Playing games isn’t just about having fun. Sometimes games and the way we play them can help out in other areas like critical thinking and business strategy. That’s the message of Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow and Chief Strategist Melvin Greer in his new book, 21st Century Leadership: Harnessing Innovation, Accelerating Business Success.

Greer devotes quite a lot of ink in his book to gamification, a concept that seems to come naturally to younger people who grew up playing video games, but which is still looked at in a somewhat negative light in certain organizations.

Greer was on Gamification Talk Radio this week to talk about gamification in the federal government to try and provoke a deeper citizen engagement.

Greer also talked about the Carbon Footprint Game, a gamification project focused on sustainable energy, and how games like that can become a road map for government agencies and other organizations can use the games and game technology everyone loves to more accurately produce their message.