The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play [Hardcover]

Kevin Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008

How do you ignite creativity, problem solving, and risk taking to score big in business? According to bestselling author Kevin Carroll, it’s child’s play!

Former 76ers athletic trainer Kevin Carroll, has turned his childhood passion for playing ball into a bestselling franchise. In this fun and thoughtful follow-up to his bestselling Rules of the Red Rubber Ball (2007), Carroll switches the playing field to the workplace, where innovation, motivation, engagement, and teamwork are the headline issues. Drawing on “play profiles” from thought leaders, change agents, and business leaders, he explains how to bring a sense of play into the workplace to stimulate creativity, encourage risk-taking, achieve goals--and have a great time doing it.

Fully illustrated, with 31 profiles of successful “players” including ESPN president George Bodenheimer, bestselling authors Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell, Food Network host Duff Goldman, South Bronx activist Majora Carter, renowned author Paulo Coehlo, and many others

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This entertaining, pocket-sized book builds on Carroll's self-help series with profiles of 33 successful workers who illustrate the value of "productive play" (as opposed to "playful play," not serious enough for work). Most of the subjects are in fields where the value of play is obvious: 12 are artists or performers, 11 are in design and marketing, and six are founders of public interest organizations. Advice from a professional wrestler, alchemist, graffiti artist, futurist or "director of user experience" may not apply to readers with more conventional jobs, but most people will be able to identify with at least a handful of subjects. Though the larger lesson seems to be self-apparent (the way to have fun at work is to choose a playful career), the book is nevertheless inspiring and clever, with a lively layout and energetic writing.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Kevin Carroll is founder of the Katalyst Consultancy and former Head Athletic Trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers. He speaks fifty times a year and consults with industry leaders at Nike, Disney/ESPN, Gap/Old Navy, Hasbro, Proctor & Gamble, and Capital One.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071599444
• ISBN-13: 978-0071599443
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin Carroll is founder of the Katalyst

Consultancy and former Head

Athletic Trainer for the Philadelphia

76ers. He speaks fifty times a year

and consults with industry leaders

at Nike, Disney/ESPN, Gap/Old

Navy, Hasbro, Proctor & Gamble,

and Capital One.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very intriguing point of view - worthwhile read, December 28, 2008

By 

Reg Nordman "(K)nights on the Road" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play (Hardcover)

Interesting thesis. Ask people who have made a difference in the world, to talk about a defining moment of play that has affected who they are today. Using five topic areas the author organizes the small vignettes. The topics are ; innovation, results,teamwork, leadership & curiosity. Kevin Carroll is the also the author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball and What's Your Red Rubber Ball?! He travels the globe speaking to businesses and to young people about the importance of sport and play in life. He is an advocate in the Sport for Social Change movement. Find out more at http://www.rrbatwork.com/about/. This is a very enjoyable, quickly read book, that just may adjust your attitude. It will certainly give you more stories to tell.

5.0 out of 5 stars The case for an underutilized yet effective problem-solving tool, February 17, 2011

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play (Hardcover)

The title is a metaphor for the need to maintain some avenue for the mentally stimulating and refreshing act of play in the business world. Creative problem solving skills utilize all aspects of your brain function, from the coldly analytical to the irrationally imaginative. One of the most common errors made in the business world is to believe that applying an analytical "crunching of the numbers" will derive all solutions. In general, this is the best way to identify problems but is weak in directing you to the potential solutions.
This book is largely a set of short descriptions of the lives of people that are extremely creative in their work. Each begins with a recapitulation of how they played in childhood and this is followed by comments on how they have managed to retain some of the thought processes of the imaginative child after they reached adulthood. The featured people argue forcefully that this is one of the primary reasons for their success.
Everyone that has solved a major problem can attest to the fact that creative disengagement is one of the best tools to use. Putting the problem down for a while and shifting your mind to another area often removes the obstacles and allows for a fresh approach. Play is one of the best ways to do this and when it is a team effort it can be used to strengthen the common bonds needed for solving the most difficult of problems. While this book will not demonstrate what form of play to use, it is a strong argument in favor of including some form of play in your work environment.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent companion to Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, December 23, 2010

By 

Don Snyder "The Idea Guy" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play (Hardcover)

I was expecting to be a more of the original (which I also loved) but the author slightly shifted the approach in this wholly original addition to the Red Rubber Ball series. I thought it was going to be focused on applying the principles learned in the first book at your office ("at WORK") -- but the ideas inside are all about putting the original concepts into action ("AT WORK.") Chapters are divided by focus (Innovation, Results, Teamwork, Leadership and Curiosity.)

This is not a case of the author telling you want you should do to put his concepts into action -- this is a collection of some well-known (and soon-to-be-well-known) individuals who have been implementing Red Rubber Ball insights since they were kids, and the brief (but compelling) stories show you how they continue the path of the red Rubber Ball into their adulthood and the way they left their mark on the world.

Stories from Seth Godin, Paulo Coelho, Malcolm Gladwell, Duff Goldman, and even Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson add to the poignancy of stories from folks I'd never heard of (but left an indelible impression upon me.) Be sure to read the stories from Carlos "Mare139" Rodriguez, Hendrik Mamorare, and Awista Ayub -- they are especially inspiring.

My favorite parts of the book come at the end of each section in the form of a page or two labeled "Purposeful Play", where the author gives you recommendations on websites to visit, videos to watch, books and articles to read, and provides links additional source material that I found of interest. It added to the value and impact the book had on me as a reader, and further drove home the important (and personal) message it contains.

I can't wait to read it (make that, STUDY IT) again.