When the Hits Come ... "Frolic"
Work Hard, Play Hard
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
—Aristotle
I am excited to launch Chasing Influence with my friend Andy Johnson — produced by @RealVoicesofTheGame.
We talk baseball, leadership, coaching, and stories that shape who we become — on and off the field.
Ep. 1: Where It All Began ⚾️ You can listen anywhere you get your podcasts, including Apple and Spotify!
When the Hits Come … “Frolic”
Last spring, news came out of Iowa that a family’s barn had caught fire. Although it was a tragic loss of property, the fire wasn’t what was remarkable and newsworthy; it was the response that grabbed the headlines.
It was a Saturday, and as firefighters fought the blaze, the community of neighbors moved livestock, organized gear, and kept the milking on schedule. This was done without a command center or any frantic meetings. By Monday, the local Amish community started rebuilding, and by Tuesday, the barn’s frame stood tall again. If you have never seen a video of an Amish barn raising, it looks like a symphony of motion. Here’s an incredible time-lapse video of the process.
When the Amish raise a barn, they call it a frolic. A frolic is a shared job that blends social time with a clear, practical shared mission. It’s mutual aid in motion. And it’s fun! Embracing this approach to work and mindset shift could help any group as it takes on a challenging project.
Imagine a world where this is how you show up to work. This is the way the best and most successful teams quietly operate.
What can we learn from a frolic?
The genius of a frolic is simple: culture beats command. One or two people set the plan, then everyone knows their lane—planners prep, crews lift, cooks feed, kids pitch in. As one Amish farmer said, “With so many helping, no one works too hard … and we get a good visit.” The secret is the prework, so the work day feels less like problem-solving and more like fun-filled, purposeful work. When your barn is burning, you won’t have time to build trust or explain roles. Build a culture now where people already know what matters, enjoy showing up, and want to help. That’s how joyful work creates great work.
(p.s. Happy Anniversary, Rebecca!)
“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”
—H.E. Luccock
Connecting this quote to the story. The barn raising was accomplished by many people doing clear, humble jobs in harmony to achieve a task no one could do alone.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Work hard, play together—many clear jobs make one big lift light.
If you enjoyed this story, a series of three Chasing Influence workbooks is available. Stories are accompanied by discussion questions and answers. Each workbook contains 33 lessons to use with any team.
Updates on Chasing Influence
Chasing Influence: Transformational Coaching to Build Champions for Life is available in Kindle, softcover, hardcover, and audiobook editions.
For additional resources, links to podcast appearances, and other Chasing Influence news, click here.
Never knew the term! Modern corporate culture, especially in our bigger organizations, have made the idea of a shared goal or vision increasingly difficult to see or feel. Most people show up to work and go through the motions, with little notion of what it is for in the bigger picture. And we wonder why we feel burnt out!