Leading into Play

Whenever I'm given the chance, I like to talk to business people about the idea of "leading with fun." It's a simple enough idea. If you're having fun, people will follow you. Really. And you don't have to incentivize or threaten or even explain. Of course, it's not easy. Maybe it's too simple to be easy. It works. And it's definitely fun. But you have to practice. If I were getting political here, I'd say you have to practice because it's such a radically different approach to leadership, because businesses tend to create fear-driven cultures, well, anyway, something clearly not fun-driven.

Oddly enough, learning how to lead games, especially what are still called "New Games," is one of the fastest, most efficient, most thoroughly enjoyable ways to develop the skills and awareness needed to Lead with Fun. It has a lot to do with the nature of the games themselves - open-structured, trust-building, inclusive. And a lot more to do with the people who teach New Games leadership.

Bill Michaelis has been teaching New Games for, what, 30 years? As a professor at San Francisco State University he has instilled the New Games method into the lives of probably thousands of recreation leaders. He is a brilliant teacher. He is my friend. He and a colleague are now giving New Games Leadership Workshops to basically the world.

If you can't make it to a workshop, he and another friend, former Foundation co-director John O'Connel, have written the next best thing - The Game and Playleaders Handbook. It's practical. It's comprehensive. And it's more about business leadership than you'd think.