Joe Herlihy

Back in 2002, I was one of the first ten people in the US trained to delivery the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) process by what was then known as Executive Discovery. 

 

I have always been interested in how organizations can break away from the standard way of strategizing and brainstorming and connect to the innate creativity all humans possess. 

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But, when selling a process as unique as LSP, people quickly come with their own ideas and pre-conceptions of what the process is about. In particular, since they may only associate LEGO® with children's toys, they often fail to understand that LEGO® is an entire building system that may be easily adapted to help adults in their own creative journey. 

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So, these are key points I emphasize to skeptical teams when discussing my background:  

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1. I am a former Navy officer and more of a technical guy, having spent much of my career doing application development, data wrangling, and project management and analysis. I am NOT an HR manager or consultant trying to sell the latest HR or consulting fad ... 

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2. I actually work full-time for a large, multi-national bank doing project analytics, data wrangling and data visualization as my main gig. The point being that I am actually "one of you" in terms of having a regular day-job that deals with the same organizational challenges we all face. So, when I present the LSP process, I am coming with full awareness of how such processes are often perceived within big companies. And, that I would not be recommending this approach if I did not feel passionately about it's ability make a real difference. 

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3. I am NOT a consultant who will tell you or our organization what they should do. With the LSP process, the idea is that teams already have the best ideas and insights on the right actions to take. My job as a facilitator is to help design the LSP session to guide participants on a journey where they can discover their shared story together. 

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