Lead with a dash of Play

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 as news about my upcoming book.

Guests you'll hear from in this episode:

For our TLDL episode, it’s not about trying to summarize 15 episodes, but giving a sampler plate. It’s a rich one.

Why play is so important:

• Jacqueline Lloyd Smith, Founder of Strategic Play® Global
• Alex Suchman, Co-Founder of Barometer XP
• Retired Col. Jason TOGA Trew

Building deeper connections and conversation:

• Lee Kim describes how she invites people to connect with her in NYC
• Cheri Torres, who co-authored the book Conversations Worth Having with and Jackie Stavros, shares the intersection of Appreciative Inquiry and playfulness
• Joacim Mattison on bringing the Swedish model of Almedalan to the States as a re-imagined playground of civic engagement

Female leadership thoughts:

• Deb Valentina, who coaches female executives and coaxes their stories into being
• Maricella Herrera Avila, former CEO of Ellevate Network for Professional Women
• Brandi Mitchell, who both provides spaces to play literally through SD Soccer Women and challenges the collective image of women over 50 in her visibility for these adult leagues.

The power of play in moments with heavy emotion:

• Hiba Tanvir, whose pause and play method facilitates connection with how we want to show up in the world
• Dan Moyle, marketing consultant
• Liz Vogel, ED for the civic organization New Pluralists, who shares the story of Briar Bates’ play when she discovered she had limited time left in this world.

Companies built on play:

• Alex Suchman, Co-Founder of Barometer XP
• John Grindle, Chief Purveyor of Fun and Games for Grin Events
• Steve Rix, CEO of the start-up, PlayLab
• Vanya Boardman, Co-Founder of Play Innove

Check out their individual episodes for more information about each of these amazing guests.

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 the secret sauce for success.

Guest: Steve Rix

Steve Rix has 30 years of experience in human development. From public to private entities and from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, he has a vast array of exposure to how humans perform in the workplace. His playful nature led him on the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship until he planted his stake in the ground when he founded PlayLab. He has a vision to build a legacy where companies create playful happy people everywhere. When Steve isn’t playing with PlayLab clients, you can find him on the golf course, scuba diving, hiking, and enjoying his playground in paradise — Hawaii!

Playlab: https://experimentwithplay.com/

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 space. One of the ideas she shares that I find so fascinating, is that play can be disruptive - not because it takes away from work, but because it flattens work hierarchies, opening up more honest conversations and more generative ideas. That’s powerful play!

Guest: Vanya Boardman

Vanya Boardman has spent over two decades reshaping how organizations think about culture, leadership, and innovation from the inside out. With deep operational leadership experience across Financial Services, Telecommunications, Health Tech, and Commercial Real Estate, she has sat at the intersection of people and performance long enough to know where friction lives and how to eliminate it. Vanya doesn't just consult on culture; she has built it, scaled it, and sustained it across some of the most complex organizational environments in business today.

As Co-Founder of PlayInnové and co-author of The Innovation Imperative: How Extraordinary Leaders Sustain the Spark, Vanya brings a rare combination of strategic rigor and creative methodology to every stage she steps on. A certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator, FourSight® practitioner, and holder of an M.S. in Management and Leadership from Pepperdine University, she equips leaders with the tools to stop managing change and start leading transformation. When Vanya speaks, HR professionals don't just take notes; they rethink what's possible.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanya-boardman/

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 and essential threads of democracy more connected.

For more on Joacim’s collaboration to bring Almadelan to Arizona: https://www.almedalenaz.com/

Guest: Joacim "Jay" Mattisson is a cross-cultural business communication trainer.

He is hired by Fortune 100 companies to remove frictions and misunderstandings between international branches of the company, leading to more business opportunities, and faster turnarounds. He is a solution finder who brings fresh perspectives to the discussion and creates a trusted communication platform for open dialogue.

For more than 10 years, he has supported Swedish and Nordic companies to enter the U.S. market successfully, through a combination of 'homework', training and simulations.

In his non-profit work, he fosters international relations to make the world more peaceful, prosperous and interconnected.

Most weekends, you can catch him hiking the beautiful trails of Phoenix, Arizona. Or floating down the Salt River in a tube, watching wild horses graze the river banks.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joacimmattisson/ {when connecting, please mention this podcast in the note)

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 look like. She shows us, play is a life long experience.

Video: The Most Inspiring Soccer Team You’ve Never Heard Of

TedX Torrey Pines: Brandi Mitchell

Guest: Brandi Mitchell

Brandi Mitchell is the founder of San Diego Soccer Women, an organization founded in 2010 to increase opportunities for women to join, continue or return to soccer without the limits of age or gender. Positioned as an advocate for “Play at Every Age,” Brandi connects a global network of recreational soccer players of every ability level through her in-person events, soccer travel experiences, online tournament directory and social media. She supports the goals of partner organizations as a board member of The Sports Bra Project, Street Soccer USA San Diego and Scripps Ranch Women's Athletic Club, and works with small businesses and non-profits as a bookkeeping and business assistant. In addition to Brandi's TedxTalk in 2026 about older women in soccer, San Diego Soccer Women has been featured by FIFA, espnW, Just Women's Sports, Women in Soccer, Girls Soccer Network, Club Eleven and SoccerGrlProbs.

https://sandiegosoccerwomen.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoSoccerWomen

https://www.instagram.com/sandiegosoccerwomen/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandimitchell-us/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/san-diego-soccer-women/

https://www.tiktok.com/@soccerwomenplay

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 through the leader’s emotional regulation, and the way we gift that calm to others.

Guest: Hiba Tanvir

Creator of the highly distinctive Play & Pause™ Methodology, Hiba brings Emotional Intelligence out of theory and into lived, embodied practice. With an MBA and advanced resilience education from Harvard University and the Gottman Institute, she helps people stop performing emotions and start responding with intention. Using unexpected, tactile tools such as Play-Doh and wooden blocks, Hiba helps leaders, educators, and teams think clearly, lead effectively, and perform at their best—without burnout, disconnection, or reactivity—by teaching real-time emotional regulation.

Hiba’s work and thought leadership have been featured on NBC5, where she shared the power of the Pause and the real-world impact of her Play & Pause™ Methodology. She is also the co-author of The Career Breakthrough Playbook, an Amazon #1 New Release and four-time award-winning publication.

Her impact spans boardrooms and communities worldwide. She leads global initiatives such as the Man Up program for African youth and founded Hope Kitchen to create dignified work for women facing economic hardship—bringing Emotional Intelligence to life across generations and continents.

https://www.htcompassion.com/

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 serious things, but how we do them - how we engage with others in community while we do them - matters.

Guest: Maricella Herrera

Maricella Herrera Avila is a consultant, educator, and former CEO with expertise in innovation, purpose-driven business, and leadership. She spent more than a decade at Ellevate Network, where she led operations and strategy, grew the largest global community for women, and ultimately served as CEO during a pivotal transition. After leaving that role, she created the podcast Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, where she explores the human side of work, well-being, and change. Today, Maricella teaches Design Thinking and Innovation at St. Francis College and helps organizations bring values-driven approaches to problem solving and growth through her unique blend of strategic insight and deep focus on human experience.

Maricella earned a BA in Financial Management from ITESM in Mexico and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Originally from El Salvador, Maricella is also an avid runner (currently training for the Chicago Marathon) and cat mom to Toffee.

Substack: https://maricellaherrera.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maricellaherreraa/

Podcast: https://www.quitmyjobpod.com/

Actual extra cheesy music video from the 90s so you can dance along to Fey's first hit: https://youtu.be/mduVi6XnZbA?si=NJ4C5vbSmSiA4kGu

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 education trainer, consultant, storyteller, podcaster, speaker, writer, and blended family dad. Dan lives to put more love into the world and help create a better space for everyone. For his day job, he’s a customer education professional in the HubSpot ecosystem, consulting, training, teaching, and advising new and experienced HubSpot users.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmoyle/

Personal website: https://www.danmoyle.com/

My work life: https://digitalreachos.com/

And a snapshot from history: First Time Home Buyers: How to Buy for the Zombie Apocalypse

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 critical for teams to grow and achieve.

Guest: John Grindle

From a young age, John loved to play games. He realized he also loves bringing people together to have fun. Now, he’s the visionary leading Grin Events on a mission to connect teams one smile at a time through professionally hosted fun and games. Many people call this Team Building, but he prefers to call it Team Connecting because he believes connecting your team with genuinely fun activities is crucial to creating a productive team. Game On!

https://grin.events/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johngrindle/

“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 almost like she’s describing “work.”  We would all do well with a work environment that brings joy. 

Games Alex mentioned during the episode include:

• Fishbowl
• Visionary
• Fortunately / Unfortunately

All are available (free) in Barometer XP’s game database on the Play Concierge Platform: https://app.barometerxp.com/sign-up

Guest: Alex Suchman

Alex Suchman is the CEO and co-founder of Barometer XP, whose mission is to create cultures where people are excited about their work because they feel a strong sense of purpose and belonging. She uses games and play to strengthen interpersonal dynamics, such as trust, accountability, and psychological safety, in the workplace. She was a finalist for the Metro DC ATD Award for Excellence in Innovative Learning, has been featured in Forbes, and is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on using play as a tool for organizational effectiveness and employee success.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasuchman 

Barometer XP's website: https://www.barometerxp.com