playing games with your career
TRANSCRIPT
PLAYING GAMES
CAREERWITH YOUR
STEPHEN P. ANDERSON
JUST FOR FUN:
List as many words as you can answering the question:
“Why do people love/leave a job?”
Only use words that start with the letter “P”
PayProjectsetc.
STEPHEN P. ANDERSON
poetpainter.com
I help businesses with
‘Product Strategy & Design’ needs
@stephenanderson
My Book!
How to “get to first base” with our users.The book is divided into four sections:
•AESTHETICS, BEAUTY, AND BEHAVIOR
•PLAYFUL SEDUCTION
•THE SUBTLE ART OF SEDUCTION
•THE DATING GAME
I know it is not the usual type of talk that you do, but…
Brian Sullivan
based on activities and objects already familiar
learn from our failures
use worlds of fantasy to inspire
make lots of different things
explore new ideas and skills...
experiment
learn how things are madetry out your own ideas
inspiration for creativity comes from many different sourceslook outside your own experience
a vital part of the creative process is to ʻmakeʼ something
express creativity by drawing pictures, writing stories…
versions of everyday things allow children to create their own worlds
play on their own... or with a group of real friends
have towork work
(MESSAGE RECEIVED, LOUD AND CLEAR.)
PLAYING GAMES
CAREERWITH YOUR
GAMIFICATION
ASSUMPTIONS:
1. Job vs Career
Be loyal to your profession.
ASSUMPTIONS:
1. Job vs Career
2. Creative services
ASSUMPTIONS:
1. Job vs Career
2. Creative services
3. Do something you love
WORK AS PLAYPLAYER TYPESPLAYERSWORLDSGOALSCHOOSING TOPLAY
VIEWING WORK AS
PLAY
Once the basic skills have been mastered, designers can use their imaginations to explore and create their own masterpieces.
The more things designers know about, the more they can use them in creative thinking and play
Gain experience in as many specialties as possible to round out your understanding of the moving parts…
co-founding ion interactive, Justin Talerico
Justin Talerico
co-founder Ion Interactive
http://www.commarts.com/insights/moving-upstream.html
The fewer materials and choices available, the more imagination is needed by the maker.
What person would
you like to be like in
your career? How
would they do your
job?
Do you think you ever grow out of imaginary play?
Google’s founders Larry Page
and Sergei BrinAmazon’s Jeff Bezos
videogame pioneer Will Wright
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
Julia Childrapper Sean “P.Diddy” Combs
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
the Montessori educational approach might be the surest route to joining the creative elite
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
A number of the innovative entrepreneurs also went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
Similarly, Amazon’s culture breathes experimentation and discovery. !Mr. Bezos often compares Amazon’s strategy of developing ideas in new markets to “planting seeds” or “going down blind alleys.” !Amazon’s executives learn and uncover opportunities as they go. !Many efforts turn out to be dead ends, Mr. Bezos has said, “But every once in a while, you go down an alley and it opens up into this huge, broad avenue.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
Embrace serendipity
most highly creative achievers don’t begin with brilliant ideas, they discover them.
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
Montessori taught me the joy of discovery… It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori…
videogame pioneer Will Wright
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/
We both went to Montessori school, and I think it was part of that training of not following rules and orders, and being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a little bit differently.
Google’s founders Larry Page
and Sergei Brin
I’ve always felt that there’s a certain kind of important pioneering that goes on from an inventor like Thomas Edison
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
SECRET KEY #1
CuriositySECRET KEY #1
What are you excited
and curious about?
making things fun”
-VS-“finding the
joy”
Everything is interestingFind the joy in every project
Most importantly, find the thing that ignites your passion. When you tap into that energy, work becomes play and you enjoy every minute of it. Once you’re in that mode, you’re destined to do great things.
Justin Talerico
co-founder Ion Interactive
How does work become play?
http://www.commarts.com/insights/moving-upstream.html
WORK AS PLAYPLAYER TYPESPLAYERSWORLDSGOALSCHOOSING TO PLAYTHE GAMEPLAN
PLAYER TYPES
What kinds of games
do you most enjoy?
http://stratsynergy.wordpress.com/?s=gamer+personalities
When have you been
happiest? List 5-10
moments.
me, c. 1990
me, c. 1994
What kinds of work
excite you most?
When have you been
happiest? List 5-10
moments.
(Not anything specific, but rather the
underlying nature of the activity)
http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/developing-a-career-growth-plan-at-geniant
What excites you most: Technology, People, or Design?
http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/developing-a-career-growth-plan-at-geniant
Optimizer - Innovator
Disciplined? Passionate?
SECRET KEY #2
Se lf -Awareness
SECRET KEY #2
Practical Tip!
WORLDS
freelancer/consultant
startups
freelancer/consultant
startups
agencies / consultancies
freelancer/consultant
startups
agencies / consultancies
freelancer/consultant
“innie”
startups
agencies / consultancies
academia
freelancer/consultant
“innie”
No, the grass is not greener
There are always tradeoffs
GOALS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pichead/
When I play pool, I tend to overthink the angles to make a shot.
I've found that if I scan the table, see where I want it to go, then shoot, I get much better results.
–Jay Morgan
Where Will You Be in
Five Years?
Where would you like
to be in five years?What would you like to be doin
g? With what company?
You win the lotto.
What do you want
to do now?
If you knew you
would not fail, what
would you try?
You’re laid off.
You have 3 months
severance and no job
prospects.What do you do?
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Donʼt confuse getting stuff done with making progress.
Itʼs okay to make things up as you go along
SECRET KEY #3
Analytical Thinking Skills
SECRET KEY #3
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
For the last five-some years, I’ve given up making New Year’s Resolutions. Instead I have what I call the New Year’s Project. Each year I pick a large topic, and spend my time on and off throughout the year teaching myself about it.
http://www.eleganthack.com/?p=2809
Christina Wodtke
What do want learn
about? Who knows
all about that? Go
meet them.
Practical Tip!
1. To develop the expertise, reputation, influence, and means to create (and bring to market) product or service experiences that dramatically improve peoples' lives.
2. To inspire and share the means by which organizations can create better customer experiences.
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
Practical Tip!
PLAYERS
http://www.slideshare.net/jessmcmullin/doctrain-west-business-of-experience
http://www.slideshare.net/jessmcmullin/doctrain-west-business-of-experience
http://www.slideshare.net/jessmcmullin/doctrain-west-business-of-experience
Everything is a transaction
(except for sacrificial love)
What is it that the
other players want?
What motivates
them?
Relationships trump everything
WORK AS PLAYPLAYER TYPESPLAYERSWORLDSGOALSCHOOSING TO PLAYTHE GAMEPLAN
Look for a good fit
CHOOSINGTO PLAY
Fact: You are already playing in a game.Is it your game or someone else’s?
SECRET KEY #4
Au tonomySECRET KEY #4
Weʼre all freelancers now.
Why not?
THE GAMEPLAN
WHAT DO YOU LOVE DOING?
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOOD AT?
WHAT ARE PEOPLE
BUYING?
FIGURE OUT HOW TO SELL IT
PRACTICE AND LEARN!
LEARN TO SAY NO
with some credit to Bud Caddel (whatconsumesme.com) and Jim Collins Good to Great.
Au tonomy
4 SECRET KEYS
Se lf -AwarenessCuriosity
Critical Thinking Skills
BIG Warning:My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation
–Robert Frost
BIG Warning:My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation
–Robert Frost
If you end up doing what you love for a living, a work-life balance & work-life boundaries are very difficult to establish.
Work to live. But donʼt live to work.
The "best" investment you can make isn't gold. It's the people you love, the dreams you have, and living a life that matters.
Umair Haque
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/06/the_best_investment_you_can_ma.html
“...you find the fun, and snap! The job’s a game.”