Business Playgrounds are Gold Mines

Welcome to the corporate jungle gym, where swings reach the sky, slides defy gravity, and the unwritten may be to break the rules themselves. In the grand narrative of modern business, it's crystal clear: those leading the charge are not the ones who play it safe. They're the daring, the ambitious—the playground mavericks.

Setting the Stage for Practiced Creativity

Transactional Competence™ moves us from facts to inquiry to boundless possibilities. But how do these playground conquerors turn the mundane into the magnificent? They apply a little-known alchemy: converting scarcity into abundance.

The greatest innovations in history share one common ingredient: they transform the scarce into the abundant. It begins with reimagining resources—be they tangible, intangible, or human. Innovation, in essence, is an evolved transaction that makes the abstract tangible, redistributes value and redefines how we utilize resources and engage in activity.

So, the golden question remains: How do we invent new ways to make the scarce abundant?

Curiosity Isn't Just for Cats

Encouraging a "why?" mindset; we're not just playing with, but mining for gold in the overlooked and undervalued. The real innovation lies in seeing a sandbox where others see only sand. Every question, every wild hypothesis, could be a step towards turning today's scarcities into tomorrow's abundance.

The Melting Pot of Ideas

Diversity here is not a mere DEI compliance checkbox but the crucible in which scarcity is transmuted into abundance. Throwing different minds and talents into the mix, we're concocting an innovation smoothie that turns the bland into the grand, proving that the richest resources often lie in our collective differences.

High-Fives All-Around

Here, a pat on the back is not for the victory alone but for the courage to journey through the maze of the unknown. Each attempt, each failure, can be celebrated as a pivot point, turning scarcity of success into a wellspring of learning and growth.

The Brainstorming Buffet: A Smorgasbord of Possibilities

Reinvention is turning the ideation process into a communal feast; here's how the best in the business whip up their next big innovations:

Mind Mapping: A Doodle's Worth a Thousand Words

Why speak your ideas when you can draw them? Mind mapping is like creating a treasure map where X marks the spot of your next groundbreaking idea. It's visual, it's visceral, and it's enjoyable.

Brainwriting: Silence Is Golden

For the introverts among us, brainwriting offers a chance to shine without the horror of speaking up in a room full of extroverts. It's proof that sometimes, the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the spoken word.

SCAMPER: The Idea Mixologist

Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify—you get the picture. The SCAMPER method is akin to a cocktail party for ideas, where mixing and matching can lead to the creation of something intoxicatingly innovative.

Human Touch: Keeping It Real

Focusing on human-centric solutions, the human touch reminds us that we're ultimately creating for flesh-and-blood consumers, not the faceless market. It's about empathy, experimentation, and, yes, a bit of ego-checking.

The Six Thinking Hats: Fashion Meets Function

Who knew that changing your hat could change your perspective? This method proves that looking at a problem through different lenses (or hats) can lead to insights as diverse as the cowboy hats at a rodeo.

Tales of the Business Playground

Let's tip our hats to the pioneers who've turned their wild ideas into reality:

Google: The 80/20 Playground

At Google, employees are said to be encouraged to spend 20% of their time on projects of their choosing, which is essentially like telling kids they can have dessert before dinner. And just look at the buffet they've served up over the years.

3M: Sticky Notes and Serendipity

A failed adhesive led to the Post-it Note, proving that sometimes the best ideas stick when you least expect them to. It's the corporate equivalent of finding money in the couch cushions.

Pixar: Where Stories Have Soul

Pixar's secret sauce? Stirring the pot of storytelling with a hefty dose of emotional intelligence and a pinch of technical wizardry. The result? Films that resonate with kids and adults alike.

Airbnb: The Accidental Hoteliers

What started as a way to make rent has upended the hospitality industry. It turns out that letting strangers crash on your futon can be both profitable and revolutionary. Who would've thunk?

Play Your Way to the Top

In the corporate Game of Thrones, "The Rulebreakers' Recess" is not a mere child's play; it's a strategic masterstroke. It's about recognizing that to lead, one must see beyond the conventional, turning the unseen and unvalued into wellsprings of opportunity.

As we continue our journey through The Business of Winning, remember the champions of tomorrow are those who dare to play today. They're the visionaries who see abundance, where others see absence. They don't just play the game differently; they play a different game entirely—a game where creativity, diversity, and the courage to fail are the very currencies of success.

So, tie your shoelaces tight, adjust your thinking caps, and dive headfirst into the sandbox of innovation. Because in the vast realm of business, those who dare to imagine and play with the concept of abundance will ultimately carve their names into the annals of history.

Keep playing, keep growing, and stay influential!

(We caution that play and wonder are specific to the upper hemisphere of any transaction cycle and are not always appropriate for the lower hemisphere, where we engage in more rigorous moods.)

AUTHOR

John Patterson
Co-founder and CEO
INFLUENTIAL U
John Patterson co-founded and manages Influential U Global's faculty and consultants. Since 1987, he has led workshops, programs, and conferences for over 100,000 people in diverse professions, industries, and cultures. His history includes corporate curriculum design focusing on business ecosystems, influence, leadership, and high-performance training and development.