Would You Rather…? A Game in Jest

By Gabbi Figueroa

Would you Rather is a game where someone is posed with the dilemma of choosing between two options that are equally enticing if done well. This makes for a fun social game where individuals can ask various questions with different scenarios that can lead to connection and laughter. Here are two different methods of playing the game “Would you rather,” and you decide which one you think would be more fun!

Game One: A group of friends decide to play “Would you rather” together one afternoon. Having known each other for a while, they decide to stray away from the typical questions they have tried before and take a bit more time coming up with their unique dilemmas pertinent to their friends. The question that stole the night with laughter was: “Would you rather professionally race in NASCAR, but everyone has to use Little Tikes Jett cars as adults, or stay a child forever with a carefree lifestyle but have to work as a professional candy taste tester on weekends?” The bizarre nature of the question got a lot of laughter out of the group and led to people feeling more comfortable posing outlandish questions with many twists and caveats. Another one being “Would you rather have every social event begin with an improv comedy show or be able to have impromptu dance parties with the press of a button?” Everyone left feeling joyous and laughing. They thought about all the creative free flowing ideas they were able to ask and had fun generating them together.

Game Two: A group of friends decide to play “Would you rather” together one afternoon. Having known each other for a while, they decide to go back to the basics and ask each other some classic “would you rather” questions. “Would you rather be able to fly or teleport everywhere?” got some interesting answers as well as “Would you rather live by the beach or live near mountains?” and “Would you rather time travel to the past or the future?” These questions moved into pondering what it means to be human, and why we decide to live
and do the things that we do. Everyone left feeling happy, witnessed, and were happy they got to laugh at the lighthearted questions and think deeply about the existential ones.

For those of you wondering, I enjoy a good game of “Would you rather.” I have indeed pulled these game examples from my own repertoire of fun and bizarre scenarios I have been able to experience with others. I hope both games sound fun and connected, because I am attempting to make a statement relevant to us as individuals pursuing a pretty serious career endeavor. We can take our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously! Both games would bring about moments of laughter and fun, and there is no wrong way to play such a game as this. My sentiment is to remind us to take the time to play the game or have that fun conversation about time travel in our workspace that can foster community. You never know what question or thought could lead to a fruitful conversation that ends in laughter and genuine connection.

Here are a couple suggestions that I have been employing to foster levity in my daily work based on some points made by interpersonal intelligence expert Vanessa Van Edwards.Vanessa talks about replacing the common “How are you?” question with one that fosters connection instead of keeping everyone on autopilot with a generic one. To exercise this point, I have been starting my meetings with my research assistants by asking if anything exciting has happened in the past week for them. I noticed in the first couple weeks of employing this strategy that everyone was engaged for the remainder of the meeting. I believe this was due to the tone of engagement being set right off the bat. Next week, I plan on asking them to talk about a movie character they resonate with the most and why. I hope this and other thought exercises can help my research assistants feel the appreciation I have for them and their interests, so they know they can ask me anything inside and outside of our allotted meeting time.

As an authenticity researcher, I am motivated to help myself and others find and exhibit their most authentic selves. For me, allowing myself to build connections through laughter has helped me to feel more authentic in my workplace. Not everyone will see “Would you rather” as a pivotal moment in finding their spark for exhibiting authenticity in the workplace, but I hope it instills a sense of whimsy in you that you can bring into your workspace and community.

If you are interested in Vanessa Van Edwards work, here is her Ted Talk “You are
Contagious”: https://youtu.be/cef35Fk7YD8?feature=shared.