Seeking Growth? Embrace FUN…

By Kelly Lawrence, Founder & CEO, Lawrence Innovation

Every December, my husband and I make it a point to take off the last two weeks of the year to coincide with our daughters' winter break. We take the time to play, to appreciate each other and to think about how we'll make our dreams a reality. In other words, we prioritize time to have fun together.

Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at Wharton described the predominant feeling in 2021 as languishing and encouraged finding its opposite, flourishing. This break, I spent a lot of time thinking about this concept. I realized that I flourish when those around me are also flourishing - learning, enjoying the journey and having fun. And so, my commitment in 2022 is to have more fun - both personally and professionally.

For those of you who do not believe fun and work go together, ExecThreads recently reported a poll of CEOs revealed that 72% are afraid of losing their jobs this year up from 52% in 2020. What if these same CEOs were having more fun? How might fun take these CEOs and their teams from a state of fear to a state of optimism and growth? How would fun affect employee retention? The ability to navigate supply chain challenges? The inspiration to innovate? The drive to better serve customers?

As a business growth expert, I know first-hand that mindset is everything. The days I failed were the days I forgot the fun. Fun arms teams with the powerful tools of optimism, collaboration, trust, curiosity and resilience - key attributes winning teams site every time. I believe these are some of the same attributes that will help us get through the pandemic and move from languishing to flourishing - both in our personal lives and for our businesses. Wherever you are in your journey from languishing to flourishing, I hope all of you will join me to embrace more fun in 2022.

What are you doing to have fun and to flourish in 2022? Contact me, I'd love to hear from you.