Playing the Creative Game

I love problems. They excite me, make me nervous, challenge me. They invite me to the kind of dance I like. Loving them surely depends on the ability to solve them every once in while. It’s the solution that brings a lot of joy with it. Satisfaction. A strong dopamine dose that gets me a little high. Though solutions aren’t always creative, they generally require some creative thinking. This creative process, of “producing original and relevant ideas that fit a given situation,” which is “constructed of originality, flexibility, and utility”, is usually quite a messy, chaotic event. A chaos swinging between frustration and hope; excitement and disappointment; and between a problem to its eventual solution.

When things get out of hand, we usually tend to organize them. To maintain a creative process, we’ll need the right tools: research, curiosity, observation, imagination and even a good shower can help. Most of the times, all we need is someone with us, to exchange ideas with. Somebody to help us think aloud, look at things from a different angle and provide us with more perspectives. A partner for brainstorming, and bouncing and idea back and forth - kind of like Ping-Pong. Brainstorming is among the most important tools in a creative process. It’s where the best ideas are born. When done right, it can enhance the abilities of groups, organizations, or companies, to tackle and solve their biggest challenges and keep moving forward. And yet, the analogy of Ping-Pong might be a little misleading. In Ping-Pong each side has a very clear goal: to beat their opponent, to defeat them. That hardly counts as a good definition for cooperation, does it. If not Ping-Pong, what else could best describe this process?

The thought made me come across Matkot. An Israeli game, of the “catch the ball” type, for two players or more. The goal of the game is to pass a hollow rubber ball around, using only big round wooden paddles for as long as possible, striking it is as strong as possible, without dropping the ball to the ground. It is common to play this game at the beach or in other resort areas, that are usually around a body of water. Some would consider the origin of the game in Israel, and even call it Israel’s national sport, but it’s also found in Brazil, Italy, and Greece.

I came to realize this process we call Brainstorming, a chaos in which we interrupt each other’s thoughts, blurt out ridiculous and bizarre things, get excited, and frustrated – this process is a lot more like “Matkot” than Ping-Pong. Eager to learn more, I reached out for the expert in the field - Avi Hasson, the best player of all times. I was hoping to learn some secret methods, principles, and insights regarding the game. Maybe his gaming skills could improve my brainstorming ones.

I assembled my fascinating conversation with Avi into into 5 parts:

the players, the tools, the ball, the game, and the victory.

The Players or From Competition to Coalition.

The most obvious thing about the game is that we’re not playing against each other, but rather with each other. This coalition is a game changer. It dictates our behavior in a completely different way. We switch our focus from the opponent to the game itself. From the other Matka paddle to the ball, from the “winning” to the “playing”. As Avi indicates, “you are completely dependent on your opponent. You must believe him; you must trust him”. I will add on top of that – you must believe in yourself, with him. As in the game, a brainstorm is about trust between people.

In 2015, after two years of extensive research, Google found the answer to a very wide spread question – what’s the most important factor that makes a great team. It was undoubtedly Psychological Safety. The trust every team member grants the others to help him and watch for him. It came far before others factors, such as competence, resources or ambition. Evidently, if there is little empathy and no true willingness for other team members to succeed, collaboration turns competitive and crashes. “By the way”, said Avi, “trust can form while playing the game, with no prior personal acquaintance”. Trust is based on intention as much as on history.

The Tools or To Have and to Serve

As much as a player wants the other to succeed, she’s in the game challenge him as well. Avi calls this “the center of the Matka”. “You must be capable of bringing the ball to the best position for your opponent, so he can return it with his best swing, and repeat”. We must know the strengths of our brainstorming partners. To be able to serve to serve them to the center of their Matka. It’s only so, that they will be able to swing back the optimal ball at us, the one that will bring us one step closer to a solution. We must be givers, not takers.

Adam Grant, a professor in Wharton and a known Ted talker wrote a book about that – “Give and Take”, in which he specifies the theory and research of this subject. As he puts it, the one who takes care of himself will survive alone, and the one who takes care of others will survives in a group. In other words: your advantage is hidden in their advantage.

The Ball or Eye on the Ball

“You have to learn how to control things. But not the way you want to – but the way you need to”. Avi says that young players will usually tend to prove their power. Their ego makes them believe they are more important than the game itself. Their focus their eyes on many things but the ball. They may be self-centered, worrying about their own performance and status, or they might put much focus on their opponent – how they move, their weaknesses and disadvantages.

“A good game is like the Matrix – the whole world is the ball itself, and time stops. In a good game your instincts are faster than your thoughts”. Avi learned throughout the years that good

players have a balanced ego. They have the high self-awareness, but also make room for other players. They listen to them, they give them room. They’re not full of themselves or put too much thought on the others. That balance allows them to focus on what really matters:

The ball. The idea.

The subject that brought all the talented brains together to solve the problem.

The Game or Practice Makes Perfect

Avi speaks of the ongoing excitement rising before each strike. Again, and again, and again. With every strike, there’s an adrenaline spike. From one strike to the other, the hand learns faster than the head. This repetition practice is the the secret sauce to keep refining and perfecting the shots, one after the other.

For many years, Chris Voss worked at the top of the negotiation departments of the FBI. Later he worked for hostage release organizations around the world. After completing his service, Voss wrote an insightful book about negotiation – “Never Split the Difference” Among other things, Voss describes two very common techniques to create fruitful and rich communications – Labeling and Repetition . Labeling is the when we name and frame what we’ve heard. Repetition is when we repeat what we’ve been told. These techniques help our counterparts expand the dialogue, develop it and understand things better for themselves and for us.

This repetition helps us refine things over and over, sharpen the idea, maximize it. Much Like design thinking, it’s a process of ongoing iteration. Trial and error, improving things in motion. When the ball bounces from side to side, we keep getting opportunities to be sharper, stronger, and more precise.

The Victory or The Game Must Go On

I asked Avi a simple question – how can you win in Matkot?

His answer was short and accurate – “playing is winning”.

I recalled Simon Sinek, the one who inspired us with his famous Ted talk “Start with Why”. In 2019, Sinek wrote another book under the name of “The infinite Game”. The book discusses a very clear distinction between infinite and finite games, while projecting the theory over the business world. In finite games there are clear rules, clear goals, and players play to win over their opponent. In infinite games there are no clear rules, and the goal isn’t to win, but to get better. “Stop thinking about how to beat your opponent and start thinking about how you can beat yourselves”, said Sinek.*

But just think about it once more – the game of Matkot, like any creative process, is an infinite game. It’s a game in which the goal is to keep playing. It’s a game of direction, of journey, and

not one of goal and result. The process in and of itself is the result, the solution is a side effect. To play is to win, and to win is to keep playing.

Finally, allow me to recap the lessons and takeaways from my conversation with Avi Hasson, Israel’s leading Matkot player. Here are the five insights Avi taught me about brainstorming. I’m sorry, Matkot.

Believe in your partner.

Because when you trust each other, you’ll reach further together.

Serve to the center of the Matka.

Because when you’ll serve it right to them, they’ll serve it right back to you.

Keep your eyes on the ball.

Because focusing on anything else besides the idea is to essentially miss it.

Get better with every strike.

Because trial-and-error is the fastest path from mistakes to success.

Keep playing.

Because Avi said it better than anyone – “to keep playing is the real victory”.

*As a side note, back to the players part, Sinek also had a quote worth mentioning: “To ask what’s best for me, is finite thinking. To ask what’s best for us, is infinite thinking”