From Publishers Weekly
Those who are looking for a contrarian view of video games will find it in these pages. While many parents fret about their children’s minds turning to goo as they squander hour after hour absorbed in electronic diversion, the authors argue that gamers glean valuable knowledge from their pastime and that they’re poised to use that knowledge to transform the workplace. Beck (The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business) and Mitchell (DoCoMo—Japan’s Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force) base their claims on an exclusive survey of approximately 2000 business professionals. That survey, say the authors, provides the first data showing a direct, statistically verifiable link between digital games and professional behavior in the workplace. The authors express their analysis in clean, crisp prose devoid of jargon, making it accessible for non-gamers, especially non-gamers who are managers. "Gamers believe that winning matters," Beck and Wade contend, and gamers also place "a high value on competence—wanting to be an expert in the first place"—all of which makes the video game generation, estimated by the authors to be some 90 million strong, an influential force in the work place. The book touches on a handful of other ways in which gamers differ from non-gamers and provides suggestions on how employers can take advantage of their unique values and skills. Some readers may find themselves grinding their teeth at many of the authors’ upbeat conclusions about the benefits video game players will bring to the business world, but most will find the pair’s findings fascinating and provocative.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


The Financial Times, 21 October, 2004
"Got Game deserves credit for drawing attention to an issue...in 200 bright and breezy pages."


Book Description
Managers Must "Get" Gamers…or Lose Think video games are kids' stuff? Think again. Provocative new data shows that video games have created a new generation of employees and executives-bigger than the baby boom-that will dramatically transform the workplace. And according to strategists John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, managers who understand and harness this generation's distinct attributes can leap far ahead of their competition. Got Game shows how growing up immersed in video games has profoundly shaped the attitudes and abilities of this new generation. Though little-noticed, these ninety million rising professionals, through sheer numbers, will inevitably dominate business-and are already changing the rules. While many of these changes are positive-such as more open communication and creative problem-solving-they have caused a generation gap that frustrates gamers and the boomers who manage them. Got Game identifies the distinct values and traits that define the gamer generation-from an increased appetite for risk to unexpected leadership skills-and reveals management techniques today's leaders can use to bridge the generation gap and unleash gamers' hidden potential.


About the Author
John C. Beck is President of North Star Leadership Group, Senior Advisor at Monitor Group, and Senior Research Fellow at UCLA's Center for Communication Policy. He is coauthor of The Attention Economy (HBS Press, 2001). Mitchell Wade develops information tools and strategy for firms like Google, RAND, and Charles Schwab.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Biggest Factor Shaping the future of business is small enough to fit in a teenager's hand. That factor is video games - and though most of us dismiss gaming as a waste of time, more than ninety million people are ready to prove us wrong. Got Game reveals the profound impact that the "gamer generation" (already bigger than the baby boom) will have on the future of business. While games have made this group dramatically different in terms of their attitudes, expectations, and abilities, the potential of this generation has scarcely been noticed in most organizations. But managers won't be able to ignore gamers for long. Comprised of millions of rising professionals in the U.S. alone, the gamer generation will ultimately dominate the workforce - and they are already changing the rules of business.

Through a large-scale survey and hundreds of interviews, strategists John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade find that gaming is not a time sink, but an amazingly effective training camp for critical business skills. All those hours immersed in game culture have created masses of employees with unique attributes: bold but measured risk taking, an amazing ability to multitask, and unexpected leadership skills. Indeed, gamers are strong in exactly the areas that today's companies need most. But to leverage these skills, today's managers will need to understand and appreciate the very different ways in which gamers think and behave. Beck and Wade dispel common myths about gamers and reveal them as committed, team-oriented professionals who play to win. They offer specific strategies today's managers can use to bridge the generation gap and unleash gamers' hidden potential. Highlighting an important and influential new generation, this book shows why every company should make sure its people have "got game."

FROM THE CRITICS

The Financial Times - 21 October, 2004

Got Game deserves credit for drawing attention to an issue...in 200 bright and breezy pages.

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