The Find: According to one professor, the secret sauce that sets today’s most innovative companies apart has one key ingredient: play.- The Source: A podcast from the London Business School.
The Takeaway: Assistant professor of organizational behavior Babis Mainemelis uses a London Business School podcast to argue that one key factor that sets apart super-creative companies like Apple, Google and Pixar is their ability and willingness to encourage play at work. Mainemelis spoke with over one hundred executives about the link between play and creativity and concludes that “play is nature’s way to creativity.”
In the podcast, he offers tips on how everyone from heart surgeons to investment banks can nurture a playful mindset. Encouraging play, Mainemelis argues, means making space for flexible thinking, experimentation with means, and exploration of variables that often go unexamined. All of which can add up to valuable new ideas for your company. Besides, Mainemelis says, your team members are probably going to play anyway, even if they have to do it on the sly. So why not take advantage of these natural impulses?
The Question: Does your workplace need more play? Or less?
