Photo Friday: Inspiration for Innovation is everywhere, if you notice it – Children’s Fairyland, Oakland, CA

Telling stories is all the rage right now. How about parks themed like stories? They didn’t exist before 1948, until this one, Children’s Fairyland was built, next to Lake Merritt, in Oakland, California. And then a man named Walt Disney toured the park in 1950 and turned the innovation here into the inspiration for much grander endeavors.

I have walked Lake Merritt dozens of times on walking meetings, and never stopped to learn about Children’s Playland. That changed when I asked a new colleague, Rivka Gordon, from Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute where we could walk on our meeting that would be new and interesting.

Notice the detail in the woman who lived in a shoe’s house. Walt certainly did (and here’s what it looked like in 1950), and changed our society as a result.

I love all the things I learn on walking meetings. When will you take your next one?

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Ted Eytan, MD