A few weeks ago I was having dinner with our family, and the subject turned to Pokemon Go. My 15-year-old son Ben commented, “The government has been trying to solve childhood obesity and exercise for a decade, and Pokemon Go did it in a weekend.” I was blown away by the comment.

Think about this for a second. We have had well-meaning government programs to encourage kids to eat better, exercise more and stay healthy for many years. We legislated what could be on the tray for school lunches. We built presidential fitness commissions and handed out awards. We ran public service announcements, and the first lady of the United States appeared on “Sesame Street.” All in the name of eating better and exercising more.

And during the week that Pokemon Go came out, a friend of our kids who is normally pretty sedentary biked nine miles in a single day in search of capturing cartoon characters on his smartphone. The Pappajohn Sculpture Garden in downtown Des Moines had hundreds of people walking around at 9 p.m. on a Friday looking for Pikachu and Charizard through the augmented reality of the camera on their phone. This is unprecedented.

So what should we learn?

First, doing something fun is always more motivating than doing something that is “good for you.” We won’t solve the obesity epidemic in the United States with Pokemon Go. Eventually the fad will pass, and it certainly does nothing to make us eat better as a country. There are real issues regarding health and wellness that need addressing. But this augmented reality video game taught us that by making something that is good for you AND fun, you can literally move the country. If we really want to move the needle, we need to focus on both good and fun.

Second, the private sector often can solve problems better than the government can. Certainly there are instances where the government needs to act, but the combination of Nintendo and the folks who brought us Google Earth have increased physical activity by multiple times what all of our programs before have likely done. Now, there aren’t quantitative studies to tell us this, but just look around. In your own town or neighborhood, how many young people are outdoors, walking around looking for Pokemon? Many more than you have ever seen.

Business, motivated by both profit and obtaining customers, can be a force for good. In our political discourse today, we have forgotten this. This has been true in the past century and can be true today. What’s the next smartphone app that helps us eat healthier and have fun? When will the next video game launch that enables movement through adventure and activity instead of enabling time on the couch?

There will be copycats of Pokemon Go, for sure. Even now, some are predicting its demise. But the concept will hold — an augmented reality video game based on capturing Japanese-created video characters has done more to increase exercise for kids in a short period of time than all the well-crafted, academically documented government programs have ever done. The blinding flash of the obvious (BFO) holds true: We do what is fun faster and easier than we do what is good for us. Private businesses have a role to play in that world. In fact, we have a responsibility. Let’s get started.