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Lead differently.
Lead Lightly.
Lead playfully.
Leadership today can feel relentless, endless emails, rising pressure, and people running on empty. But what if the key to building stronger, more connected teams wasn’t more control, but more play?
Play-Based Leadership
is a science-backed approach that blends joy, curiosity, and connection into everyday leadership. It doesn’t mean being less serious about results, it means creating the conditions that make results possible: trust, creativity, and courage.
Play isn’t a distraction from serious work, it’s the engine that drives it.
Play isn’t a distraction from serious work, it’s the engine that drives it.
We’ve made leadership too serious.
Across schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs, too many leaders are burning out under the weight of pressure. Cultures have become cautious instead of curious. People show up, but not fully. The result?
Fear of failure
Disconnection and disengagement
Innovation stuck in neutral
Seriousness alone won’t save us, we need lightness and we need courage. We need leaders who can laugh, connect, and lift others, even when the pressure is high.
A framework that puts joy back at the centre of leadership.
Across schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs, too many leaders are burning out under the weight of pressure. Cultures have become cautious instead of curious.
People show up, but not fully. The result?
People show up, but not fully. The result?
Choose
play
play
Mindset first. Lead with energy and curiosity, not control.
Lead from your core
Mindset first. Lead with energy and curiosity, not control.
Create safe spaces
Mindset first. Lead with energy and curiosity, not control.
Kindness as currency
Mindset first. Lead with energy and curiosity, not control.
Turn pressure into possibility
Mindset first. Lead with energy and curiosity, not control.
Play-Based Leadership How Curiosity, Courage & Connection Create Cultures That Thrive
By Dale Sidebottom & Paul Campbell
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Coming in 2026, Play-Based Leadership redefines what it means to lead in the modern world. Blending research, storytelling, and decades of experience across education, health, and business, Dale and Paul show how play isn’t a distraction from serious work, it’s the foundation of it.
Through the pillars of Curiosity, Courage, and Connection, this groundbreaking book explores how leaders can build cultures that inspire creativity, trust, and high performance, without burning out. Expect real-world stories, practical tools, and playful strategies that will change the way you lead and live.'
Through the pillars of Curiosity, Courage, and Connection, this groundbreaking book explores how leaders can build cultures that inspire creativity, trust, and high performance, without burning out. Expect real-world stories, practical tools, and playful strategies that will change the way you lead and live.'
Neuroscience shows that play triggers dopamine (creativity), oxytocin (trust), and serotonin (calm). In other words, it primes the brain for the exact conditions great leaders need to thrive.
The research is clear: Play builds better leaders
Play isn’t just fun, it’s fuel for the brain.
Google’s Project Aristotle
found that the single biggest predictor of high-performing teams wasn’t IQ or skill, it was psychological safety.
Dr Stuart Brown
founder of the National Institute for Play, proved that play reduces stress, boosts creativity, and strengthens trust.
Harvard Business Review
discovered that “serious play” methods increased innovation and collaboration across every industry studied.Play isn’t a distraction from serious work, it’s the engine that drives it.
When leaders choose play, everything changes
Play-Based Leadership isn’t about games or gimmicks, it’s about mindset.
Increase staff vitality by over 80%
Pressure turns into purpose
Culture shifts from compliance
When leaders model curiosity, kindness, and courage:
Because leadership isn’t about titles, it’s about energy, and when joy leads, performance follows.
Backed by research.
Proven by experience.
Across schools, workplaces, and sporting teams worldwide, Play-Based Leadership has been shown to:
Strengthen resilience under pressure
Build cultures of trust and connection
Increase staff vitality by over 80%
Increase staff vitality by over 80%
Developed by Dale Sidebottom and Paul Campbell, co-founders of The School of Play, this approach is transforming how people lead, teach, coach, and connect.
The School of Play acknowledges the Traditional Owners of County Throughout Australia.
We pay our respects to Elders past and present
We pay our respects to Elders past and present
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