AMERiCA LEARNiNG MEDiA

(ADT Staff) General Session speaker Kevin Carroll helped close ASTD 2014 with inspiration and motivation to do better and be better. Carroll, who spoke on Wednesday afternoon, is founder of Kevin Carroll Katalyst LLC and author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! and The Red Rubber Ball at Work. He has encouraged organizations and individuals to embrace their spirit of play and creativity to maximize their human potential and sustain more meaningful business and personal growth.

Carroll started off his presentation by sharing the story of his childhood and how a red rubber ball found on a playground changed his life. At the age of 6, he and his two siblings were abandoned by their mother and Carroll says he found solace on the playground near his grandparents’ house. During his first visit to the playground, there were no other children, so he picked up the ball and made up a game to play by himself.

“In that moment, I tapped into something each one of us has: Imagination,” Carroll explained. His game got the attention of other children as they arrived, which became the spark that transformed into friendships. “I belonged, I connected, I was welcomed,” he recalled.

In addition to the playground, Carroll said that the public library and school were his two other “safe places.” Through school he met the mother of one of his classmates, who became Carroll’s surrogate mother. “She was my CEO: chief encouragement officer,” he said. He praised her for always encouraging him by asking one simple question: “Why not?”

“We all need a CEO,” he said, because they hold you accountable to growing and improving. “Human potential is boundless if we will invest.” Carroll said that it is a result of “passion, purpose, and intention” that he has achieved all that he has in his life.

He told attendees to start each day with humility and wonder. “Why are we allowing our creative muscle to atrophy?” he asked. Carroll explained how play helps people make connections, be creative, and bring joy to their lives. “You learn more about people in an hour of play than in a year of conversations,” he said.

Carroll also illustrated how play—with a purpose—can be a benefit in the workplace. “Play is serious business, and play is serious in business,” he said. “Why shouldn’t we find a way to celebrate it rather than marginalize it?”

Carroll advised the audience on how to maximize each day. One way to do so is to keep your eyes open and “look up every once in a while.” Not everything is on a screen, he said, referring to all the devices we have all grown attached to. “There’s a big screen available to you: Life.”

He also tasked attendees with making connections. “It all starts with a simple handshake … Do one kind act; you never know how far it’ll reach,” Carroll said.

In closing, Carroll left the audience inspired with something Desmond Tutu told him: “There are two great days in a person’s life: The day you are born, and the day you discover why.”

Source ADT