The key to creativity is replacing linear thinking with a more organic framework — the circle of the playground.
Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a brilliant thinker about innovation, is famously known for saying that the key strategic question for CEOs is “Where to play, how to win?” I’d like to build on Roger’s insight and say that in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), the key strategy question is “What is the game, and how do we play?”
The playground is the place where we leave behind the usual hierarchies, procedures, statuses, and behaviors to act out “as if…” games of discovery. I even have a name for this playground of creativity — the Magic Circle.
Consider the words of Johan Huizinga, who coined the term “magic circle” decades ago in “A Study of the Play-Element in Culture.” Here is what Huizinga said: “The arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc., are all in form and function play-grounds. All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart.”
Those of us who have been lucky enough to be part of a fantastic, multi-disciplinary, project-based team developing a new product/service/experience know what it means to be inside a Magic Circle. Anyone who’s been in a great brainstorming session or off-site meeting can recognize a Magic Circle. Any scientist who’s run a lab understands the idea. And most any entrepreneur who has launched a startup knows the magic of a Magic Circle.
Me, me and me!
By framing the making of creativity as a game that takes place inside a playground of our own making, we widen the conversation about innovation and design dramatically.
Hey Reni,
Adding your interview! Good to see you!
Thank you, admin-san (^o^)/
hi how are you Reni
realmid1312-san. I am goood (^ ^)/
Hey Reni, Cosplay rulz!
Reni’s Cosplay cafe “Moe Moe Honey” will be open this Sunday v(^o^)v
http://www.renireni.com/
Hi Reni, I want to take part on cosplay soon. Replica watches is thrilled already.
hey reni i am tom 🙂 its very nice to meet you lol i am new here and i need freinds xD anyway well comment back soon if you want to
Hey Reni – Wish we had IM!!! I hear they are getting it soon. A little bird tell me.
Cosplay is very cool – gonna hit one (or more) of those cafes when I go overseas!
i <3 cosplay! ive always wanted to do it but never had the time
I may look like a dork, but one of these days. . . .Naruto cosplay!
Konnichiwa, Reni-chan! So, did you go to Texas?
Reni goes to Texas on March 18th ?(?^?^?)?
haha! Love it!