Bring FUN Back!
ByBy Ann Yaggie, Certified Coach and Executive Consultant
A couple Fridays ago I had the opportunity to attend the Good Leadership Breakfast, where I listened to Dan Mallin, Managing Partner of Magnet 360 and Co-Founder of The Minnesota Cup. Dan’s points were all about the fun you can design into your work and your time away from work. I thought it would be fun to share some of his insights.
Dan’s reference to fun and living had me recalling a saying that, for some reason, I always see on the back of the semi tractor – “Work to Live – Live to Ride” (usually with the familiar Harley insignia just below).
It’s an interesting mantra when you really think about it. Do we all just work in order to do the other things that we actually enjoy? Instead of accepting this idiom, Dan prompted the audience with the question, “Why not live all the time?!”
A light illuminated over my head—Duh! So, as I see it, the question might be, “Where in your life are you working to live?” Or, equally telling, “Where in your life are you not living?”
It took me a little while to answer this question. But, in the end, I decided that I’m “not living” when I feel trapped in my own worry over where I will find my next client, my next project, etc…
In addition to challenging the notion that we work in order to do other things that we actually enjoy, Dan talked a lot about FUN, and I do mean it in all caps!
Dan referenced a recent news item about a retiree who returns to work once a week for a “High Five Tuesday,” and he explains the joy created on that day due to the retiree’s palpable energy. You don’t have to have an official title to create fun, right?
Just as Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, reminds us in his book, The Art of Possibility, we are all capable of leading from any chair.
And, while it is still important that leaders set the tone for fun, that doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t, or shouldn’t, partake in the effort to lighten things up and encourage everyone to enjoy themselves.
Challenge yourself to make some FUN in your organization (and your life). I think you’ll find that you can have fun, make money, and create value all at once. As I write this, my Big Red Dog is snorting under my desk by my feet. Certainly, this adds a little fun to my day!
Some Important Questions to Ponder:
Where are you having the most fun in your life?
Where are you having the least fun?
What’s one thing that you can do to turn up the “fun factor” in your life starting today?
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