A manifesto for play, for Bulgaria and beyond | Steve Keil | TEDxBG

Steve Keil fights the "serious meme" that has infected his home of Bulgaria -- and calls for a return to play to revitalize the economy, education and society. A sparkling talk with a universal message for people everywhere who are reinventing their workplaces, schools, lives.

(Bulgarian) Hello.

I'm here today

to start a revolution.

Now before you get up in arms,

or you break into song,

or you pick a favorite color,

I want to define
what I mean by revolution.

By revolution,

I mean a drastic and far-reaching change

in the way we think and behave -

the way we think and the way we behave.

Now why, Steve,
why do we need a revolution?

We need a revolution

because things aren't working;
they're just not working.

And that makes me really sad

because I'm sick and tired
of things not working.

You know, I'm sick and tired of us
not living up to our potential.

I'm sick and tired of us being last.

And we are last place in so many things -

for example, social factors.

We're last place in Europe in innovation.

There we are right at the end,
right at the bottom,

last place as a culture
that doesn't value innovation.

We're last place in health care,

and that's important
for a sense of well-being.

And there we are,
not just last in the E.U.,

we're last in Europe, at the very bottom.

And worst of all,

it just came out three weeks ago,
many of you have seen it, The Economist.

We're the saddest place on Earth,

relative to GDP per capita -

the saddest place on Earth.

That's social. Let's look at education.

Where do we rank three weeks ago

in another report by the OECD?

Last in reading, math and science. Last.

Business:

The lowest perception in the E.U.

that entrepreneurs provide
benefits to society.

Why as a result, what happens?

The lowest percentage
of entrepreneurs starting businesses.

And this is despite the fact

that everybody knows that small business

is the engine of economies.

We hire the most people;
we create the most taxes.

So if our engine's broken, guess what?

Last in Europe GDP per capita.

Last.

So it's no surprise, guys,
that 62 percent of Bulgarians

are not optimistic about the future.

We're unhappy, we have bad education,

and we have the worst businesses.

And these are facts, guys.

This isn't story tale;
it's not make-believe.

It's not.

It's not a conspiracy I have got
against Bulgaria. These are facts.

So I think it should be
really, really clear

that our system is broken.

The way we think, the way we behave,

our operating system
of behaving is broken.

We need a drastic change
in the way we think and behave

to transform Bulgaria for the better,

for ourselves, for our friends,

for our family and for our future.

Thank you.

How did this happen?

Let's be positive now. We're going
to get positive. How did this happen?

I think we're last because -

and this is going to be
drastic to some of you -

because we are handicapping ourselves.

We're holding ourselves back

because we don't value play.

I said "play," all right.

In case some of you forgot what play is,
this is what play looks like.

Babies play, kids play,

adults play.

We don't value play.

In fact, we devalue play.

We're handicapping ourselves.

And we devalue it in three areas.

Let's go back to the same three areas.

Social: 45 years of what?

Of communism -

of valuing the society
and the state over the individual

and squashing, inadvertently,

creativity, individual
self-expression and innovation.

And instead, what do we value?

Because it's shown

the way we apply, generate
and use knowledge

is affected by our social
and institutional context,

which told us what in communism?

To be serious.

To be really, really serious.

It did.

(Applause)

Be serious.

I can't tell you how many times
I've been scolded in the park

for letting my kids play on the ground.

Heaven forbid they play
in the dirt, the kal,

or even worse, lokvi, water
- that will kill them.

I have been told by babas and dyados

that we shouldn't let
our kids play so much

because life is serious

and we need to train them
for the seriousness of life.

We have a serious meme running through.

It's a social gene running through us.

It's a serious gene.

It's 45 years of it

that's created what I call
the "baba factor."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And here's how it works.

Step one: woman says, "I want
to have a baby. Iskam baby."

Step two: we get the baby. Woohoo!

But then what happens in step three?

I want to go back to work

because I need to further my career
or I just want to go have coffees.

I'm going to give bebko to baba.

But we need to remember

that baba's been infected
by the serious meme for 45 years.

So what happens?

She passes that virus on to baby,

and it takes a really, really, really
long time - as the redwood trees -

for that serious meme

to get out of our operating system.

What happens then?

It goes into education where we have
an antiquated education system

that has little changed for 100 years,

that values rote learning,

memorization and standardization,

and devalues self-expression,
self-exploration,

questioning, creativity and play.

It's a crap system.

True story: I went looking
for a school for my kid.

We went to this prestigious little school

and they say they're going
to study math 10 times a week

and science eight times a week

and reading five times
a day and all this stuff.

And we said, "Well
what about play and recess?"

And they said, "Ha. There won't be
a single moment in the schedule."

(Laughter)

And we said, "He's five."

What a crime. What a crime.

And it's a crime

that our education system is so serious
because education is serious

that we're creating
mindless, robotic workers

to put bolts in pre-drilled holes.

But I'm sorry, the problems of today

are not the problems
of the Industrial Revolution.

We need adaptability,

the ability to learn how to be
creative and innovative.

We don't need mechanized workers.

But no, now our meme goes into work
where we don't value play.

We create robotic workers
that we treat like assets,

to lever and just throw away.

What are qualities of a Bulgarian work?

Autocratic -

do what I say because I'm the chef.

I'm the boss and I know better than you.

Untrusting - you're obviously a criminal,
so I'm going to install cameras.

(Laughter)

Controlling -

you're obviously an idiot,
so I'm going to make

a zillion little processes
for you to follow

so you don't step out of the box.

So they're restrictive -
don't use your mobile phone,

don't use your laptop,
don't search the Internet,

don't be on I.M.

That's somehow unprofessional and bad.

And at the end of the day,
it's unfulfilling

because you're controlled,
you're restricted, you're not valued

and you're not having any fun.

We, in social, in education
and in our business,

don't value play.

And that's why we're last,

because we don't value play.

And you can say, "That's ridiculous,
Steve. What a dumb idea.

It can't be because of play.

Just play, that's a stupid thing."

We have the serious meme in us.

Well I'm going to say no.

And I will prove it to you
in the next part of the speech -

that play is the catalyst,
it is the revolution,

that we can use to transform
Bulgaria for the better.

Play:

our brains

are hardwired for play.

Evolution has selected,

over millions and billions of years,

for play in animals and in humans.

And you know what?

Evolution does a really, really good job

of deselecting traits
that aren't advantageous to us

and selecting traits
for competitive advantage.

Nature isn't stupid,
and it selected for play.

Throughout the animal
kingdom, for example: ants.

Ants play.

Maybe you didn't know that.

But when they're playing,

they're learning the social
order and dynamics of things.

Rats play, but what you
might not have known

is that rats that play more

have bigger brains

and they learn tasks better,

skills.

Kittens play. We all know kittens play.

But what you may not know

is that kittens deprived of play

are unable to interact socially.

They can still hunt,
but they can't be social.

Bears play.

But what you may not know

is that bears that play
more survive longer.

It's not the bears that learn
how to fish better.

It's the ones that play more.

And a final really interesting study -

it's been shown, a correlation

between play and brain size.

The more you play, the bigger
the brains there are.

Dolphins, pretty big brains, play a lot.

But who do you think

with the biggest brains
are the biggest players?

Yours truly: humans.

Kids play, we play -

of every nationality, of every race,

of every color, of every religion.

It's a universal thing - we play.

And it's not just kids, it's adults too.

Really cool term: neoteny -

the retention of play
and juvenile traits in adults.

And who are the biggest neotenists?

Humans. We play sports.

We do it for fun, or as Olympians,
or as professionals.

We play musical instruments.

We dance, we kiss, we sing,

we just goof around.

We're designed by nature to play

from birth to old age.

We're designed to do that continuously -

to play and play a lot

and not stop playing.

It is a huge benefit.

Just like there's benefits to animals,

there's benefits to humans.

For example, it's been shown

to stimulate neural
growth in the amygdala,

in the area where it controls emotions.

It's been shown to promote
pre-frontal cortex development

where a lot of cognition is happening.

As a result, what happens?

We develop more emotional maturity
if we play more.

We develop better decision-making ability

if we play more.

These, guys, are facts.

It's not fiction, it's not story tales,
it's not make-believe;

it's cold, hard science.

These are the benefits to play.

It is a genetic birthright that we have,

like walking or speaking or seeing.

And if we handicap ourselves with play,

we handicap ourselves

as if we would with any other
birthright that we have.

We hold ourselves back.

Little exercise just for a second:

close your eyes

and try to imagine a world without play.

Imagine a world without theater,
without the arts,

without song, without dancing,

without soccer, without football,

without laughter.

What does this world look like?

It's pretty bleak.

It's pretty glum.

Now imagine your workplace.

Is it fun? Is it playful?

Or maybe the workplace of your friends
- here we're forward thinking.

Is it fun? Is it playful?

Or is it crap?
Is it autocratic, controlling,

restrictive and untrusting
and unfulfilling?

We have this concept

that the opposite of play is work.

We even feel guilty if we're seen
playing at work.

"Oh, my colleagues see me laughing.
I must not have enough work,"

or, "Oh, I've got to hide
because my boss might see me.

He's going to think I'm not working hard."

But I have news for you:
our thinking is backwards.

The opposite of play

is not work.

The opposite of play is depression.

It's depression.

In fact,

play improves our work.

Just like there's benefits
for humans and animals,

there's benefits for play at work.

For example, it stimulates creativity.

It increases our openness to change.

It lets us learn better.

It improves our ability to learn.

It provides a sense
of purpose and mastery -

two key motivational things

that increase productivity,

through play.

So before you start thinking
of play as just not serious,

play doesn't mean frivolous.

You know, the professional athlete
that loves skiing,

he's serious about it, but he loves it.

He's having fun, he's in the groove,
he's in the flow.

A doctor might be serious,

but laughter's still a great medicine.

Our thinking is backwards.

We shouldn't be feeling guilty.

We should be celebrating play.

Quick example from the corporate world.

FedEx, easy motto:
people, service, profit.

If you treat your people like people,
if you treat them great,

they're happier, they're fulfilled,
they have a sense of mastery and purpose.

What happens? They give better service -

not worse, but better.

And when customers call for service

and they're dealing with happy people
that can make decisions and are fulfilled,

how do the customers feel?
They feel great.

And what do great customers do,
great-feeling customers?

They buy more of your service
and they tell more of their friends,

which leads to more profit.

People, service, profit.

Play increases productivity,
not decreases.

And you're going to say,

"Gee, that can work for FedEx
out there in the United States,

but it can't work in Bulgaria.

No way. We're different."

It does work in Bulgaria, you guys.
Two reasons.

One, play is universal.

There's nothing weird
about Bulgarians that we can't play,

besides the serious meme
that we have to kick out.

Two, I've tried it. I've tried at Sciant.

When I got there,
we had zero happy customers.

Not one customer would refer us.

I asked them all.

We had marginal profit - I did.

We had marginal profits,

and we had unhappy stakeholders.

Through some basic change,

change like improving transparency,

change like promoting self-direction

and collaboration,
encouraging collaboration,

not autocracy,

the things like having a results-focus.

I don't care when you get in
in the morning, or when you leave.

I care that your customer
and your team is happy

and you're organized with that.

Why do I care if you get in
at nine o'clock?

Basically promoting fun.

Through promoting fun
and a great environment,

we were able to transform Sciant

and, in just three short years -

sounds like a long time,
but change is slow -

every customer,
from zero to every customer referring us,

above average profits for the industry

and happy stakeholders.

And you can say, "Well how do
you know they're happy?"

Well we did win, every year
that we entered,

one of the rankings for best
employer for small business.

Independent analysis
from anonymous employees

on their surveys.

It does, and it can, work in Bulgaria.

There's nothing holding us back,

except our own mentality about play.

So some steps that we can
take - to finish up -

how to make this revolution through play.

First of all, you have to believe me.

If you don't believe me,

well just go home and think about it
some more or something.

Second of all, if you don't have
the feeling of play in you,

you need to rediscover play.

Whatever it was that as a kid
you used to enjoy,

that you enjoyed only six months ago,

but now that you've got
that promotion you can't enjoy,

because you feel like
you have to be serious,

rediscover it.

I don't care if it's mountain biking
or reading a book or playing a game.

Rediscover that

because you're the leaders,

the innovation leaders,
the thought leaders.

You're the ones that have
to go back to the office

or talk to your friends

and ignite the fire of change
in the play revolution.

You guys have to,
and if you're not feeling it,

your colleagues, your employees,
aren't going to feel it.

You've got to go back and say,
"Hey, I'm going to trust you."

Weird concept: I hired you;
I should trust you.

I'm going to let you make decisions.
I'm going to empower you,

Borrowing a page from Demi,

and I'm going to delegate
to the lowest level, rather than the top.

I'm going to encourage
constructive criticism.

I'm going to let you challenge authority.

Because it's by challenging
the way things are always done

is that we are able to break out
of the rut that we're in

and create innovative solutions

to problems of today.

We're not always right as leaders.

We're going to eradicate fear.

Fear is the enemy of play.

And we're going to do things

like eliminate restrictions.

You know what, let them use
their mobile phone

for personal calls - heaven forbid.

Let them be on the Internet.

Let them be on instant messengers.

Let them take long lunches.

Lunch is like the recess for work.

It's when you go out in the world

and you recharge your brain,
you meet your friends,

you have a beer,
you have some food, you talk,

you get some synergy of ideas

that maybe you wouldn't have had before.

Let them do it.

Give them some freedom,
and in general, let them play.

Let them have fun at the workplace.

We spend so much of our lives
at the workplace,

and it's supposed to be,
what, a miserable grind,

so that 20 years from now,
we wake up and say, "Was this it?

Is that all there was?"

Unacceptable. Nepriemlivo.

(Laughter)

So in summary,

we need a drastic change

in the way we think and behave,

but we don't need

a workers' revolution.

We don't need a workers' revolution.

What we need

is a players' uprising.

What we need is a players' uprising.

What we need is a players' uprising.

Seriously, we need to band together.

Today is the start of the uprising.

But what you need to do

is fan the flames of the revolution.

You need to go and share your ideas
and your success stories

of what worked

about reinvigorating
our lives, our schools,

and our work with play;

about how play promotes

a sense of promise and self-fulfillment;

of how play promotes
innovation and productivity,

and, ultimately, how play creates meaning.

Because we can't do it alone.
We have to do it together,

and together, if we do this
and share these ideas on play,

we can transform Bulgaria for the better.

Thank you.

(Applause)