An epic win is an outcome that is so extraordinarily positive you had no idea it was even possible until you achieved it. It was almost beyond the threshold of imagination. And when you get there you are shocked to discover what you are truly capable of.” – Jane Mcgonigal

Our epic win is transforming the nature of work into that of a great game – creating The Ultimate Game of Work.

Gamification gets a bad rap.

To date, gamification has largely been about overlaying behavior modification mechanics from games onto non-game processes. It generally uses fixed and variable interval and ratio reward schedules combined with points, badges and leaderboards. So gamification often ends up looking like a giant, competitive slot machine. In other words, it’s thinly veiled addiction and coercion.

This mode of gamification makes some sense in the old command and control model of management when the question was: how can we get our employees to do more of what we want them to do? Where extrinsic motivators combined with addictive mechanics work at all is to increase engagement in repetitive, non-creative tasks.

As we undergo a massive phase shift from the factory based economy to a creative, intellectual property based economy, what we’re calling gamification 1.0 doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

The new economy is all about engaging in co-creativity for a sustainable future. This means seeing our team as our co-workers. Intrinsic motivation is the key to combining the skills, experience, beliefs of our team for success.

UGaWo is gamification 2.0 for the workplace. It’s about co-creating what we want to do together at work and how we want to be in relationship with each other. UGaWo aligns the prizes or extrinsic rewards of work, the wages and bonuses, with the intrinsic rewards of game playing: epic meaning (purpose), non-linearity (autonomy), progression (mastery) and social (relatedness).

UGaWo is truly player centric design. We co-create the game with the people who are going to play it, the team. We don’t sit in an ivory tower making up what the players want. We facilitate the process of the team communicating and co-activating itself through the game design process.

The result is a better outcome for everyone. The individuals are happier, their work is more fulfilling. For the company this means increased engagement, efficiency, innovation and, ultimately, sustainability.

Interesting question so I thought I’d explore it here….

Entrepreneurship could be seen as similar to a drug, risk-taking behavior resulting in extreme highs and lows. Therefore, it seems reasonable that one might become addicted to entrepreneurship.

And, just because someone has a glass of wine or two now and again, it doesn’t mean they are addicted.

The most common medical definitions of addiction are:

1) The state of being given up to some habit or compulsion.

2) Habitual psychological or physiologic dependence on a substance or practice that is beyond voluntary control.

The word usage, “being given up to,” indicates something of biblical proportions e.g. being given up to the devil. In other words, someone is lost to the addiction.

What does it mean to be lost to entrepreneurship?

For me, it means that entrepreneurship must be harming the addicted person, getting in the way of that person doing or being what is important to them. Again, this may be the case. Being an entrepreneur is often associated with long working hours that may get in the way of someone, for example, spending time with their family.

And being lost to entrepreneurship is stronger than that. It conveys a loss of willpower, a lack of choice in the matter, compulsion. So the addicted entrepreneur has no choice but to be an entrepreneur.

Is that enough to call it an addiction?

Are we addicted to air? No. And yet we have no willpower over whether we breathe it or not. Air is not an addiction because it does not carry harmful consequences (unless perhaps you’re in Beijing on a bad day ).

So what else must be present for entrepreneurship to be an addiction?

There must be increasing tolerance to or escalation of the behavior. In the case of entrepreneurship this might be a tendency to double down on risk in the face of failure. The company is failing so let’s pump twice as much money into it to make it succeed.

Finally there must be withdrawal symptoms upon quitting. I’m happy to concede that there will be withdrawal symptoms from any job or role we’ve performed for any significant amount of time, whether we enjoyed it or not. Let’s call withdrawal symptoms a given.

So, three questions I’ll ask myself to diagnose whether or not I’m addicted to entrepreneurship:

1. Is there anything I’d rather be doing than running my own company?
2. Is entrepreneurship harming me or people/things important to me?
3. Am I doubling down in the face of failure?

1. Compulsion? No. The autonomy and sense of purpose that being an entrepreneur provides me, knowing that I’m choosing to serve a particular customer in a way that ignites my passions is a massive intrinsic motivator in my life.

2. Harm? No. I choose not to overwork and my business provides for the needs of myself and my family.

3. Escalation? No (not at this moment anyway ).

Interestingly, towards the latter stages of running my music technology company, on any given day I might have answered yes to any or all three of these questions. That’s how I knew it was time to walk away.

I’ve been reading Debbie Ford’s classic on the shadow self: The Dark Side of the Light Chasers. Ford recommends asking the people closest to you which 3 things they like most about you and which 3 things they like least. It has been a fascinating exercise for me so far….

It feels like a continuation of my post about mindfulness being the space to choose how we respond to feelings that arise. I take responsibility for my shadow self by recognizing that I get something from the behaviors that are perceived by me and others as ‘bad’. It liberates me from feeling trapped in patterns that aren’t serving me in the moment and frees me to access potentially useful behaviors that I would have otherwise suppressed.

I take responsibility for:

• my stubbornness, which I choose because it gives me perseverance;
• my tendency to offer too much information is my openness, my vulnerability, my ability to connect; and
• my over-optimism is my positive nature that lets me to take risks and really live.

It’s liberating to own my stubbornness, my TMI and overly optimistic nature. How about you? Does:

• your ignorance allow you to ask new questions;
• your callousness give you objectivity; and
• your cowardice keep you safe?

I’m still trying to love my defensiveness. Any ideas?

If we define networking as the act of building your network. Let’s explore networking from the perspective of the hard sell. What opportunities does does that perspective create? How does it affect your network?

For me, networking, the hard sell way creates:

• revenue opportunities (given your customer is there);
• probably a lot of lead qualifying, immediately checking whether or not the person you’re interacting with is a potential customer; therefore
• lots of quick interactions;
• lots of different people met; and
• potentially pressure (to make sales).

I’m not mired in regret, at least I try not to be . What I can do is learn from the past and not repeat it in the future.

Almost all of my mistakes are made in reactionary moments, generally in reaction to fear and anger. This is as true in business as it is in my personal life.

As entrepreneurs, our businesses can feel like our babies; we’ve created them and continue to give them life. When the survival of our business is threatened or perhaps our position as the leader of that business is threatened, feeling fear or anger is not unusual.

What I want to separate is feeling fear or anger from reacting to it in a way that’s destructive. Let me give you an example….

At one of my previous companies, right after a big deal went South and my closest personal relationship fell apart, a member of my board began waging a campaign to oust me. I responded poorly; I threw a tantrum; I waged a personal campaign against him; I behaved badly.

Fortunately I had support of the rest of my board, my staff and the vast majority of my investors. However, my reaction to the fear and anger I was feeling diminished the strength of my leadership.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that leaders should hide their feelings. I think that an unwillingness to show vulnerability creates disconnection with all stakeholders. And, a good leader is able to feel and express feelings in a constructive way.

I remember the moment that I realized that our reactions aren’t caused by other people. It was in the first year of my acting studies. Peter Dunn, one of my teachers, said to me (and I’m probably paraphrasing): “I believe we choose what we feel.” While I wouldn’t put it that way, it was a real ‘aha’ moment for me.

I believe we create the conditions for the thoughts and feelings that arise in ourselves and that we have a choice in how we react to those thoughts and feelings. Yes, our genetic makeup and external factors are also conditions that affect the thoughts and feelings that arise. And, with training, we can create the space for more choice in how we react.

My voice and speech teacher, Catherine Carter, gave me my first training, the first space-making tool in my belt. She taught a method developed by Kristin Linklater during her tenure at Shakespeare & Company. The foundation of this method is watching your natural breathing.

Close your eyes for a minute and observe your breath. Notice that between each breath there is a gap. Watch the space between each breath and notice that before each new breath there is an impulse. It’s in that impulse, the impulse to breathe a new breath, to stay alive, that a new thought/feeling arises.

The more skillful we get at observing our breath, at watching these impulses arise, really being present to our thoughts and feelings, the more space we can create for ourselves. It’s in that space that we can choose how to react to the thought/feeling arising. The choice is in the gap.

I am a long way from mastering this. And I get better and better by practicing, in meditation, yoga and voice training. I am committed to continue my practice. Only by becoming more skillful at noticing, by being truly mindful of my thoughts/feelings arising, am I empowered to choose to react in a more constructive way.

That’s why I’ve left Roar Engine. To do what is really fulfilling for me: helping people to see what they’re really capable of, be their most magnificent selves and create their most magnificent visions.

Don’t get me wrong, Roar Engine is a great company with amazing people and cool technology. And, to be my most magnificent self and create my most magnificent vision, it’s time for me to focus on my coaching practice and a new start up I’m working on with a coaching colleague: UGaWo (Ultimate Game of Work).

UGaWo is the culmination of all the work I’ve been doing in the interactive entertainment space for the past 15 years combined with coaching. We’re working with organizations to achieve cultures in which the extrinsic rewards (the reasons we typically show up for work) and the intrinsic rewards (the reasons we usually engage in play) overlap and align. The result is engagement, innovation, productivity and FUN

We’re still in our private beta phase, developing our product, iteratively, with our customers. The final outcome is unknown. Isn’t it always?

As I’ve said before: “It won’t turn out as planned. It will be hard. It will be messy.”

And for me, that’s a big part of what I’m excited about. The challenge!

What does your most magnificent self want to create?

1. what’s most important to the other side of the table;
2. what’s most important to you; and
3. that you’re willing to walk away if the deal doesn’t deliver all of the above.

1. The Other Side of the Table

Whenever we don’t understand something, our mind makes assumptions. We make up stories about what other people are thinking. It’s automatic. And we believe them. We believe our own stories. The ones we know that we’ve made up without more than a shred of evidence. These assumptions are not reality. They are hypotheses. And a hypothesis must be tested and proven true.

Making assumptions about what others are thinking is a recipe for a boil over of negotiations. We have an assumption about what the person on the other side of the table thinks. From that assumption we extrapolate that the other person is trying to get in the way of what’s important to us. We take it personally. Our inability to show that we understand them (because we’re making assumptions) upsets them. They take it personally. The deal explodes….

I have had a 9-figure negotiation go south because both parties (i.e. me included) failed to verify their hypotheses about what the other meant.

Always clarify; never be afraid to let someone know or think that you don’t understand. Ask. Then articulate what you hear and really listen to their response. Has your articulation hit the mark? Do you really understand what’s important to them? Not sure? Ask again.

So you made assumptions and made it through the negotiation without an explosion. Think you’re in the clear? It’s possible. It’s also possible that your untested assumptions will lead to even more destructive situations than exploded negotiations.

Assumptions lead to expectations. When a false assumption is made during a negotiation, and is carried into the execution or implementation phase of a deal, it leads to unmet expectations. Unmet expectations are the toxic waste left over from unproven hypotheses and the harm that toxic waste can spread is much greater than a one off explosion. Healthy businesses can be killed by the post-deal toxic waste of unmet expectations.

When you test your hypotheses in the crucible of the deal, you end up with hard data that is either verifiable or not. You can use the verified knowledge of what is most important to the party on the other side of the table to negotiate a win-win deal.

2. You

A win-win deal delivers what’s most important to both parties. You’re now committed to finding out, really testing, what’s most important to the the party on the other side of the table. And you’re other party in the equation so, it stands to reason, that you also need to know what’s most important to you.

Here are some (i.e. not an exhaustive set of) questions that will help you clarify what’s most important to you in a deal:

• Purpose: what is overall impact we want this deal to have?
• Income: what is the minimum benefit we want to derive from this deal?
• Outgoings: what resources are essential to making the deal work? What is the maximum cost we’re willing to bear? What is the minimum input we want from the other party?
• Cultural fit: which of our values are critical for the other party to hono(u)r?
• Control: what are we willing to let go of and what do we want to retain control of?
• Measurement: what are the key metrics for success?

When you consider these questions, take into account your key stakeholders: your customers, staff, shareholders, board, other partners. And don’t make assumptions about what they think and feel either. Gather data.

3. Walking Away

Ask the other party the same questions you asked of yourself. Verify their answers. Is there alignment?

Unless what is most important to you and what is most important to the other party is delivered by the deal, I challenge you to walk away. I’ve written this before: “There is no point to win-lose deals. While you may have a great deal on paper, in action, the losing party is going to drag their feet.” Lose-lose deals, where neither parties needs are met, clearly are failed experiments.

If you know what’s important to you, what’s important to the other party and that you’re willing to walk away if the deal doesn’t deliver on both counts, you will always be negotiating from a position of power.

Looking for some help negotiating a deal? Contact me for a free consultation.

One way we access creativity in business is by brainstorming. Brainstorming is based on play. Play is anything we do simply for its intrinsic value, that is for its own sake. When we humans play, we are more creative.

When we think of brainstorming, we often think of an environment with no rules. However, play does not have to equal unstructured play. Brainstorming is most effective when it is structured, when restrictions are imposed upon it. In fact, without the rules, brainstorming can turn into a creativity vacuum of groupthink.

“When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost – and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl.” — T.S. Eliot

My wife, Kimberly Rose, is an artist. She really started to develop her own style when her college professor restricted her to working in old hardcover novels and incorporating at least some of the existing text or illustration into her work. Having to work within these boundaries liberated her creativity.

Unleash your creativity while brainstorming with these three rules….

1. Get to why

Creating resonance around the purpose for the brainstorming session is critical to motivating and engaging the participants. This resonance can be created around a mission statement for your company, a statement of differentiation for a product or shared values for organizational processes, anything that creates alignment of purpose. Resonance around the ‘why’ creates energy and a feeling of limitless possibility for the brainstorming session.

2. No one gets to be wrong

When there is no wrong, people feel safe taking risks. When people take risks, creativity thrives. No is the enemy of creativity. Try this at your next brainstorming session: whenever people speak, they either have to start their sentence with, “Yes and…” or, “What’s awesome about that is….”

3. Introduce multiple perspectives

When you’re in the initial ideation phase, it feels messy. It’s tempting to hide this mess from your customers and your board. Come on, don’t deny it . Overcoming this fear and including multiple stakeholders in the brainstorming session increases creativity because more perspectives are considered. Having multiple perspectives has the additional benefit of surprise, an important element of play. So, next time you brainstorm, invite multiple stakeholders and ask each person to contribute in turn. Combining this with rule 2 creates a virtuous loop of infinite possibilities.

I’ve found these rules to be invaluable to successful brainstorming. What rules have you found to be helpful in unleashing creativity?

This is the single most important question to get clear on in business. I help people do this for their businesses. And I feel like I’m struggling a little with getting clear on my own value proposition.

Henry Ford said:

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

Your value proposition is the service you provide to your customer; it’s what you do for them, what they get out of it and what they pay you for. Service is deeply ingrained in what I’m doing with Jedi Trainers. And by focusing on serving my clients, it liberates me from fear and doubt.

When you’re clear about your value proposition, everything flows. Selling and marketing your products and/or services ceases to be scary or difficult. There is no ego in sales and marketing when you simply state the value you provide to your customer, how you serve them, and ask for equivalent value in return. With your ego out of the way, the fear and doubt goes away too. Every opportunity to communicate becomes an opportunity to communicate your value proposition. Your website is clear, your social media conversations are clear, you speak clearly and with impact about your business and it’s easy to get paid.

So what am I doing when I’m serving my clients? In what way am I serving them? If I can answer that question then everything will flow and I will have embarrassingly large profits

Yes, I hear you say, I want embarrassingly large profits too so I’m going to take myself (and you) through a process of clarifying my value proposition….

I’m going to start with a trusty old friend, the business model canvas. It’s a great source of helpful questions that help to clarify your value proposition:

• What value do we deliver to the customer? (obviously )
• Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
• Which customer needs are we satisfying?

(The BMC asks another question that’s not so helpful: what bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer Segment? Products and services flow from the value proposition.)

Another way of asking is: what impact do I have on my customer?

Every client comes to me with a different set of problems to solve, a different agenda, obstacles they want to overcome, challenges they face. So what’s the overall impact I have? What is the unifying agenda that I work with all my clients on, the meta-problem?

To innovate, create something from nothing, start a completely new business or continually revitali(s)ze an existing one, is hard. To succeed, you really want to push yourself towards peak performance; that’s your need. And how do you do that? By identifying and making the most of your personal strengths and resources and the strengths and resources of your company.

I often say that I see people’s superpowers. And that’s not just marketing spiel. I’ve always seen the amazingness in people. It’s what I’ve always been best at as an entrepreneur, seeing and facilitating greatness in my team….

Maybe that’s it?!?

That’s what I do. That’s my value proposition: I help you push yourself and your business to peak performance and savo(u)r every moment of it. I see your greatness and I will hold you accountable to it!!!

Want to be held accountable to your greatness, get clear on your value proposition, really focus on serving your customers and be on the path to embarrassingly large profits? Contact me for a free consultation.

Fortunately the road to heaven is also paved with good intentions.

Intentional action and behavior(u)r quite literally is the road to fulfillment. When you create a vision for yourself and your company that is in alignment with your values and take steps to move towards that vision you will feel like you’re in heaven.

The flipside is that having strong intentions and doing nothing about creating the vision or becoming who you want to be really is hell on earth. Let me give you a personal example and give the wantrepreneurs out there a gentle kick up the backside….

This blog is an important marketing tool for me. It’s a platform for me to clarify, share and test/get feedback on my thoughts, my beliefs and my feelings. When I use it in that way, honestly expose what I’m thinking, believing and feeling, on a weekly basis, I am clearer in my vision, I connect with and grow the audience for my vision and services and I see what lands, what hits the target, and what doesn’t.

It’s been over two weeks since I’ve posted. I am committed to posting weekly. When I break my commitment to what I know helps move me towards my vision, when I fail to act on my intention, it feels bad because I know I’m not doing everything that’s important to me and my business right now. It might not quite be hell because I am doing more to move my business forward than just writing blog posts and….

What if I wasn’t?

Wantrepreneurs get a lot of stick and I, for one, don’t think being a wantrepreneur is a bad thing. It’s the intention, right? It’s the want. And without that intention, without that want, there is no vision and no potential for anything.

BUT (and those who read this blog know how little I use that word) without action, without becoming who you want to be, you’re in hell. Your vision is unfulfilled. You are unfulfilled.

I know it’s not easy. I know it’s scary. I promise you that the more aligned, the more on purpose you are, the scarier acting on your intention will feel (until you do it). It’s a risk to do what you want to do and become who you want to be.

What if it doesn’t all work out as planned?

Let’s get that out of the way. It won’t turn out as planned. It will be hard. It will be messy.

And it’s the road to heaven, paved with your good intentions, your actions, who you are.