Why do our organizations tend to be so sober and serious? With how many people at your company would you feel comfortable acting a bit silly or sharing your biggest dreams and boldest ideas? What happens to us, as we journey through adolescence and adulthood that makes us less inclined to play?
Richard Florida was among the first to explicitly point out the link between creativity and economic success in his books on the Creative Class. (He has a fantastic twitter stream which you can follow here.)
My own employment experience tells me that play in the workplace has a huge impact on employee morale and trust levels, as well as customer loyalty (who doesn’t want to be part of something fun?). Some of my closest friends were originally co-workers at this “playful” company, which has repeat customers who have been around as long as seventy or eighty years.
The other day, I came across this TED Talk from Tim Brown, co-founder of IDEO, on the link between play and creativity. It’s spot-on and full of insights. Please do watch. I’d love to hear your comments.
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