PODCAST · business
Lead with a dash of Play
by Mary Hendra
Looking to build innovation, strengthen organizational culture, and develop greater confidence? Try play. Seriously. Play builds empathy, sparks creativity, and allows deeper reflection and learning. Why would we not integrate it into our workday? Subscribe to the podcast.Hear about the book (publishing 2027): https://exceptional-designer-9807.kit.com/d96770e4daSpeaking with CEOs, executive coaches, and leaders across a variety of industries, Mary Hendra explores what “play” can look like in professional spaces, its impact on us and our organizations, and how to integrate a little play ourselves to build more compassionate and creative workplaces.
Episodes
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Season 4: TL;DL
Learn more about play in professional spaces. The book inspired by the podcast publishes in 2027. Join my newsletter for early access! Well this was an unusual "season." I bring it to end with the Too Long; Didn't Listen wrap-up highlight what I've learned from the guests in this season, as well…
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Season 4 Mental Well-being in the Workplace
Why should HR managers in particular be attentive to play? According to my guest, and co-founder of PlayLab Steve Rix, because play facilitates psychological safety and rather than play distracting from work, play gets people in their best state of productivity. For a start-up CEO, play may be…
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Season 4: Hierarchy at Work? Flattened
Vanya Boardman is Co-Founder of PlayInnové and co-author of The Innovation Imperative. This recorded conversation was one of several conversations Vanya and I have had diving into what play is and isn’t, what complicates doing work in the play space, and the successes of doing play in the work...
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Season 4: Breaking Hierarchy
What would it look like to have conversations without titles, experts, or even pre-defined goals? Joacim "Jay" Mattisson brings his Swedish background and perspective to American business and political landscapes, and in the process shows us how a playful approach can make every day life more fun...
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Season 4: Life Long Play
Brandi Mitchell invites us to challenge our conceptions of who plays, and what that looks like. As founder of San Diego Soccer Women, she creates the space for women in their 39s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s to play competitive games, build community, and disrupt the perception of what older women…
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Season 4: Bring the Humans Back
The core of work success is how your people feel, which means how YOU feel is vital. Hiba Tanvir brings a practice rooted in emotional intelligence to leaders, encouraging all of us to pause and play, play and pause. In a world focused on AI, Hiba reminds us to bring humans back to center both...
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Season 4: Play = Freedom
Play can bring an incredible sense of freedom - no constraints, a degree of purposelessness, a space without shoulds. That freedom is something Maricella Herrera comes back to again and again, for herself, for her students, and for her professional journey. It doesn't mean you can't accomplish...
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Season 4: Playful Curiosity
What happens when play just seeps out of you? Storytelling, curiosity, connection, even bringing a different mindset to working out at the gym, let alone the playful approach to a job in marketing. That’s what we learn with today’s guest, Dan Moyle. Guest: Dan Moyle Dan Moyle is a customer...
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Season 4: Chief Purveyor of Fun and Games
For John Grindle, the google search “How do you have fun at work?” led ultimately to founding his own company - a company focused on bringing people together to have fun. It’s not just for initial team-building, John believes that the connection that deepens with regularly playing together is...
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Season 4: Joy and Levity in the Workplace
“I like games for the social aspect.” Games often raise thoughts of competition, strategy, and down time. Alex challenges all of that - sharing the integration of games to build more enjoyable workplaces. But, it isn’t just about fun. All games have some sort of problem solving …and a goal. It’s...
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Season 4: Call Me Deb
What does play have to do with finding your soul’s mission? For Deb Valentina, they are absolutely connected, and result in the joy of being in the place you are meant to be. Hear her thoughts on deep soul work, intuition or knowingness, and its connection to play and joy. But first, Debra and I...
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Season 4: Playing at Work
Do you play at work? Jacqueline Lloyd Smith does. As Founder of Strategic Play® Global and a Master Trainer in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Methods, play is critical to achieving the serious outcomes she gets for companies. But it’s more than that. Given the high disengagement rates of workers these days,...
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Season 4: The Play of Appreciative Inquiry
Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, authors of “Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement,” draw connections between the practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and approaching work - and conversations - with a sense of play. This type of AI...
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Season 4: Creating Playgrounds
How do you know who is ready to play? With Lee Kim, we discuss the creation of playgrounds for adults - within corporate and civic spaces. Blending design thinking and “a space of yes,” playgrounds invite meaningful co-creation. Explore more about the ideas and playgrounds Lee mentions: Inyeon...
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Season 4: A Playful Approach in Serious Times
Is there space for playfulness in the most serious of moments? Liz Vogel is a leader in the preservation of American democracy - and in intentional gathering. It’s easy to challenge whether play has a space with the stakes are high and the content serious, but Liz embodies a playful spirit even...
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Season 4: Play as Strategy
Retired Colonel Jason M. Trew -"TOGA" - studied at the Air Force school for strategists (earning a PhD) and came out with some fascinating insights on play. Introducing the concept of “warped play,” TOGA shares insights on the power of play for strategy development - providing opportunity to...
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Season 4 Trailer: the Moment for Play
In a world filled with uncertainty, urgency, and division, what happens when leaders show up with a playful mindset? Lead with a Dash of Play returns to explore how play can help us navigate serious challenges with connection, imagination, creativity and courage. Maybe play is exactly what is...
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Summer Session Bash: Pushing Into Curiosity
The final bash of summer should give inspiration and release - and in the case of play, we find that with curiosity and one of its most passionate advocates, Scott Shigeoka. Even beyond play in professional spaces, Scott seeks to make the curiosity that transforms political structures more...
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Summer Session: Keeping Play Accessible
How do you keep play accessible? It can be through physically keeping something close, through the questions we ask ourselves, or through verbal and visual cues we notice during the work day. Featuring Past Guests: Garry Ridge Kathy Klotz-Guest Ruksana Hussain Neville Billimoria
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Summer Session: Making Meetings Better
Meetings are such a ubiquitous part of work - and often one of the spaces that can feel energy-draining. What if that wasn’t the case? The clips in this episode of “Summer Session” specifically highlight ways to make meetings better. After all, there is so much potential when people gather. Why...
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Summer Session: Connection
A recurring theme on Lead with a dash of Play is how play can build connections. In the second episode of this summer session on how to play, hear highlights from guests’ suggestions on how to build connection with play in small ways that can be incorporated every day. Featuring past guests: Paul...
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Summer Session: Discover Your Play
Play helps us be authentic - to actually be seen more truly by others. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to play. In the first of this summer session on play, we listen to some entry ways to start to play for yourself - storytelling, physically moving, giving yourself a challenge or...
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Season 2: What have I Learned about Leading with Play?
A second bonus episode for season two. I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest on several podcasts myself during this season, sharing in part what I’ve learned doing the Lead with a dash of Play podcast. This bonus episode shares some clips from the Ways We Learn podcast in which I was interviewed...
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Season 2 TL;DL: Play as a Force for Change
We rarely have as much time as we want these days, so for leaders who want a taste of my brilliant guests this season - or listeners who want a quick reminder of some of the ideas - here it is. Some of the themes that emerged in our discussions this season include: identity, creativity, agency,...
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Season 2: Why We Need Narrative Play
It’s easy to forget that kids play to sort things out, to discover boundaries, to problem-solve. So why do we think adult play is wholly different? Mike Ganino shares ways narrative play helps us identify what is possible and inspire change - individually and systemically. And it all starts with...
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Season 2: Toggle Between Wonder and Rigor
Play can both build a sense of awe - a practice of wonder - and the flow of committed, rigorous thought. And that combination contributes to audacity. Natalie Nixon invites us to design our space and time for wonder, give ourselves permission to daydream, and lead our teams to play and...
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Season 2: Intentional, Designed Experiences
In pursuit of the best structure and mindset for leadership development, Annette Mason co-constructs sabbaticals. These aren’t just for those in academia. To the contrary, individuals can use sabbaticals to learn and recover; businesses can use them to create space for transition and growth. What...
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Season 2: The Antidote to Burnout
How do you cultivate a playground of possibilities? Gary Ware found improv, and it changed the way he worked. Now he helps others incorporate play, building to a “playful rebellion” that can reshape organizational culture. “Play is the cheat code to business success, and leaders who are serious...
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Season 2: The Petri Dish of Organizational Culture
Shifting our notion of “failure” to “learning moments” gives us the opportunity to be more human. Garry Ridge led the global company WD40 for 25 years, with a playful streak that is still apparent in the stories he shares and the way he talks about the company. Can you be CEO and play?…
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Season 2: Level the Playing Field
In her Tedx Talk, Van Lai-DuMone shares the story of how fueling curiosity gave birth to an $8.3 billion industry. We talk about the intersection of creativity and curiosity, as well as the power of building simultaneously and together to hear all voices and create something collaboratively. From...
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Season 2: Interactive, Dynamic Fun
What if we didn’t call it “play”? Jay Guilford has been guiding the growth of leadership and teams for over 20 years. And yet, like so many before me, I was first curious about his roots in the circus. Does “play” have a branding problem? We talk about play in the DEI space as well as the legacy…
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Season 2: A Little Less Guilt
Is there a place for playfulness within the very serious issues of our day? Michelle Li identifies it as critical. When creating Clever Carbon, Michelle deliberately developed a cheeky, hip, playful tone to the teaching of climate footprint. Creating joyful spaces of learning may be a different...
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Season 2: Play as Disruption
Can play help us collectively build an innovative economy? Neville Billimoria, SVP for Mission Federal Credit Union, shares the ways play supports his creativity and well-being. In the process, we see how play can be a pattern interrupt, a useful intentional disruption when something is not…
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Season 2: What are Your Levers as a Leader?
In the research and the book he co-authored (Primed to Perform), Neel Doshi identifies play as the number one motivating factor for performance. He argues that we need to change how we motivate performance. We discuss how forward-looking CEOs are restructuring, the not-so-distant future of our...
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Season 2: Cultivating Creativity
What can happen when we remember that creativity is a process? Amy Climer studies and teaches creativity, including how to lead in a way that explicitly supports creativity and the creative process. Hear what Sir Ernest Shackleton understood about leadership, how imagery can unlock better...
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Season 2: Leaning in to Curiosity
Ruksana Hussain brings together the play personalities of explorer and storyteller in her work as a travel journalist, publisher, and speaker. Seeing the world with a mindset of “wow,” keeping open to learning something new even in her home town and from people she meets with regularly, starting...
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Season 2: Toxic Masculinity v the Divine Feminine
Want to foster a creative, innovative environment? Jeff Harry describes the essential nature of play in order to create psychological safety. In the process he argues that the world needs to stop the model of leadership which stemmed from toxic masculinity, instead embracing the divine feminine…
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Season 2: Humility, Vulnerability, Joy - Play Cannot be Faked
As a rare woman leader in tech, Kathy Klotz-Guest had to deliberately choose joy. Told many times to be more serious, to change the way she dressed, to lead differently, Kathy chose instead to forge her own path in leadership, and now she teaches others how to grow in owning their identity and…
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Leaders to Listen To
The Lead with a dash of Play is back for season 2! More CEOs, Executive Leaders, Researchers, Authors and Coaches on the vital role of play in the workplace. Guest clips from: Neville Billimoria, Neel Doshi, Kathy Klotz-Guest, Jeff Harry, Ruksana Hussain, and Michelle Li.
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Season 1 TL;DL: Play Redefined
Curiosity, compassion, innovation, and community - why is play not considered essential leadership development? Mary Hendra, Executive Leader and Founder of Move with Grace, shares thoughts on the connection between leadership and play, as well as the impetus for this podcast series. Was the...
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Season 1: Safe to be “all in”
What would it mean to shift from “I need to be heard” to “I know I will be seen”? Wendy Horng Brawer incorporates play in the work she does with CEOs and teams, and describes that shift in sharing the impact of play. Team alignment, DEI initiatives, navigating through failure… Wendy shows us how...
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Season 1: It’s So Much More than LEGO®
When did you last build with bricks? Paul Sanbar found a way to make playing with LEGO® his job when he became a LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator, but his roots in psychotherapy are equally foundational. Building and breaking things apart - externally and internally - that’s serious play! “Play…
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Season 1: Help People Connect
Opt in. Mark Collard created an entire database of games for Playmeo, but key to all is the invitation to choose to participate. Once we make that choice, we enter in to a different type of connection with others. Mark Twain is said to have observed “work consists of whatever a body is obliged to...
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Season 1: Play with Your Brain
What are the stories you tell yourself? Do they serve you? Jocelyn Brady, Brain Coach, shares the importance of play in breaking you out of your own resistance. It doesn’t have to include a penguin suit, but it could. We talk about giving yourself permission for “Vitamin Play.” ”Play is the…
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Season 1: The Structure of Games
Dave Mastronardi doesn’t consider himself a “playful” person, but he runs games for a living. We talk about the power of structure in play and why the term “play” itself is problematic. “Serious games help organizations solve complex problems through collaborative play.” Luke Hohmann, Founder and...
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Season 1: Yes, And…
Could play be as simple as solving puzzles? Bridget Quigg brings her experience with tech, marketing, and improv to support each of us recognizing our own creative genius. She shares stories of construction workers, military, tech industry and nurses engaging with play, and I make a connection to...
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Play is a Leadership Skill?
Could play be the most underrated leadership skill? A new podcast exploring the power of play in professional spaces, and redefining “play” in the process.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Looking to build innovation, strengthen organizational culture, and develop greater confidence? Try play. Seriously. Play builds empathy, sparks creativity, and allows deeper reflection and learning. Why would we not integrate it into our workday? Subscribe to the podcast.Hear about the book (publishing 2027): https://exceptional-designer-9807.kit.com/d96770e4daSpeaking with CEOs, executive coaches, and leaders across a variety of industries, Mary Hendra explores what “play” can look like in professional spaces, its impact on us and our organizations, and how to integrate a little play ourselves to build more compassionate and creative workplaces.
HOSTED BY
Mary Hendra
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Lead with a dash of Play have?
Lead with a dash of Play currently has 47 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Lead with a dash of Play about?
Looking to build innovation, strengthen organizational culture, and develop greater confidence? Try play. Seriously. Play builds empathy, sparks creativity, and allows deeper reflection and learning. Why would we not integrate it into our workday? Subscribe to the podcast.Hear about the book...
How often does Lead with a dash of Play release new episodes?
Lead with a dash of Play has 47 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Lead with a dash of Play?
You can listen to Lead with a dash of Play on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Lead with a dash of Play?
Lead with a dash of Play is created and hosted by Mary Hendra.
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