Rowan's Future of Choice

Simulating executive decisions

In the 1970’s the 3M company sold a line of adult games. The 1971 game called Executive Decision was designed to simulate a corporate leader's decision making process. What’s interesting is how simplistic the game was: no consideration of whether customers would buy the products; no competition; and the only measure of success is profit.

Given the complexity of today's business world, this game evokes an entirely different time and place, not a period I remember well. 

You can buy a used game at eBay. 

Thanks to Dennis Matheson for his game review at The Game Pile.

Exercising our brains by playing video games

Malcolm Gladwell quotes author Steven Johnson in New Yorker magazine:

Playing a video game is, in fact, an exercise in 'constructing the proper hierarchy of tasks and moving through the tasks in the correct sequence,' he writes. “It’s about finding order and meaning in the world, and making decisions that help create that order.

New Yorker article
Malcolm Gladwell's web site
Steven Johnson's blog