By Kim Hanna
Welcome back to Let's Talk About Brand! This week's guest is Gary Ware of Breakthrough Play, which facilitates personal and professional breakthroughs through the power of play. As adults, we often forget how to do that; Gary rediscovered the power of play himself through comedic improv training, and figured out how to apply that to something new.
Marketing is a creative application when you think about it. Gary very brilliantly made that twist from a marketing career into creating Breakthrough Play, where he works with corporations and teams and groups to rediscover the power of play to enhance their creativity, productivity, and facilitate team building.
How Breakthrough Play came to be
Gary knew that he didn't want to do something that he didn't like. He explored web design, graphic design, and attended the Art Institute in Los Angeles. He also grew an interest in marketing, so he started a digital marketing agency. As a manager, he felt a little in over his head.
When a friend suggested he try an improv class, Gary wasn’t very into the idea at first. But he tried it out and loved it.
“It changed my life. For two hours I was completely present. I was playing these silly games with, like, 15 other people that I didn't even know and we connected. And I immediately saw the connection between those games and what I was learning to prepare me, to be able to think on my feet on the stage to be able to connect with other people.”
Fast forward a few years later, Gary connected the power of play with his experience in marketing to develop Breakthrough Play.
What is the power of play?
Breakthrough Play provides a very unique service. Since that service is so unconventional, Gary sometimes encounters hesitance when proposing this idea to companies. Gary says, “the biggest thing that I get is 'oh, play? We got a lot going on, it's a global pandemic. We don't have time to play.'”
Gary explains the importance of play and why businesses should incorporate it into the workplace. Breakthrough play is perfect for companies that are looking for unique and novel ways to help their employees improve in several ways.
Gary points out that every year, LinkedIn releases a ranking of the top skills that employees need to be successful. Those attributes generally include creativity, the ability to be adaptable, and communication. All of those things are attributes that Breakthrough Play brings to companies.
Not everyone is immediately on board. Gary says, “Through my training, in applied improvisation and communication training, I developed this curriculum that allows people to slowly edge into it. And that's the beauty with play. If you think about when you were a kid, and you would play, you would forget about time. You would feel so present with whatever is going on. And then by the end of it, you're like, 'I want more!' And so that is what I'm super excited to bring to companies.”
Unlocking your creativity
Gary talks about a study done by NASA where they followed a cohort from kindergarten through high school. They put them through a series of tests that were used to measure their level of creativity. And they found that 95% of those kindergarteners had genius levels of creativity. However, by the time they were 18, only 3% of that group had genius levels of creativity. What happened?
Gary goes on to explain that as children grow up, they’ll develop insecurities as they start to compare themselves to others. Gary says, “You’ll see someone that has an innate talent. And you're like, 'Well, they're good at that. I'm not. So I'm not creative.'”
Anyone can learn to be creative again through the power of play. Gary says, “Think about when you're playing a game, like a video game. You just play just for the sake of playing. But when you run into a challenge, whatever you're doing, whatever game that you're playing, you don't just throw in the towel. You get adaptive. You start to get creative, and so it's a muscle that you can cultivate.”
Gary advises people to set aside time every day and work out your brain. He calls it ‘going to the gym for your brain.’ Gary mentioned an exercise called Droodles to work out your brain. A Droodle is an abstract image that you look at and interpret however you want. The point is to work out your brain by thinking creatively.
What’s so great about Droodle and other brain games? Gary says, “You have to allow yourself to be silly. You have to allow yourself to think about whatever you want, and that takes practice. So if you wanna get creative, it's all about being intentional. Plus, you're doing it in a low stakes environment, your brain.”
Find Gary
Where can you find Gary Ware? You can find him as @GaryWare on social media, or check out his website, breakthroughplay.com. He loves chatting with people, especially if you're interested in creativity and curiosity.
Thank you so much to Gary Ware of Breakthrough Play! Tune in next Friday at 12 noon Eastern on Facebook Live for the next episode of Let’s Talk About Brand. In addition to this Friday Livestream, you can also check out Let’s Chat About Brand, the Tuesday Twitter chat that’s on the same topic as the Friday Livestream. See you next week!