Last week on Innovating Out Loud, we sat down with Leo Chan — keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator — to take play seriously as a tool for innovation. Leo treats creativity as a muscle that atrophies without use, and play as the discipline that keeps it strong. We worked through what LEGO Serious Play actually does (it lets people think with their hands instead of their mouths), why teams that jump straight to solving pain points collapse divergence before it can do its work, and why showing up as yourself is the precondition for the joy that makes better thinking possible. Taryn drew the through-line: courage to be yourself unlocks play, play unlocks creativity, creativity unlocks innovation.

The conversation didn’t argue that work should feel less serious — it argued that taking play seriously is how the work gets sharper.

Key Takeaways

* Creativity is a muscle. Without practice it atrophies. Play is the workout that keeps idea-generation strong.

* Think with your hands, not your mouth. LEGO Serious Play turns the model into the basis of knowledge — visual, auditory, kinesthetic — and uses metaphor to carry meaning words can’t.

* “What Might Be All the Ways” (WMBATW) — Leo’s stretch on “How Might We.” It treats divergence as a discipline, not a phase to rush through.

* Stress shuts down the prefrontal cortex. Conformity is a stressor. Being yourself isn’t indulgence — it’s a precondition for the cognitive state innovation requires.

* To bring play into risk-averse rooms: build relational equity first, acknowledge the elephant, and promise the outcome. You won’t win everyone — focus on the ones willing to come along, and let the result speak.

Watch the replay for the exercises you can run Monday morning — and the moments where the polished answer gets set aside.

Say it Ugly, Build it Better. Onward!

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