Mark Goode: Business know-how and WoW

Can playing WoW help improve your management skills? Nope, that wasn’t a trick question. Business management and the World of Warcraft are two separate universes altogether – at least for some players. Until financial and business observer Mark Goode cited WoW as a training ground for potential managers.

Managers are leaders and leaders are hard to find. Leadership is a natural trait for some, while others earn or learn it through experience. So not everyone possesses the charisma to get people to follow them to the ends of the earth or Azeroth, but respect can be gained and a good reputation lasts. Goode points out,

A certain class of games, ‘World of Warcraft’ for example, has a structure to it that not only could identify current leaders, but help train hopeful managers… To excel at ‘Warcraft’ requires interaction with dozens, if not hundreds, of other players. Reputations are made quickly and tend to be persistent, at the least following the character if not the player.

Doesn’t it give you a warm fuzzy feeling that playing WoW actually does something to your life and people skills? And does this mean that the next applicants for manager or department head would have to pass a WoW leadership test?

Can playing WoW help improve your management skills? Nope, that wasn’t a trick question. Business management and the World of Warcraft are two separate universes altogether – at least for some players. Until financial and business observer Mark Goode cited WoW as a training ground for potential managers.

Managers are leaders and leaders are hard to find. Leadership is a natural trait for some, while others earn or learn it through experience. So not everyone possesses the charisma to get people to follow them to the ends of the earth or Azeroth, but respect can be gained and a good reputation lasts. Goode points out,

A certain class of games, ‘World of Warcraft’ for example, has a structure to it that not only could identify current leaders, but help train hopeful managers… To excel at ‘Warcraft’ requires interaction with dozens, if not hundreds, of other players. Reputations are made quickly and tend to be persistent, at the least following the character if not the player.

Doesn’t it give you a warm fuzzy feeling that playing WoW actually does something to your life and people skills? And does this mean that the next applicants for manager or department head would have to pass a WoW leadership test?