“The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression,” says Play expert Stuart Brown. Far too often, we think of play and work as being mutually exclusive concepts positioned on opposite ends of the same spectrum, and that’s why we so often hear from people that Play is the most difficult-to-grasp pillar of the FISH! Philosophy. But Play is not mutually exclusive from work; instead, it’s something that can be integrated into our workspaces and our work processes to help improve the quality of our ideas, our outputs, and our collaborative processes. If you’re struggling to wrap your head around the idea of what Play looks like in the workplace, let’s remove the idea of “the workplace” entirely and take a step back to a time when Play was a natural way of being: childhood. Children are the ultimate experts in Play, and adults could learn a thing or two about it from them: after all, we all need to play, and humans (and animals!) that don’t play find themselves anxious and withdrawn.

Be There is one of the core pillars of the FISH! Philosophy, and also a key differentiator between being merely an authority figure vs being a true leader. To truly Be There for your team is to not just be physically present and not just act “managerial,” but to be emotionally present as well. Rather than just playing the role of “the boss,” a true leader shepherds their team through difficult times and pushes them to be the best versions of themselves by listening to their needs, honoring them as individuals, and playing to their strengths. To Be There as a leader isn’t always easy, but sometimes it is simple: you don’t even have to look past the first letter of the alphabet! By following the three “A’s” of successful leadership as they tie into the FISH! Philosophy, you’ll be well on your way to acting as the emotionally intelligent, personally supportive, and professionally competent teammate you need to be to transcend from boss or manager to that capital-L “Leader.” A is for Awareness Awareness is, simply put, the act of being cognizant of your surroundings. This sounds simple, but in business and social situations it can be deeply complex. It’s not just about noticing who’s in the room with you, but it’s about asking yourself who that person is–what do you know about them? What do they respond positively to? Negatively? What’s the best way to approach this particular interaction with them?

Have you ever really sat down and thought about what it means for something to be a paradigm? It’s one of those words that we sort of understand intuitively, but what does it really mean? In dictionary terms, it really just means a “typical example” of something, or a recurring pattern–but in common usage, we tend to say it to mean a way of thinking or manner of behaving that has been assumed by our dominant culture. In other words, a paradigm is something we assume to be true or right, but may not be rooted in fact or logic and may instead just be a belief or behavior that exists through a sense of cultural inertia. Not all paradigms are bad, of course, but when we hear of a “paradigm shift,” it’s usually because people have started reflecting on something without preconceived assumptions and instead with a renewed sense of curiosity. In the workplace, unquestioned paradigms can often be a force holding the organization back from real, meaningful change–in order to dramatically improve, an organization needs to practice curiosity and question the pre-existing paradigmatic assumptions that may be leading to stagnation or inefficiency. This sense of curiosity is at the heart of all four core pillars of the FISH! Philosophy, so let’s take a look at how our assumptions can hold us back–and how getting curious can help us keep moving forward.