Are We Having Fun Yet?

Finding joy on the job

They call it work for a reason: It's drudgery, something to slog through until payday. But maybe you love your job—work is your passion, your identity, and nearly all you do.

Bree Groff (MSLOC14) offers a third way to think about how we spend five-sevenths of our week: What if work were simply more fun? In her new book, Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously), she argues that life is too short to spend the week pining for Friday: "We deserve to love all our days. Even Mondays. Because one day we will run out."

Groff earned her master's degree in learning and organizational change from SESP and credits the program with shaping her human-centered approach to work. But she says her book's real backbone comes from her parents. Early lessons included hearing her mother come home from teaching kindergarten saying, "I have the best days," and watching her father laugh and joke with colleagues like old friends. Later lessons were harder won. Caring for her mother during terminal cancer profoundly changed Groff's relationship to her own days, while caring for her father, who has Alzheimer's disease, keeps those lessons alive.

In Today Was Fun, Groff, a senior adviser at global consulting firm SY Partners and a public speaker, challenges the idea that professionalism requires being buttoned-up and overworked. Her seven rules for better days on the job include reminders that our brains work whether we're wearing stretchy pants or a suit and that "mostly good days" are enough.

"I'm a firm believer that any job can be fun with the right people," she says.

Before joining SY Partners, Groff was CEO of NOBL, a consultancy focused on new ways of working. She has partnered with executives on everything from company vision and culture to employee experience at Pfizer, Microsoft, Calvin Klein, Hilton, Atlassian, Target, and Google, among others.

After double majoring in biology and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, she moved to Los Angeles, where she pursued acting and taught middle and high school math and physics—experiences that also appear in the book.

Blending personal stories with research and humor, Groff offers practical exercises for improving team dynamics and creating workplaces where people feel human and alive. The book, which she considered for five years before writing it in six months, was named a best indie book of 2025 by Kirkus Reviews.

Groff recently joined a virtual book talk with SESP's Master's in Learning and Organizational Change program to discuss favorite concepts. Here are three approaches Groff recommends for building better workplace relationships—the foundation for having more fun.

A "Manual of Me"

Help others understand how to work with you at your best by spelling out the basics like who matters most in your life and what you need when you're stressed or stuck (space, conversation, or something else). Instead of making people guess or projecting expectations, simply let them know how you work. Groff says the "manual" has a 100 percent success rate. Getting to know one another faster builds empathy and increases the chances that team members will understand—and like—one another.

Finger shoots

Groff begins meetings by asking everyone how they're doing on a scale of one to five. Participants show their number with their fingers, then take about 30 seconds to explain why. A five might mean a birthday weekend; a two might mean a bad back and a camera turned off. In just five minutes, judgment gives way to empathy. People feel seen, conversations soften, and teams build real camaraderie.

Micro mischief

Add lightness and surprise to the workday. Try ordering umbrella picks for coffee or tea, expensed as "team building," and pass them out at a meeting. Or start a Where's Waldo–style game by hiding an object in plain sight. For something a little more controversial, schedule a Friday meeting with a serious title—then cancel it on arrival and give everyone the hour back to enjoy their lives.

By Julie Deardorff