Taking play seriously

I wanted to come out to something I heard you say at AU and you kind of said a few times today is kind of this concept of play.

I would imagine that many people see play as maybe just something as it sounds like, something for children.

But, you know, one of your beliefs and it comes across when I speak to you is you strongly believe it can transform the way we work.

So could you just kind of dig into what do you mean by a play mindset in a professional working environment context?

Absolutely.

And I totally understand when people say, oh my gosh, isn't play just for kids? Isn't it fun? Isn't it frivolous? I think I've come on a whole journey myself of what play means because I got my start as an engineer.

My degree is in mechanical engineering.

And I started off working in aerospace.

And as part of that, I realized that that was actually not the role for me.

I know other people love aerospace, so I don't knock on it.

at all but there was more that I wanted and I actually ended up pivoting to the toy industry because I was like I want to do something that's really fun and then felt like I outgrew that because there was a moment where I said like oh I should do something more serious with my life I should do something that has greater positive impact in the world and I should probably be saving lives in some way, working on medical devices or something like that.

So I kind of moved away from toys, went back to grad school.

And actually when I came to IDEO, because there is a toy invention studio, my resume kept ending up on the desk of the person who ran the toy lab.

And I was like...

I don't want to work in toys.

I came back to grad school to break away from that.

I want to do something serious with my life.

So put me in the other part of idea where I'm working on like the serious things like the health side and education and some of the things that I thought were what the world really needed.

And I think over time, because in between projects, I'd still go help out with toys given my background.

I realize that play is really critical in this world.

I think other people have come to this realization.

I feel like, whereas in the past, I'd talk to some clients and they'd be like, why am I talking to you? We're not making toys.

We're not designing for children.

Can I talk to someone else at IDEO? And that's changed.

I think part of it, one is the pandemic.