Professor Game Podcast

Discover how playfulness, not just work, holds the key to creativity, resilience, and a more fulfilling life. In this engaging conversation, Rob Alvarez, founder of Professor Game, interviews Chris Marshall, a behavioral scientist and futurist who explores the power of playfulness as a pathway to human flourishing. Chris shares how his own experience with burnout led him to the transformative potential of playfulness, breaking down the essential pillars of curiosity, creativity, and connectedness. He offers practical insights into how individuals and organizations can cultivate a playful mindset, not by adding new skills, but by reconnecting with their natural, childlike curiosity and creativity. Whether you're looking to enhance your personal life or revitalize your workplace culture, Chris's advice provides a fresh perspective on how embracing uncertainty and letting go of rigid expectations can unlock a world of possibilities.

Chris Marshall is a Behavioural Scientist and Futurist whose specialist niche lies in helping individuals, teams and organizations to thrive in times of challenge, setback and disruption. He is also the founder of The Playfulness Institute, a not-for-profit organization that promotes research and strategies to build creative, engaged, dynamic organizations through playfulness as culture. Beyond this, Chris holds a vast amount of experience from a number of industries and what he labels 'obsessions'. He is a TEDx speaker on playfulness and burnout, the author of the book Decoding Change, and is currently writing his next book: The Playful Advantage.

Guest Links and Info

• Websites:
  • playfulnessinstitute.org
  • chrismarshall.uk
• Chris on LinkedIn

Links to episode mentions:

• Proposed guest: Hanna Kinsella
• Recommended book: Elastic

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Discover how to skyrocket engagement by 7,000% with innovative gamification techniques! In this conversation, Bernardo Letayf and Rob Alvarez dive into the complexities and rewards of creating meaningful, long-term engagement through gamification. They discuss the launch of Tabi, a cutting-edge platform that redefines player progression by focusing on mastery rather than rewards, and highlight how effective gamification, while challenging, yields extraordinary results.

Bernardo develops game-like solutions through their software on a mission to transform education. With over 12 years of gamification experience and over 25 years in web and UX design/development, international speaking and consulting, Bernardo has created a platform that makes learning engaging and exciting for students of all ages and backgrounds.

Guest Links and Info

• Website for Tabi: Tabi.one
• Bernardo on LinkedIn
• Roman on LinkedIn

Do stuff with Professor Game!

• Get started in Gamification for FREE!
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Skyrocketing businesses with a game? In this exciting episode of the Professor Game podcast, we dive deep into the mind of elite business consultant and gamification enthusiast Sean Delaney, who shares how he helps businesses go "further, faster, funner" with innovative strategies. Sean reveals his journey from Fortune 500 consulting to empowering entrepreneurs, detailing his unique process for creating impactful, game-based business solutions. Whether discussing a challenging early experience or a major success with a Fortune 50 company, Sean offers invaluable insights into making business both enjoyable and transformative.

Sean Delaney is an elite business consultant, speaker, podcaster, and coach. He has worked with clients from the Fortune 500® to solopreneurs, solving some of the biggest to some of the most pervasive problems every business faces. Whether it is as a Fractional COO, the co-host of his Podcast ·The Ether,· or as the ·Disruptor in Chief· in his ·anti-mastermind mastermind,· his focus with Whadif is to disrupt current business thinking to transform businesses of any size into joyful and thriving impact generators. Before turning his attention to helping entrepreneurs, Sean·s client list included MetLife, Nike, Uber, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, and Jet Blue (among others). He has taken that experience and now helps entrepreneurs massively accelerate their business·s growth with his unique, holistic business model system, the HARMONIOUS Business Architecture TM. With his unique blend of knowledge, experience, and humor, he has helped businesses of every size strengthen their operations, innovate for the future, and scale ·Further, Faster, Funner.·

Guest Links and Info

• Website https://whadif.com
• Sean on LinkedIn
• Sean on Facebook
• Whadif's YouTube

Links to episode mentions:

• Proposed guest: Wei Houng
• Recommended book: The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman
• Favorite game:
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (and the kind)
  • Battleship

There are many ways to get in touch with Professor Game:

• Subscribe to Professor Game E-mail Newsletter
• LinkedIn
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• Ask a question

After an early childhood attempt at coding Pac-Man when it came out, and failing, CEO Yaakov Sash of Novospir now unveils a groundbreaking new genre of massively multiplayer social puzzle games. With extensive experience in digital asset technology from his tenure at Credit Suisse, Sash is now set on transforming the gaming industry. Novospir's debut game, Stack the Pixels, exemplifies his vision of integrating secure, fair, and engaging gameplay with unique digital and non-digital currencies. Yaakov shares insights into the daily challenges of leading a global team, the importance of playtesting, and how player feedback shapes the development of innovative gaming experiences. Sash emphasizes the value of persistence and adaptation in creating fun and competitive games that bring families together.

Yaakov Sash is the CEO of Novospir, an innovative gaming ecosystem that introduces a groundbreaking new genre of massively multiplayer social puzzle games. With extensive experience in digital asset technology from his tenure at Credit Suisse, where he led Digital Assets Markets, Yaakov is now focused on transforming the gaming industry. Novospir's debut game, Stack the Pixels, exemplifies his vision of integrating secure, fair, and engaging gameplay with unique digital and non-digital game currency.

Guest Links and Info

• Website stackthepixels.com
• Novospir on LinkedIn
• On Instagram as @StackThePixels
• Stack the Pixels on Facebook
• On X/Twitter as @stackthepixels

Links to episode mentions:

• Proposed guest: Someone from LucasArts Games
• Recommended book:
  • Reality +: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David Chalmers
  • Mother of Learning by Nobody 103
• Favorite game: Tetris

There are many ways to get in touch with Professor Game:

• Get started in Gamification for FREE!
• LinkedIn
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• Ask a question

Dr. Mfon Akpan is an assistant professor of accounting at Methodist University. He has a passion for emerging technologies and is an expert in virtual reality technology. He researches new technologies and educational methods to offer students a current, effective, and relative teaching experience. This is not his first rodeo on the Professor Game Podcast!

Find his first interview on Episode 243.

Raghu is a serial entrepreneur and has been obsessed with the financial markets since the age of 16. After graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he started his first company in 2006 - RK Trading Partnership - a proprietary trading company which actively traded the forex markets. He was able to turn $10k into more than $2M over a span of two years using low-latency, news trading strategies. Using the profits, he moved to India in 2008 · along with two other co-founders · and setup RKSV Securities, a retail stock brokerage, which eventually rebranded into Upstox. RKSV was also a proprietary trading firm and actively traded India·s stock markets, and Raghu led the prop desk division. After Upstox raised its Series A, the prop desk was shut down, and Raghu transitioned into a traditional co-founder role. In 2019, he stepped down from the Board of Upstox and left all operational duties, but remains Upstox·s largest individual shareholder. He took a long sabbatical, moved back to the US, and started thinking about his next venture. He wanted to create a new, bolder company, which could massively disrupt the financial markets at a larger scale than a typical stock brokerage. In 2020, he incorporated TradingLeagues, a disruptive, gamified offering for the financial markets. The goal behind TradingLeagues is to massively increase awareness and engagement with the financial markets at a global level by leveraging gamification. TradingLeagues launched globally in Dec 2023 and amassed more than 100k users. In his free time, he loves playing chess, being involved with his two young boys, and finding ways to keep his mind sharp.

Elmir is an eLearning Specialist at Catolica Lisbon Business School and a PhD Student at the University of Porto with five years of experience in higher education and corporate training and a proven track record of working with over 15 companies and universities. He creates gamified and action-oriented learning products that promote easy interaction and boost user engagement.

Matthew ·Dr. Matt· Zakreski, PsyD is a high-energy, creative clinical psychologist and professional speaker who utilizes an eclectic approach to meet the specific needs of his neurodivergent clients. He is proud to serve the Gifted community as a consultant, a professor, an author, and a researcher. He has spoken hundreds of times all over the world about supporting neurodivergent kids. Dr. Zakreski is a member of Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children (NJAGC), and the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE). Dr. Zakreski graduated from Widener University·s Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology (IGCP) in 2016. He is the co-founder of The Neurodiversity Collective.

Special summer episode! If you haven't, here is your reminder to take a step back, rest and recover to get ready to complete the year in full form.

Jamie Atkinson is the co-founder of NeedaGuest. They are the #1 fastest-growing Facebook group for podcast matching. They have over 63,000 members, and he's always excited to chat today to talk about how businesses can grow their traffic through podcasts.