Brandi Heather – The Science of Play at Work
SEASON: 5 EPISODE: 18
Episode Overview:
Welcome back to the Becoming Preferred Podcast. In this episode, I will be speaking with the incredible Brandi Heather. Brandi is an award-winning former college professor who has transformed into a leading voice on the science of play at work. With over two decades of experience across business, education, and healthcare, she now travels the globe, showing professionals how play can unlock mental wellness, genuine connection, and build resilience.
Brandi doesn’t just talk the talk; she truly activates play in her engaging keynotes and training sessions, all grounded in fascinating neuroscience and physiology. So, get ready for some insights that might just change the way you work and live! Join me for my conversation with Brandi Heather.
Guest Bio:
Brandi Heather is an award-winning former college professor, turned play scientist and thought leader on the science of play at work. With over 25 years of experience in business, education, and healthcare and making people smile, she speaks globally on how play fuels mental wellness, authentic connection, and resilience. But Brandi doesn’t just talk about play—she activates it. Her keynotes and training experiences, grounded in neuroscience and physiology, give professionals the tools to reset their stress response, restore their energy, and rethink how they lead, serve, and shine.
Brandi’s talks are immersive, unforgettable experiences where audiences build personalized and collective solutions for burnout prevention, joy retention and innovation in real time. Side effects have included: spontaneous creativity, uncontrollable laughter, contagious enthusiasm, and unexpected conversations with fascinating humans. It’s the most fun you can have in a day of work. Come out and play.
Resource Links:
- Website: https://www.brandiheather.com
- Product Link: https://www.brandiheather.com/product-page/minicourse-what-is-play
Insight Gold Timestamps:
04:37 W hen students were in play, they were learning more
05:50 T hey would get up at 7:00 AM with hangovers to come to my class
06:34 T he people who are really good at what they do, have an element of play to it
10:05 W hat kinds of things constitute play?
12:08 One of the highest sales activities you can possibly do if you’re in professional selling, is to do something playful with a client
14:12 Simply ask, When you’re not working 12 hours a day, what do you do for fun?
17:09 When was the last time you did something so good that you lost track of time?
17:38 So those three things for me is….
19:54 How does play facilitate deeper and more meaningful connections among colleagues and within our teams?
20:18 That’s what play opens up, it opens up a curiosity
21:57 Play is directly connected to how we cope and how we take care of our mental health
25:12 How does play contribute to fostering creativity and innovative thinking within individuals and organizations?
27:44 Figure out what your play is first
28:05 What’s one thing at work you could do all day?
30:42 There’s 3 things that we can really do
32:38 You don’t have to schedule it, you have to start by noticing it
35:05 You offer a mini course, which I thought was interesting, called What Is Play
36:06 People ask all the time, how do you play in such a serious world?
37:00 So my hope for the future of play and for understanding our playful intelligence is…
37:44 It’s brandiheather.com
Connect Socially:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandiheather/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToPlayToday/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandi__heather/
Email: info@brandiheather.com
Sponsors:
Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://bookme.michaelvickers.com/lite/rainmaker-leadgen-platform-demo
Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/
Resources: https://becomingpreferred-podcast.com/resources/
About the Host, Michael
Michael Vickers inspires enduring success, redefining the possible for today’s sales professionals, leaders, and managers. Whatever the sales or business opportunity, Michael will greatly enhance your odds of success. Every person who has an idea to promote, an employee to motivate, or a deal to negotiate, will attain a new level of success after an event with Michael.
Michael is also the best-selling author of Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell Your Competition, and Dance of the Rainmaker: Creating Authentic Differentiation in Today's Competitive Marketplace, where he shares his secrets to achieving the very highest level of sales mastery.
Whatever the result you’re striving for, if it involves influencing others or achieving success through others, Michael will build your confidence and accelerate your performance.
Michael is the Executive Director of Summit Learning Systems, a company that offers customized in-house training programs to many of today’s leading companies. He teaches thousands of business professionals throughout North America the skills required to achieve optimum performance.