Play matters

As children we played and played.  As adults, especially in our jobs and careers – not so much.

That’s tragic.  If we learned how to play again we could innovate at twice  the speed we innovate now – for the betterment of us all.

So. . .

Here’s a play story.

This play story is constructed in 3 parts.

1. First, I listen attentively to two signals and pick out the salient points about a technological and/or behavioral change.
2. Second I pick an industry.
3. Third, I modify/use the technological/behavioral change to fit my target industry in such a way that it disrupts the behavioral norm of the industry, thereby changing the relationship dynamics of the industry.

With this universal game-changing pattern in mind, let’s construct our play story.

Signals

Our first signal is from the following Ted Talk by Bill Davenhall.

He describes how our susceptibility to chronic diseases is impacted by the towns where we have lived in our lives.  And, how there exists a massive data on location and disease incidents.

The good stuff starts around minute 3.

Anders Ynnerman describes how video graphics cards combined with new high-speed scanning machines let doctors conduct virtual 3D real time  inspections patients, right down to individual tissues layers.

The good stuff starts around minute 4.

Industry

For the industry I choose life insurance.

In the same way that a child plays in a sandbox with trucks, pails and shovels, so too I combine the signals and play with PC graphic cards that visualize terrabytes of location specific diseases.

Play

1. Actuaries and underwriters in life  insurance capture data on past addresses from  applicants.
2. They use that to visually plot the life expectancy of the applicants based on the long term risk exposure (positive and negative)  of the places they have lived.
3. Their pricing, acceptance rates are changed accordingly.
4. They price based on superior information, and so disrupt the norm.

Summary

1. Listen to signals from outside your industry.  The further from your industry the better.
2. Play with the signals in your area. Imagine, as children do in their day to day play how you might combine them together to provide an advantage in your industry.
3. By doing so you create disruption in your industry and bring the future into your present.

Questions to consider

1. How can you make  play a common occurance in your company?
2. How can you broaden the signals your people listen to on a regular basis?
3. How can you store and evaluate those ideas to move your company forward?

Thank you for visiting www.ennova.ca