EMBRACE THE FREEDOM OF PLAY IN BUSINESS TO FIND OUT "WHAT WORKS!"

Can you be playful in a serious business? Especially in our high performance success-focused modern world. Where success is generally very ill defined and varies according to culture, industry and specific type of business.

Strategic Intent, Vision, Transformational Leadership and Innovation are surely serious business. Serious business can still be playful; in fact it will work much better when an element of playfulness is involved.

Let me attempt to elucidate what I mean by "playful".

Most things we learnt well, we learnt during the first 10 years of our lives: like walking upright, speaking and communicating effectively, reading body language correctly, using our imagination in play, building relationships, imposing our will in negotiations with parents and friends and many other early necessary skills.

We all sharpen our Awareness, Agility and Resilience during this early development. This also shaped much of our Mind-set.

Sadly much of that we lose or get more insensitive and the skills get blunted.

How many of our CEOs, Leaders and Managers rely instead on a two dimensional metrics consisting of money and product output, efficiency and competitiveness?

Especially when they operate and make decisions mainly on financial spreadsheets which point to maximum share holder value, rarely the ultimate beneficiary who should be the customer.

What happened to true innovation, company culture, transformational leadership and collaboration and shipping?

Where is the deeper thinking in terms of those factors, in terms of a generational horizon, not quarterly; radical change based on innovation and not stability?

Embrace the freedom of play, experimentation in finding out WHAT WORKS!

Some parts of that are Future Minded Leadership, Transformational Leadership - which aligns every person, every project, every endeavour to advance in a "remarkable way" with imagination even at the risk of "failure", yet constantly trying again. Showing RESILIENCE.

Only organisations that embrace some risk similar to what we all took when we grew up - simply to grow up and learn - will have a reasonable chance to survive and grow into the Future.

Potential is the key word here. Potential has by definition an uncertain outcome.

Look around at companies that excel and are breakthrough in character. High risk, long term vision, alert, resilient - causing a revolution! The others will die from "bore-dom".

• Who do we want to serve? Who is the primary beneficiary?
  
• Are we resilient enough to endure non-stop challenges and change accordingly?
  
• Are we idealistic enough to lean in and try something that hasn't been done before?
• Is our "internal tribe" (employees) aligned enough with the "external tribe" (beneficiaries) in terms of culture, advancing a cause rather than making boring products in an efficient process for "the masses"?
  
• Are we prepared to repeat these steps over and over again?
  

Again, I simply want you to think about this. In your business and mental framework and specific circumstances. No matter if you are a developer, manufacturer, a tertiary institution, a freelancer or an Entrepreneur or anything else who wants to be relevant in the future.

Think sideways with a fresh mind-set that is truly FUTURE orientated. Today, not tomorrow!

Thank you for reading my blog.

Dietmar