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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."
John C. Beck is President of North Star
Leadership Group, a senior advisor at Monitor Group, and
Senior Research Fellow at the Annenberg Center of the Digital
Future, University of Southern California. He is coauthor
of The Attention Economy (HBS Press, 2001).
Mitchell Wade develops information tools
and strategy for firms like Google, RAND Corporation, and
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
For more information about the book,
please visit www.gotgamebook.com.
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