Скачать или смотреть The Playground Paradox: Why Clear Boundaries Create More Freedom | Steve Wunker

Steve Wunker, innovation strategist and author, explains why setting clear boundaries—whether for AI use, strategy, or organizational change—actually enables more freedom and creativity, not less.

The Playground Observation
Put kids on an open playground: they cluster around the central play sets—slides, swings, the obvious equipment.
Build a fence around the same playground: kids use the entire space, right up to the boundaries.

The Implicit Fence Problem
There's always an implicit fence in people's minds. But when people don't know where the fence is, they stick to the safe center—the obvious, conventional choices.

The Organizational Reality
In most organizations, the fence is actually further out than staff think it is. People constrain themselves unnecessarily because boundaries aren't explicit.

Why Clear Boundaries Enable Freedom
By setting clear boundaries around:

AI use and experimentation
Strategic direction and priorities
Degrees of acceptable organizational change
Decision-making authority

You enable tremendous freedom within those boundaries—just like the fenced playground enables kids to explore the full space confidently.

The Leadership Lesson
Don't assume people know where the boundaries are. Make them explicit. Paradoxically, clearly defined constraints create more innovation, experimentation, and initiative than vague "empowerment" ever could.

About Steve Wunker:
Innovation strategist, founder of New Markets Advisors, author of The Octopus: 8 Powerful Principles for Thriving in the AI Era and Jobs to be Done.

Full podcast:    • AI and the Octopus Organization: Why Adapt...  

#Leadership #Innovation #OrganizationalChange #AIStrategy #BoundariesAndFreedom #ChangeManagement #CreativeConstraints #InnovationStrategy #EmployeeEmpowerment

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