Two for You — take two minutes to live and lead with intention
Episode 1.3
How do you foster creativity and innovation in you and your community? Recognize and engage the importance of playfulness.
Resources
- Check out Dr. Kim’s book, The Creativity Challenge: How We Can Recapture American Innovation, on Amazon or purchase from your favorite local bookseller.
- Read about KH Kim and her research in Researcher explores creating creative climates
Transcript
Note: Two for You written transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before referencing content in print.
[Lori] Hi and welcome to this episode of Two for You. I'm going to start with asking you some questions. When was the last time that you played or laughed at work, and why does it matter?
[Denise] So, the last time I laughed is about two minutes ago before we started this, but the reason that it matters is that playfulness is a critical component of creativity. Dr. KH Kim has found in her research that famous innovators have about 27 typical characteristics and playfulness is one of the most important pieces of that.
[Lori] That's really interesting because when I think of innovators, I think of Einstein, of course - classic, right? But I heard a story once about how his dad gave him a microscope when he was five and it wasn't that his dad wanted him to really, like, you know, discover something or dig into science, but it was really the idea - just, here's this to play with.
[Denise] Right. So there are many examples like that of playfulness and one of the things that she says is that when you're approaching a challenging situation or something that you know is serious or is really going to have a need for a good solution don't go in with a solution in mind. Go in more in an exploratory manner. Explore what it is and also recognize the lighter side of the challenge. She recommends a lot of humor. Laugh at yourself and set your environment up in a way that it can spark your curiosity. You're not born with creativity - it's an attitude. If you want to have an attitude of creativity, play!
[Lori] I love that. Thank you, Denise, for sharing with us the importance of playfulness as we live and lead with intention.