
Play at Work
How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $30.08
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tim Andres Pabon
About this listen
Do games hold the secret to better productivity? If you’ve ever found yourself engrossed in Angry Birds, Call of Duty, or a plain old crossword puzzle when you should have been doing something more productive, you know how easily games hold our attention.
Hardcore gamers have spent the equivalent of 5.93 million years playing World of Warcraft while the world collectively devotes about 5 million hours per day to Angry Birds. A colossal waste of time? Perhaps. But what if we could tap into all the energy, engagement, and brainpower that people are already expending and use it for more creative and valuable pursuits?
Harnessing the power of games sounds like a New-Age fantasy, or at least a fad that’s only for hip start-ups run by millennials in Silicon Valley. But according to Adam L. Penenberg, the use of smart game design in the workplace and beyond is taking hold in every sector of the economy, and the companies that apply it are witnessing unprecedented results.
“Gamification” isn’t just for consumerschasing reward points anymore. It’s transforming, well, just about everything. Penenberg explores how, by understanding the way successful games are designed, we can apply them to become more efficient, come up with new ideas, and achieve even the most daunting goals. He shows how game mechanics are being applied to make employees happier and more motivated, improve worker safety, create better products, and improve customer service.
For example, Microsoft has transformed an essential but mind-numbing task - debugging software - into a game by having employees compete and collaborate to find more glitches in less time. Meanwhile, Local Motors, an independent automaker based in Arizona, crowdsources designs from car enthusiasts all over the world by having them compete for money and recognition within the community. As a result, the company was able to bring a cutting-edge vehicle to market in less time and at far less cost than the Big Three automakers.These are just two examples of companies that have tapped the characteristics that make games so addictive and satisfying. Penenberg also takes us inside organizations that have introduced play at work to train surgeons, aid in physical therapy, translate the Internet, solve vexing scientific riddles, and digitize books from the nineteenth century. Drawing on the latest brain science as well as his firsthand reporting from these cutting-edge companies, Penenberg offers a powerful solution for businesses and organizations of all stripes and sizes.
©2013 Adam L. Penenberg (P)2013 Gildan Media LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Innovators
- How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail?
-
-
A History of the Ancient Geeks
- By Mark on 10-21-14
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Made to Stick
- Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
- By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
- Narrated by: Charles Kahlenberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds—from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony—draw their power from the same six traits.
-
-
Even Better The Second Time
- By Jeremy Devens on 09-05-09
By: Chip Heath, and others
-
Becoming Steve Jobs
- The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
- By: Brent Schlender, Rick Tetzeli
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been many books - on a large and small scale - about Steve Jobs, one of the most famous CEOs in history. But this book is different from all the others. Becoming Steve Jobs takes on and breaks down the existing myth and stereotypes about Steve Jobs. The conventional, one-dimensional view of Jobs is that he was half genius, half jerk from youth, an irascible and selfish leader who slighted friends and family alike.
-
-
"Design is How it Works" -SJ
- By Cynthia on 03-29-15
By: Brent Schlender, and others
-
A Whole New Mind
- Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
- By: Daniel H. Pink
- Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lawyers. Accountants. Software Engineers. That what Mom and Dad encouraged us to become. They were wrong. Gone is the age of "left-brain" dominance. The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers - creative and emphatic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't.
-
-
A waste of a good credit
- By Lonnie on 11-07-08
By: Daniel H. Pink
-
AI Superpowers
- China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
- By: Kai-Fu Lee
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
-
-
Compelled to listen at 2x speed
- By LEE on 09-26-18
By: Kai-Fu Lee
-
In the Plex
- How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
- By: Steven Levy
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes listeners inside Google headquarters - the Googleplex - to explain how Google works.
-
-
Just ok for me
- By Everyday Mom on 04-23-11
By: Steven Levy
-
The Innovators
- How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail?
-
-
A History of the Ancient Geeks
- By Mark on 10-21-14
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Made to Stick
- Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
- By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
- Narrated by: Charles Kahlenberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds—from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony—draw their power from the same six traits.
-
-
Even Better The Second Time
- By Jeremy Devens on 09-05-09
By: Chip Heath, and others
-
Becoming Steve Jobs
- The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
- By: Brent Schlender, Rick Tetzeli
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been many books - on a large and small scale - about Steve Jobs, one of the most famous CEOs in history. But this book is different from all the others. Becoming Steve Jobs takes on and breaks down the existing myth and stereotypes about Steve Jobs. The conventional, one-dimensional view of Jobs is that he was half genius, half jerk from youth, an irascible and selfish leader who slighted friends and family alike.
-
-
"Design is How it Works" -SJ
- By Cynthia on 03-29-15
By: Brent Schlender, and others
-
A Whole New Mind
- Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
- By: Daniel H. Pink
- Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lawyers. Accountants. Software Engineers. That what Mom and Dad encouraged us to become. They were wrong. Gone is the age of "left-brain" dominance. The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers - creative and emphatic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't.
-
-
A waste of a good credit
- By Lonnie on 11-07-08
By: Daniel H. Pink
-
AI Superpowers
- China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
- By: Kai-Fu Lee
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
-
-
Compelled to listen at 2x speed
- By LEE on 09-26-18
By: Kai-Fu Lee
-
In the Plex
- How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
- By: Steven Levy
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes listeners inside Google headquarters - the Googleplex - to explain how Google works.
-
-
Just ok for me
- By Everyday Mom on 04-23-11
By: Steven Levy
-
Bold
- How to Go Big, Make Bank, and Better the World
- By: Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler
- Narrated by: Steven Kotler
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bold is a radical, how-to guide for using exponential technologies, moonshot thinking, and crowd-powered tools to create extraordinary wealth while also positively impacting the lives of billions.
-
-
The Best Book for Exponential Entrepreneurs
- By Sean on 02-17-15
By: Peter H. Diamandis, and others
-
The Creator's Code
- The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs
- By: Amy Wilkinson, Amy Wilkinson - introduction
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on in-depth interviews with more than 200 leading entrepreneurs, a business executive and senior fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership identifies the six essential disciplines needed to transform your ideas into real-world successes, whether you're an innovative manager or an aspiring entrepreneur.
-
-
Nothing groundbreaking
- By Prolific Reader on 03-08-15
By: Amy Wilkinson, and others
-
The World Is Flat
- Further Updated and Expanded
- By: Thomas L. Friedman
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations?
-
-
If you like cliches...
- By Jonathan Shultz on 09-08-07
-
Creative Confidence
- Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
- By: Tom Kelley, David Kelley
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential.
-
-
A dull pointless book
- By A on 12-21-13
By: Tom Kelley, and others
-
The Google Story
- Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time
- By: David A. Vise, Mark Malseed
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Google Story is the definitive account of the populist media company powered by the world's most advanced technology that in a few short years has revolutionized access to information about everything for everybody everywhere.
-
-
Very Good
- By Dean on 08-19-07
By: David A. Vise, and others
-
The Ten Faces of Innovation
- By: Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman
- Narrated by: Stow Lovejoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Kelley, author of The Art of Innovation and the general manager of IDEO, the world-famous design firm, illuminates the strategies IDEO used to beat the devil's advocate and drive creativity throughout the organization.
-
-
VERY Disappointing
- By John on 12-22-07
By: Tom Kelley, and others
-
Group Genius
- The Creative Power of Collaboration
- By: Keith Sawyer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this authoritative and fascinating new audiobook, Keith Sawyer, a psychologist at Washington University, tears down some of the most popular myths about creativity and erects new principles in their place. He reveals that creativity is always collaborative: even when you're alone. Sawyer's audiobook is filled with compelling stories about the inventions that changed our world.
-
-
Worth reading
- By Glenn on 12-29-10
By: Keith Sawyer
-
The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices
- How the Digital Magicians of the MIT Media Lab Are Creating the Innovative Technologies That Will Transform Our Lives
- By: Frank Moss
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you've ever read a book on an e-reader, unleashed your inner rock star playing Guitar Hero, built a robot with LEGO Mindstorms, or ridden in a vehicle with child-safe air bags, then you've experienced first hand just a few of the astounding innovations that have come out of the Media Lab over the past 25 years. But that’s old hat for today’s researchers, who are creating technologies that will have a much deeper impact on the quality of people’s lives over the next quarter century.
-
-
Like a promotional press release...
- By Michael on 10-22-11
By: Frank Moss
-
The Fourth Transformation
- How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything
- By: Robert Scoble, Shel Israel
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years from today, the center of our digital lives will no longer be the smart phone, but device that looks like ordinary eyeglasses: except those glasses will have settings for virtual and augmented reality. What you really see and what is computer generated will be mixed so tightly together, that we won't really be able to tell what is real and what is illusion.
-
-
Glance into the future - Feed your inner futurist
- By Jon on 11-27-16
By: Robert Scoble, and others
-
Smartcuts
- How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success
- By: Shane Snow
- Narrated by: Shane Snow, Erik Bergmann
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm? One way or another, they do it like computer hackers. They employ what psychologists call "lateral thinking: rethinking convention and breaking "rules" that aren't rules.
-
-
Take a hint from "giving" Che Guevara!
- By KW on 01-24-18
By: Shane Snow
-
The Signals Are Talking
- By: Amy Webb
- Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do you tell a real trend from the merely trendy? How, for example, will a technology—like artificial intelligence, machine learning, self-driving cars, biohacking, bots, and the Internet of Things—affect us, our businesses, and workplaces? How will it eventually change the way we live, work, play, and think—and how should we prepare for it now? In The Signals Are Talking, noted futurist Amy Webb shows us how to analyze the "true signals" and land on the right side of disruption.
-
-
Good book, awful narrator
- By Chelsea on 08-09-18
By: Amy Webb
-
Leap
- How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied
- By: Howard Yu
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every business faces the existential threat of competitors producing cheaper copies. Even patent filings, market dominance, and financial resources can't shield them from copycats. So what can we do - and, what can we learn from companies that have endured? In a book of narrative history and practical strategy, IMD professor of management and innovation Howard Yu shows that succeeding in today's marketplace is no longer just a matter of mastering copycat tactics, companies also need to leap across knowledge disciplines, and to reimagine how a product is made or a service is delivered.
-
-
An overview of how to succeed in business today
- By Daniela on 06-30-18
By: Howard Yu
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Play at Work
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rook501
- 07-25-17
Gamification sales pitch
I was hoping for tangible instructions on gamification systems and implementing such systems in a work environment. Instead, this book is just about how great gamification is and hey look at all these other companies that are doing it. Some shallow examples but no practical use here.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful