Many adults tend to think of play as an indulgence or, worse, a frivolous waste of time. I don’t know where this idea came from or when it first began creeping into popular culture, but to take advantage of the exponential economy, exponential executives must disabuse themselves of this notion.
Play has consistently been found to reduce stress, increase energy levels, brighten people’s outlook, increase optimism, and foster creativity. All are worthy goals and can help individuals do their jobs better, so the question is: Why don’t we play more?
I don’t know the answer to that question, but play has a rich and productive history and is the basis for much of our modern economy. Long before Alexander Graham Bell uttered his famous words, “Mr. Watson–come here–I want to see you,” to his assistant, he began his journey into the science of sound as a child by playing in the fields behind his family’s farm where he honed his extraordinary sense of hearing by trying to listen to wheat grow. That’s right, Bell would sit in the field and literally try to hear what the crop sounded like as it was growing over the summer.
One might only imagine what synaptic connections were being strengthened during this exercise, but Bell later followed up his curiosity about sound by pressing his lips up against the forehead of his mother, who was almost totally deaf, to make her bones resonate to his voice. In so doing, he found he could communicate with her. He was also now one step closer to imagining the new possibilities that carrying sound might create.
No less an exponential thinker than Albert Einstein also engaged in childlike thinking. The general theory of relatively, which has been hailed as the most important discovery of the twentieth century, came about in part because Einstein conducted a thought experiment and wondered what it would be like to ride a train through time. Few of us are as creative or brilliant as Alexander Graham Bell or Albert Einstein, but we should all heed Einstein’s words about never ceasing “to stand like curious children” before the world into which we were born.
Picking up on this theme, near the end of World War II, Vannevar Bush, the science advisor to President Harry Truman, wrote a report called “Science: The Endless Frontier.” The document is remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is because in it Bush drew attention to the importance of supporting the “free play of intellects.” He stressed that scientists and researchers must be allowed to work “on subjects of their own choosing, in a manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration.”
Why did he propose this? It most certainly wasn’t born out of any sense of indulgence or luxury. At the time, America was still battling Japan in the Pacific, and the outcome of World War II remained unknown.
Rather it was because Bush knew that the country would need additional breakthrough ideas in both warfare–in the event the atomic bomb didn’t work (which at the time was a very real possibility)–and economics if America wanted to retain its new standing in the global economy. In short, Bush’s memo to the president was not the product of an idealistic theorist; but rather that of hard-headed realist. Scientific and intellectual “play” were absolutely critical to the United States long-term prosperity and survival.
The message is even important today. Executives and managers who feel the speed and pace of globalization dictate that they, their employees, and their companies “play” less are drawing absolutely the wrong conclusion. Play is an essential life skill.
Why are humans among the few animals that play? It has been theorized by some that play is an integral form of learning. It allows people to practice skills they might need later down the line. But play goes beyond such life skills. When we play we gain practice manipulating things and controlling the outcome of events. We also devise new solutions for old problems and create new endings for our experiences.
Exponential Insight
Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” One way to jump the curve and begin inventing new things is to return to your childhood roots and begin juggling new things around in your mind, listening for new sounds in odd places, and engaging in some old-fashioned free play. You will be surprised at the connections you make.
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