Creative Confidence Podcast How a Playful Mindset Leads to Better Work: Cas Holman & Michelle Lee
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Feb 4, 2026 
Michelle Lee, IDEO partner who brings playful thinking into complex organizations, and Cas Holman, play designer and creator of Rigamajig, discuss play as a leadership mindset. They explore asking better questions, design function versus form, psychological safety, seeding playful conditions, adult play types, purposeful friction, and balancing exploratory play with business goals.
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Design By Function Not Form
- Name things by their function to free thinking from archetypes and reveal underlying human needs.
- Reframe briefs to ask about purpose not form to unlock novel solution spaces.
Questions Shape Creative Possibility
- The way you frame a question determines whether thinking opens or shuts down.
- Small language shifts can convert a limiting brief into an exploratory opportunity.
Use Playful Question Frames
- Use “How might we...” to assume solvability, invite multiple answers, and include collaborators.
- Ask “What would have to be true?” to surface constraints instead of killing ideas outright.
