Total Engagement

Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete

by Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read

Harvard Business Press, 2009

Copyright 2009 Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read
Summarized by permission of Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 9781422146576
Pages: 288

Category: Leadership & Management

Share Tweet it!

Subscribe

Sign up now and receive immediate full access to this summary.

getAbstract rating

Overall (?)

(8)

Applicability	(8)
Innovation	(8)
Style	(9)
Level of Expertise (?)	(3)

In this summary you will learn

• How games relate to work
• How to use games – and learn from them – to improve your business and your employees’ work experience and productivity

Why you should read Total Engagement

This book’s title, Total Engagement, doesn’t tell readers all that much, but its subtitle, Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete, explains everything. Stanford professor Byron Reeves and physician, inventor and CEO J. Leighton Read address the role of games at work. As enthusiasts, they are clearly excited by the ways games might change work for the better, making it more thrilling, meaningful and engaging. Their appraisal is realistic in two ways. First, they discuss gaming’s negative aspects. Second, they are clear that since millions of people already “game” regularly, even obsessively, many of the changes they discuss so tellingly are now under way. Their approach to gaming gives leaders the tools they need to make conscious, systematic use of what’s already happening at their companies. Given the broad array of areas that gaming affects, getAbstract recommends this book to leaders who want to ride this wave, human resources professionals who need to keep up with their shifting domain, and others who are interested in change (and games, of course).

About the authors

Byron Reeves, a professor at Stanford University, cofounded the Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute as well as Seriosity, a consulting and software firm. J. Leighton Read is a doctor and venture capitalist.