The Leadership Strategy Nobody Is Talking About

 

YouTube Version (If You'd Rather Watch 👉) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL2PSD1KJG4

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What do a football, a cooler, and a lightsaber all have in common?

And what on earth do they have to do with leadership strategy?

More than you might think.

If you want to improve productivity, trust, satisfaction, creativity, and retention while decreasing stress, burnout, and turnover.

This episode is for you.

Let’s get into it!

According to a recent Gallup report, only about 31% of U.S. employees are engaged at work.

For perspective, that figure was 36% in 2020.

So, not only is it low to begin with, but it’s also currently in rapid decline.

The same report found that Generation Z and younger millennial employees were 13 points less likely in 2025 (41%) than in 2020 (54%) to strongly agree with the statement “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.”

Ouch.

LinkedIn did a massive survey revealing that 50% of professionals would choose a company’s culture over higher pay.

Do you see where this is going?

Leaders tend to focus on results, growth, and effectiveness.

And they tend to have a really hard time going about that.

The strategies they use often burn everyone out and make the work environment a draining place that people dread going to.

Maybe they manage to get results, but it’s at the cost of everyone's health and well-being.

Not to mention, it’s miserable.

But I’m here to tell you that you need to focus on something else.

Something that actually makes getting results easy and enjoyable.

It’s a strategy I rarely hear leaders talk about.

And yet, it’s so obvious and powerful.

The strategy I’m talking about is fun.

As in… Fun IS the strategy.

Now, before you click off thinking, “Great, I’m supposed to have fun. Amazing strategy. Thanks a lot.”

Think again.

Because the research says that we need to pay attention.

Statistics show that leaders are dropping the ball here, and it’s killing them.

So, hang tight with me, this is really important for us to research.

Let’s start by breaking down a few objections to this “fun” strategy.

First, maybe you’re someone who doesn’t buy this.

You think “Work should be work, you can have fun after work.”

Maybe you have a very strong separation between work life and personal life, and you don’t want or need fun to be part of your work life.

You have a “live for the weekend” mentality.

Look, I understand that. I really do.

And if you want to live that way, be my guest.

But I think you’re missing out on something really important.

A Robert Half survey found that 83% of employees believe having fun at work is important.

Even if you don't value fun, the vast majority of everyone else does.

You’re in the minority.

So, I think you need to wake up a little and realize that you may need to put a little attention on this fun strategy.

Because you may find that it’s an uphill battle if you don’t.

Now, here’s a second objection you might raise: You might say, “Well, Zach, we do have a fun work environment.”

Are you sure about that?

The statistics would suggest otherwise.

For instance, that study we just looked at on employee engagement that dropped from 36% to 31% in just five years?

Okay, that means not even 1 in 3 people say they’re having a good time at work.

Not to mention that 5% decline amounts to over 8 million people.

In just 5 years.

That’s dramatic.

That’s a massive shift that we should be paying attention to.

People are increasingly not enjoying work anymore.

And here’s another important factor to consider: The numbers get more intense when you skew younger.

A study by the consulting firm Future Workplace found that 91% of Millennials and 82% of Gen Z employees prefer to work in a fun and engaging environment.

So, not only is fun in decline, but we also have a generation entering the workforce that seemingly values it more than previous generations.

As leaders, we need to take some ownership over this.

Where did all the fun go?

We can try to blame it on technology, COVID, politics, or whatever…

But how are we going to respond?

The research speaks for itself.

Now, here’s the third objection you might raise.

You might be saying, “What’s the big deal?”

“People may want that, but why should I, as a leader, care?”

Honestly, I get it.

You can easily get into this “I pay you to do work, not to have fun” mentality.

But let’s talk about why you should care.

It all comes down to the research, and goodness, there's been a lot of research on this.

For instance, Gallup research indicates that engaged employees are 17% more productive than their less engaged counterparts.

The Hewitt Associates study found that organizations with high employee engagement have 1.5 times the average revenue growth compared to companies with lower engagement.

A study by the University of Warwick found that happy employees are 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts.

On and on it goes…

The research shows that adding fun to a work environment:

1. Increases satisfaction

2. Increases retention

3. Increases productivity

4. Increases creativity & innovation

5. Increases trust & unity

6. Increases recruitment

It also:

1. Reduces stress

2. Reduces burnout

3. Reduces turnover

Do you get the picture?

This is exactly the direction we’d like things to move, right?

And these are results that usually require zero resources!

Remember the study we looked at earlier?

A fun company culture was generally more important than even a company’s salary or benefits.

Do you see how strategic this can be?

But here’s the thing.

I know I’ve spent some time trying to convince you of why this is so important.

But the truth is, most of you already know that incorporating fun is important.

Most of you are already committed to prioritizing that in your leadership; you don’t need convincing of any of that.

The question that most of you are asking is, "How?”

“How do I incorporate fun?”

“How do I create a fun culture?”

And that’s the right question we should be asking.

Let’s explore it.

You know, this episode makes me think of the TV show Severance.

Severance is a dystopian sci-fi thriller about employees who undergo a surgical procedure to split their memories between work and personal lives.

The "Innies" have no memory of the outside world, while "Outies" have no recollection of work, creating a surreal, corporate mystery that critiques extreme work-life balance.

It’s a fascinating show.

The parts that always made me cringe were when corporate kept trying to create these various initiatives to improve employee satisfaction.

They tried to bring fun to the workplace, but did so in the most sterile and disingenuous way imaginable.

And the employees called BS on it immediately.

And we can too, can’t we?

We know when something feels gimmicky.

That’s not what we’re shooting for.

In fact, that has the opposite effect we’re looking for.

What we need is the real deal.

We need a culture that genuinely has fun.

Because when people have genuine fun, they feel connected and cared for.

That’s just how relationships work.

The people you are closest to are likely the ones you have the most fun with, right?

You can tell the quality of a leader by looking at the quality of the relationships within the team they lead.

The stronger the relationships, the stronger the team, the stronger the leadership.

I just recently rewatched the movie Remember the Titans.

If you haven’t seen it, it's a sports drama based on the true story of a newly integrated high school football team in Virginia in 1971.

Coach Boone (played by Denzel Washington) has to work with the former head coach to overcome racism, not just on the team but in the community.

The story follows how Coach Boone led the T.C. Williams High Titans to an undefeated season, but more importantly, he led a team to overcome the evils of racism.

It’s an amazing story.

There’s an important leadership lesson that we should all take away from Coach Boone.

His job was to coach a winning football team.

But he knew that in order to lead his team to victory on the field, he would have to first lead them to victory off the field.

In other words, he had to make brothers before he could make football players.

And that’s exactly what he did.

He fought for the relationships.

And throughout the story, the players go from hating each other to being as close as family.

It’s incredibly moving, and it’s a leadership masterclass.

So, don’t give me any excuses why this isn’t possible for you and your situation.

Anything is possible with great leadership.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie comes from Julius.

He says, “Attitude reflects leadership.”

And this brings us to our next section.

Let’s break down three ways you can embody fun:

FIRST: It Starts With YOU.

YOU need to have fun.

If you’re not having fun as the leader, I guarantee your team isn’t either.

Or at least, they don’t when you’re around.

And look, the leader should be having fun.

Why would you create a culture that you’re miserable in?

If you’re the leader, you can do something about that.

You’re in charge, right?

Change the culture.

Now, a lot of this is about modeling.

But it’s also just about giving your team permission to have fun.

If they see you having fun, then they realize, “Oh, it’s legal to have fun around here.”

For instance, I mentioned three random things at the top of this episode: a football, a cooler, and a lightsaber.

These are just three stupid examples of things that I’ve done with my team over the years.

We’ll throw the football if it’s a nice day.

After every big event, I’ll pack a cooler with everyone’s favorite beverage or snack, and we’ll “debrief.” That’s code for eat, drink, and be merry.

For a season, we had all of these lightsabers lying around.

We’d occasionally turn off the lights, turn on “Dueling Fates,” and have at it.

We’ll go on trail walks, we’ll play pranks on each other, we’ll blast music…

We’ve had Nerf battles, life-sized chess piece matches, laughed so hard someone (who shall remain nameless) peed their pants…

You get the idea…

We have way too much fun.

And you know what?

I look forward to my work because I have fun.

I love my team because we have fun.

And that starts with me.

I have to model that, encourage that, and participate in it.

Some leaders act as though fun is immature and they shouldn’t participate in it.

Don’t buy that.

Fun is not immaturity.

Fun is about connection.

I’ve got four kids. When do you think I feel most connected to my kids, and when do they feel most connected to me?

When we’re playing (aka having fun).

When do you think I feel the most connected to my spouse?

When we go on date night (aka having fun).

Fun brings connection. It strengthens relational unity.

As the leader, that starts with you.

You need to have fun.

But we’re not done.

SECOND: You need to hire fun people.

This is kind of obvious, right?

But I see people screw this up all the time.

If you want a fun culture, why aren’t you hiring fun people?

Maybe you need to clean up your staff?

And you know what I’m talking about.

There are just some people who are fun and some people who are sticks in the mud.

If you’re a stick in the mud, I’m sorry, but why would I want to be on a team with you?

Hire fun people.

For instance, there’s this one woman on our team who is so much fun.

She does silly things, laughs at all the jokes, has crazy ideas, and just loves having fun.

She single-handedly raises the collective fun of our team.

There’s another guy on our team who has acquired the nickname “The GAT” for how much fun he brings. I’m not going to tell you what it stands for.

I’ll never forget one of our team members remarking how our team embraces the saying, “Tell jokes so good that even HR wants to hear them.”

Good.

That’s the kind of team I want to be on.

Do you have fun people on your team?

I hope you do.

Because you need them!

THIRD: Practically everything can be done in a fun way.

I want to push you to change your mindset.

First, think of a few of your favorite tasks at work.

Now, think of a few of your least favorite tasks at work.

Okay, what is the difference between your favorite tasks and your least favorite tasks?

You already know the answer…. FUN!!!!

Have you ever wondered why something isn’t fun?

More importantly, have you ever wondered how you could make it more fun?

Why wouldn’t you?

Let’s say there’s a meeting everyone hates. What if you started bringing donuts for it?

That’s fun!

Or what if you have a really hard event that leaves everyone exhausted?

What if you packed a cooler with your team's favorite beverage of choice and had a toast afterward?

That’s fun!

Do you see how this works?

My team is really good at what they do.

I tell them all the time, “You guys are world-class.”

They put their heart and soul into everything they do.

Operating at that level is exhausting and demanding.

But they can do that sustainably because they have fun!

If the only thing your team is looking forward to is leaving for the day, then I’m sorry, you’re missing the most powerful strategy in your leadership arsenal.

You need to start having fun.

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So, how would you rate things right now?

On a scale of North Carolina DMV to Disney World, where are you at?

No matter where you are on the scale, I want to encourage you to plan one fun thing this week.

See how it goes.

See how people respond.

I think you’ll find that having fun is one of the best leadership strategies on the planet.

I think you’ll find that everything improves.