How Hasbro's CEO uses a Board Game to Spot Future Leaders

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks is using an unlikely tool to scout and train the company’s next generation of leaders: a board game.

“Ever wondered what it’d feel like to run your own toy empire?” Chris shared in a post on LinkedIn. “Introducing Toy Tycoon, Hasbro’s new immersive (and internal only… at least for now) strategy game designed to develop our top talent into strategic dynamos.”

The game places selected up-and-coming managers in the role of toy industry chief executives, forcing them to grapple with decisions typically reserved for the C-suite.

For Hasbro, the maker of Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble, the experiment reflects a belief that leadership skills can be revealed through play.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chris says: “I think the job of a CEO is very similar to a grand strategy game. Moving pieces on a complex game board has a lot of dynamism around it. 

“I’ve always thought about business that way, and that’s partially why I like it.”

Monopoly meets management training

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chris brought the idea for Toy Tycoon to Hasbro from Microsoft, where he played a similar simulation game. 

Before reaching the game board, participants, who are limited to a select group of promising managers, undergo a two-day crash course in business fundamentals and the toy industry.

The sessions are taught by the CEO alongside Chief Financial Officer Gina Goetter and Chief People Officer Holly Barbacovi, covering strategy, capital allocation and case studies drawn from Hasbro and the wider industry.

When day three comes around, participants reach the final test. Under the direction of a game masters, teams of players are named co-CEOs of toy companies and dropped into Toy Tycoon, a full-day exercise in decision-making under pressure.

Each round represents a year in business, with the stakes rising as the game progresses. Players must decide whether to invest in innovation or maximise profit, how much product to manufacture, which licences to pursue and what target to promise investors.

In an article by the WSJ shared by Chris on LinkedIn, it is explained that the game outlines questions, including whether to push into electronic games or plush toys, whether a Marvel licence is worth the cost and whether promised targets have been met.

Kate Fakonas, a Senior Director of Product Design for Play-Dog and Nerf, told the WSJ about her experience: “It struck me immediately how fast it pulls you into a very real-feeling environment.”

The game that tests C-suite potential

Kate shared that she was paired up as co-CEO with Stephanie Buscher, Vice President of Supply Planning, and was tasked with building and dominating toy markets using Super Soaker and My Little Pony.

As the rounds unfold, unexpected shocks, including sharp increases in freight costs that send expenses soaring or declining demand for legacy categories, tests the team’s resilience.

The goal is to help executives think through how to manage cash, time and resources, and how to pivot when even thoughtful plans are derailed.

Kate added: “It gave me a much broader perspective of what it takes to run a business.” The pair won after five rounds, finishing with the highest calculated market value.

Brian Baker, Hasbro’s Senior Vice President of Board Games, Play-Doh and Nerf, told Fortune: “As a company built on play, it makes sense for us to use a strategy game to develop future leaders.

“Toy Tycoon helps our rising talent think like owners, work across teams and build confidence making decisions, all while staying true to who we are as a company.”

Chris echoed that sentiment in his LinkedIn post: “It’s intense, strategically challenging and seriously fun. Think Monopoly meets a crash course MBA meets startup hustle, Hasbro-style.”