER Strategy Session?
An OSER Strategy Session is a structured leadership strategy workshop designed for founders, CEOs and investor-backed scaleups. It creates deliberate cognitive space to identify growth constraints, align brand and commercial strategy, and define clear next-stage priorities.
Who should book a scale-up strategy session?
Scaleups with £10m+ revenue experiencing a growth plateau, rising customer acquisition costs (CAC), leadership misalignment, or brand confusion benefit most. These sessions are particularly valuable for VC-backed, PE-backed, family-office portfolios and founder-led businesses at inflection points.
What outcomes can leadership teams expect from an OSER Strategy Session
Leadership teams leave with defined strategic focus areas, clear growth trade-offs, alignment between brand and performance marketing, prioritised investment decisions and a sharper commercial roadmap for sustainable scale.
