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Beach Play Company Discover a unique approach to team building with us! Unlock your teams full potential! Let’s play!

Canine Kid-U-Cation
10/09/2026

Canine Kid-U-Cation

10/08/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership lately.

Not because I think we need another leadership seminar.

Actually, that’s part of my question.

There are leadership books, workshops, conferences, coaches and assessments everywhere.

So why is there still such a gap between what we teach about leadership and what people actually experience from their leaders?

Phil Brown once asked me on his podcast if team building has a marketing problem.

It stuck with me.

Maybe leadership does too.

Is the word misunderstood? Overused? Has it become another business term that everyone uses but not everyone defines the same way?

I think leadership starts with one uncomfortable question:

Would I follow me?

Am I someone people can trust? Do I practice what I preach? Do I take responsibility when I’m wrong? Do I develop others? Do I lead with integrity, honesty, humility, compassion and service?

Because people are watching you long before they decide whether to follow you.

I learned something about this years ago in staffing. When a new recruit was hired, some managers barely invested time in helping that person succeed. When the recruit failed and was eventually fired, I often wondered:

Who really failed?

Sometimes the leadership failure happened long before the employee failed.

So what does any of this have to do with play?

A lot.

People don’t always learn by being told. They learn by doing.

Take people outside of their normal work environment and put them in an experience where they can have fun while communicating, collaborating, making decisions, adapting, dealing with frustration and depending on each other.

You start to see the real person.

And sometimes the best learning is an aha:

“Wow. That’s what I do when I’m under pressure.”

That’s why an effective facilitator matters.

They don’t simply run activities. They create an environment where people feel safe enough to participate, ask the right questions and think for themselves.

A bad experience can do the opposite.

And then there’s the question every business leader should ask:

What’s the ROI? Why would I pay my people to step away from work and play?

Because play, when designed with purpose, isn’t time away from productive work.

It’s an investment in how people communicate, trust, lead and work together when they return.

Turnover has a cost.

Poor communication has a cost.

Disengagement has a cost.

Bad leadership has a cost.

We just don’t always put those costs on the spreadsheet.

Maybe we don’t need less leadership training.

Maybe we need more opportunities to experience leadership, examine ourselves and practice what we’re learning.

That’s one of the reasons I wrote The Power of Play.

Because sometimes the fastest way to understand who we are is to stop talking about it…

and experience it.

Would I follow me?






What happens when you bring 25 people, 4 teams, a beach, and a whole lot of sand together?You get the Mars Snacking Sand...
09/24/2026

What happens when you bring 25 people, 4 teams, a beach, and a whole lot of sand together?

You get the Mars Snacking Sand Sculpture Contest at the Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort!

This spouse incentive group brought their creativity, competitive spirit, and sense of humor to the beach. There were plenty of laughs, teamwork, and memories made along the way.

And when the sand settled… we had a winner! 🏆

Congratulations to the winning team and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who played, laughed, created, and made the experience so much fun.

This is what happens when you give people permission to play, connect, and create together.

Beach Play Company — we don’t use play to entertain teams. We use play to reveal them.

Play. Connect. Trust. Grow.

09/23/2026

“I’m stupid. You’re stupid. This is stupid.”

Yep. I say that in my presentations.

And every time I do, I see the smiles.
The head nods.

I take that as:

“Yes, Ken. I know exactly what you mean.”

I feel so strongly about this idea that I include it in all of my presentations and even in my book, The Power of Play: Reclaiming Connection in a Disconnected World.

Because here’s what I’ve realized:

We are constantly debriefing.

Me.
You.
Them.

Something happens, and almost immediately, we start telling ourselves what it means.

I should have handled that differently.
They don’t get it.
I’m not good at this.
That was stupid.
They’re stupid.

The debrief never stops.

As facilitators, we intentionally create space to reflect:

What?
So What?
Now What?

But maybe we’re doing this every day without realizing it.

And here’s the part that really interests me:

It’s not the experience that creates the learning environment.

It’s what we do with the experience afterward.

Our self-talk.
Our judgments.
Our assumptions.
Our willingness to stay curious—or close our minds.

The Now What is where learning begins.

We’re all facilitating ourselves.

So maybe the better question isn’t:

“What happened?”

Maybe it’s:

“What am I telling myself about what happened?”

Because that conversation might be the most important debrief of all.

PLAY. CONNECT. TRUST. GROW.

09/22/2026

"You can’t learn in survival mode.”

I heard that line on a podcast recently, and it stopped me.

Every person walks into a room with a different learning style, different experiences, and different challenges.

So before we ask people to learn, communicate, collaborate, or grow…

What kind of environment are we creating for them?

That’s one of the reasons I use play as my tool for learning.

Play lowers the walls.
Play creates curiosity.
Play gives people permission to participate.
And play creates an environment where people can experience something together before we ask them to learn from it.

That’s The Playground Principle.

Play. Connect. Trust. Grow.

Sometimes the best way to build a learning environment is to stop teaching for a moment…

…and create a place where people are ready to learn.

Thank you Joe! I really appreciate you sharing your successful experience with "Human Scrabble". You made my day!
09/21/2026

Thank you Joe! I really appreciate you sharing your successful experience with "Human Scrabble". You made my day!

Thank you, Sandra, for sharing your experience at The Playground Principle!Your words are a great reminder that sometime...
09/20/2026

Thank you, Sandra, for sharing your experience at The Playground Principle!

Your words are a great reminder that sometimes we all need to step away from the work, have a little fun, and reconnect.

“I attended the Mind the Gap, Build the Bridge session and found it incredibly rewarding. Having worked in HR for over 20 years, it’s easy to get caught up in the mindset of ‘all work, no play.’ Employees appreciate being recognized, and managers need opportunities to take breaks and connect, too.

This type of interaction can benefit employees at all levels by fostering connection, engagement, and team bonding. I would highly recommend Ken’s class to any employer looking for meaningful ways to bring their teams together.”

This is why I believe in the power of play.

Thank you, Sandra, for being part of the fun!

Play. Connect. Trust. Grow.

I’m grateful for people like Brittany who take the time to put into words what they experience in my work.Thank you, Bri...
09/20/2026

I’m grateful for people like Brittany who take the time to put into words what they experience in my work.

Thank you, Brittany, for this incredibly thoughtful recommendation. It means more than you know.

"There are people who talk about creating better workplaces, and then there are people who have a way of making you experience what that can actually feel like.

Ken is one of those people.

What I appreciate most about Ken and his work is his ability to bring laughter and lightness into a room while still creating meaningful impact. He exemplifies what it means to use play with intention, with a genuine understanding of how people connect, collaborate, and let their guard down.

As a facilitator myself, I have a huge appreciation for that. I’ve seen firsthand what can happen when teams feel safe enough to step outside their titles, power dynamics, and normal workplace roles for a little while. People show up differently. They talk to each other differently. They collaborate differently. There’s something pretty magical about watching it happen.

Reading Ken’s book, The Power of Play, reinforced something I already appreciated about his work: he understands that play has real value in business. It can fuel creativity, motivation, connection, and teamwork.

I also appreciate how much importance he places on setting agreements and expectations before asking people to participate. That says a lot about the thoughtfulness behind his approach.

Ken brings laughter into serious spaces without losing the substance of the work. In a world that loves titles, power, hustle, and taking ourselves way too seriously, I think we need a lot more of that.

I’m grateful to know him, learn from his work, and see him continuing to prove that play and meaningful work absolutely belong in the same room."

— Brittany Blackman
Discover Freedom

Today I stood in front of 40+ HR professionals in Myrtle Beach and shared something I truly believe in: play has a place...
09/18/2026

Today I stood in front of 40+ HR professionals in Myrtle Beach and shared something I truly believe in: play has a place in the workplace.

We laughed. We played. We connected. And for a little while, we put titles, generations, and job descriptions aside and simply became people playing together.

That’s the heart of The Playground Principle: Mind the Gap. Build the Bridge.

I’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this day, and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who encouraged me, challenged me, helped me prepare, and believed in what I’m trying to share.

And now I know why I do what I do.

I ❤️ my job!

What a way to start my week!WOW. Just WOW..These reviews of The Power of Play from my publisher popped up in my Google f...
09/14/2026

What a way to start my week!

WOW. Just WOW..

These reviews of The Power of Play from my publisher popped up in my Google feed this morning, and they stopped me in my tracks.

“Real world guide.”
“A must read.”
“Play unlocks creativity, cooperation, success, and joy.”

That means more to me than I can say.

I wrote this book because I believe play can help us reconnect with ourselves and with each other.

Seeing these words this morning was a pretty wonderful reminder of why I wrote it.

Thank you Jim and Kristi!

"This book was much more than I expected... it is a real world guide on not only why you should do this in your life but also how. I wish this book was available 20 years ago!”Healthy Learning

“In this book, Ken presents a framework that is invaluable to teachers, parents and employers. A must read for anyone who wants to encourage real-time connections in our increasingly virtual world.”Healthy Learning

“The Power of Play" uses science and real-life examples to show the reader what nearly every kid on the planet already knows; Play unlocks creativity, cooperation, success, and joy in just about every aspect of our day.”
Heathy Learning

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3 Braddock Bluff Drive #1743
Hilton Head Island, SC
29928

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