Mario Herger is the CEO, founder and partner of Enterprise Gamification Consultancy LLC, a strategic consulting group focused on gamification, innovation, social business, and “intrapreneurship” in the enterprise. In this episode of Unlocking Greatness, Charlie spoke with Mario about gamification and how to make your work and life more fun, productive and engaging by applying the concepts we enjoy when we play games. Charlie and Mario define gamification and break down how it’s being used in our lives today in every area from social media to loyalty programs. They spoke about the essence of what a game is, the future of gamification, and how games can  to motivate you to grow.

SHOW NOTES:

• What is gamification theory? (2:14)
• Using gamification to make work fun and productive (3:03)
• What makes games fun? The principles behind them (5:13)
• The Flow Theory: When your skill level and the difficulty of the task are in balance (7:40)
• Pushing yourself to grow and become more self-confident at work and in school (10:05)
• Kiss-up-ocracy: The art of the kiss-up (14:15)
• Getting measurable results in a dynamic and unpredictable environment (16:48)
• The concept of feedback (18:48)
• The purpose of “purpose” (22:19)
• Games are successions of failure (23:54)
• Being Gamified: LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and loyalty programs (25:56)
• Using rewards to motivate (29:05)
• The role of culture in an environment (34:00)
• Focusing and motivating the people around you (39:48)

QUOTE: “Learning is fun, and schools basically take out the fun.” -MH RESOURCES:

• Enterprise Gamification: Engaging people by letting them have fun (Volume 1) by Mario Herger
• All of Mario’s books
• Tedx Talk
• Lev Vygotsky’s experiment on children and gamification
• SlideShare

MARIO’S BIO: Mario Herger is CEO, founder and partner of Enterprise Gamification Consultancy LLC, a strategic consulting group focused on gamification, innovation, social business, and intrapreneurship in the enterprise. He had been Senior Innovation Strategist at SAP Labs in Palo Alto, California and Global Head of the Gamification Initiative at SAP where he had worked for 15 years. In 2013 he also co-founded and currently leads the Innovation Center Europe Silicon Valley (ICESV) that connects European startups and companies with the Silicon Valley. In his work as head of the Gamification Initiative at SAP, he has driven the awareness around gamification by organizing and leading innovation events around this topic, holding dozens of one- or two-day gamification workshops, working with gamification platform- & service-providers and game studios, consulting and advising organizations, and by incorporating gamification into corporate strategies. He regularly speaks at and co-organizes conferences on gamification, innovation, creativity, and entre- and intrapreneurship. His large network in the gamification and innovation space allows him to pull in experts from every corner of the world into projects. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Vienna University of Technology and an undergraduate degree in International Business Management from the Vienna University of Economy. Connect with Mario: Email: mario.herger@enterprise-gamification.com Twitter: @mherger LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marioherger Blog: http://www.enterprise-gamification.com ASK YOURSELF:

• Am I accomplishing what I want at work and in my home?
• Can I use gamification to accomplish more in my day?
• How can I apply the principles of gamification to my family’s life in order to improve it?

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