Writing A Fun Future
Human language is a colorful analog painting with ongoing updates, subtle dialects, and near-infinite arrangements - a canvas capable of presenting complex concepts from a series of simple sounds. In a flash, the sounds of words form in the mind to materialize detailed objects, scenarios, and across time, even intricate societies - and in some cases, their downfall as well. In essence, the future is created with each word and each sentence we speak.
Linguistic innovation emerges through the effective, productive organization of words, for without coherent word association it’s impossible to construct the next Big Thing. However, once the Big Thing exists, some words find themselves redefined with unforeseen meaning. The machine finds ways to remake its creator.
Consider how the digital age, all created through words, has itself redefined words such as phone, disk, bug, mobile, link, pad, stream, window, cloud, application, navigate, text, and experience. The role these hybrid tech words serve in daily life has changed the way we perceive the world around us. Could it be our language was virtual long before immersive goggles were invented?
Business takes tech words very seriously, often elevating them to describe entire industry sectors. The cloud has become a destination for countless innovators to place intangible products and services - an ethereal landscape with unlimited capacity and expansive profit potential. The cloud has become an invisible place to park the hours, weeks, and months of our digital labor, while storing the financial digits of virtual paychecks. The cloud has become a group of wide-moated, high-walled castles adrift in the sky, invisible to the orbiting satellites it helped create.
A race for technical and software superiority has been running for many years, led by entrepreneurs from around the world - many on an imagined path to more enjoyable lives ahead. However, no one has established a due date for the happy days of the future. No grand opening of the City Of Tomorrow has been announced since the many promises in the 1950s and 1960s when the Space Race got up to speed and blasted off. In time, George and Jane Jetson mocked life in the future as random flaws curtailed normal activities. Even walking their robotic dog, Astro, held odds of becoming a mechanical hazard to George.
Fun, Play, and Joy are as important as breathing
The grinding, competitive, serious side of business can get lost in the clouds - overlooking personal growth catalysts such as fun, play, and joy. These words reach beyond purpose, goals, and targets. These are human necessities for leading creative, enriched lives. To shortchange people on the path to build the future, we must elevate the awareness of fun, play and joy.
In the context of a business presentation, the redefined tech words above sizzle, while fun, play, and joy often fizzle as the future unfolds. Eventually, excessive seriousness and derailed visions can tear down the individual, while adversely affecting the quarterly bottom line. Projects creep and spirits drain as passion fades. However, the Cities Of Tomorrow are ours to conceive, design and make happen.
It seems fun, play, and joy are words in need of redefinition across a number of business landscapes. Since true creative innovation germinates from the seeds of Play, business leaders may seek to re-assess the path to return on investment (ROI). Afterword, the same leaders might consider employee Joy as a high-bandwidth idea fiberoptic pipe bridging the potholes of the workday road. Then the leaders could imagine Fun as a must-have staff application - software to soften hardened spirits. It all begins with words, evolving into concepts, and ultimately into reality.
People Development magazine reveals nearly 80% of college graduates, together with those soon to graduate, believe fun in the workplace is essential. Within the same group, 44% realized having fun at work benefitted the overall work ethic. What’s interesting is only a little more than half, 56%, of mid- and late career employees in the study felt having fun at work was worthwhile. Of that second, older group, a mere 14% considered fun as a catalyst toward a better work ethic. What do younger generations perceive, and why do their perceptions differ from older peers?
As modern technology has proven, the reinterpretation of a single word, such as ‘fun,’ affects work and personal lives across a large swath of humanity. Has fun become less fun to those who have been in the workforce longer? If so, why - and how do we fix the system?
The psychological influence of verbal language has the ability to redefine us, our work spaces, and our lives - alongside the influences of digital technology. While innovators reshape our modern world through physical devices, it seems essential to respect the non-linear analog code of human nature - a system software which, when properly administered, brings about joyful productivity without ever crashing.
Move beyond words to pave paths of action
Fun, play and joy may sound like a nice-to-have in the workplace, however the National Institute for Play in Carmel, CA takes these concepts to heart, dedicating its effort to improve human lives today as we all take steps toward a real, functional, play-focused City Of Tomorrow. The group applies science to transform people, and thereby the Big Things people create. Big Things like the future.
Here are several additional links discussing the importance of fun in the workplace:
Being Happy at Work Matters (Harvard Business review)
Six Reasons Why Fun In The Office Is The Future Of Work (CIPHR / British human resources software company)
Why Fun At Work Matters (Monster job search portal)
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