Serendipity in Work and Sport

What are the odds that a business model and a game design theory could fit perfectly into each other?

Check this out...

A colleague recently shared The Ashridge model with me. She's got an MBA from a good school in the UK, worked for a number of notable medical device companies, so I'm not certain where she picked it up.  The Ashridge model was developed as a research project on 42 notable companies and their mission statements.  You can learn all about it here. The model is intended to drive company success by helping define a mission.

As soon as I saw this the words "Meaning" and "Optimism" resonated in my head.  

So, I'd like to share Jane McGonigal's research on gamification and game design, which you can learn more about here. She identified four characteristics of a good game:

Blissful Productivity – we stay determined and work on a task even if the goal is far off

Urgent Optimism – we keep going even if we fail (80% of the time)

Social Fabric – working with others forms relationships (cooperation with strangers, friends, & family)

Epic Meaning – desire to do something that matters, be a hero, be of service, be involved with a goal

...which I think are valuable for a company as well. It seems to interestingly echo the Ashridge Model.  Watch the magic happen:

Pretty cool, no?