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

http://getmentalnotes.com/

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

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

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

A number of the innovative entrepreneurs also went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity

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.”

Embrace serendipity

most highly creative achievers don’t begin with brilliant ideas, they discover them.

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

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!

Practical Tip!http://rypple.com/

WORLDS

freelancer/consultant

startups

agencies / consultancies

startups

“innie”

startups

academia

“innie”

No, the grass is not greener

There are always tradeoffs

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!

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!

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!

PLAYERS

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

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.”

Go Play!

Stephen P. Anderson@stephenandersonwww.poetpainter.com

slideshare.net/stephenpa

getmentalnotes.com