Book Review: Funny Business: Harnessing the Power of Play to Give Your Company A Competitive Advantage

Funny Business Harnessing the Power of Play to Give Your Company A Competitive Advantage Edited by Christopher Byrne, Career Press, 2015, $15.99 (paperback), 222 pages (including appendixes)FUNNY BUSINESS, by christopher byrne, is not a comedy but a thoughtful treatise on how the principles of children's play can be used to foster innovation, creativity, and productivity in the modern workplace. Byrne describes play as a natural process that starts by asking the question, "What if?", and then allowing yourself to be open to whatever lies next. Christopher Byrne is clearly an expert on the subject of play with more than 30-years of experience as a researcher, marketing analyst, and consultant in the toy industry. He is a partner in aNb Media, LLC and content director for TTPM (Toys, Tots, Pets, & More). Byrne is well-published in the area of toys and play, and has recently authored two related books, Toy Time and Serious Fun: An Introduction to the U.S. Toy Industry. Byrne employs his vast experience by loading each topic with meaningful real-world examples of how the principles of play lead to success or how ignoring these principles can lead to unfavorable results.For children, play is a fundamental development tool. Play is limitless, unstructured time where spontaneous ideas are followed by action without necessarily knowing what the outcome is until the action is taken. During developmental years, play provides children new experiences, gives them space to explore their world and express themselves. So, why then is play a bad thing for adults-rather than a lifelong habit? Byrne argues that in our culture "play" is considered a bad word when referring to adults. Play suggests immaturity, childishness, lacking seriousness, unprofitable, pleasure-centered, or lazy. Perhaps the stigma is the result of something that was written nearly 2,000 years ago by St. Paul, "When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things" (Corinthians 13:11). Byrne suggests that this is seriously misguided advice because play is essentially about harnessing the creative forces within each of us to make up the stories of our lives, just as a child would make up a story about her favorite hero. The goal of Funny Business is to teach adults the art of play.The author begins the book by defining play in his terms. In Chapter 1, "Defining Play", Byrne describes play as a process of learning and a lifestyle of action without fear. Using the analogy of children's play, Byrne reduces the process of play to a series of statements and questions: (1) What's up? (2) What if...? (3) I don't know. (4) You want to find out? (5) Sure, what do you want to do? (6) Okay, let's try that. (7) How did that turn out? (8) You want to do that again? (9) What do you want to do now? Responding to each of these questions honestly and without fear is the process of true play.It is reasonable to assume that if you ask an adult about their own play, they will tend to describe recreation, such as boating, fishing, or skiing. In Chapter 3, titled "Play vs. …