Workers at This Toy Company Play a Board Game for Leadership Training: ‘Monopoly Meets a Crash Course MBA’
The $12 billion toy and entertainment company is known for classic games like Monopoly and Scrabble.
Key Takeaways
- Hasbro requires rising managers to play a board game called Toy Tycoon as part of the company’s leadership training.
- In Toy Tycoon, teams take on the role of co-CEOs managing Hasbro brands and competing in an evolving marketplace.
- Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said that the role of a CEO is very similar to a grand strategy game, and called Toy Tycoon “a crash course MBA.”
Hasbro, the toy and entertainment company behind brands like Monopoly, Dungeons and Dragons, Play-Doh and Scrabble, is turning its creativity inward. Instead of sending rising managers to business school or corporate leadership programs, Hasbro is training its high-potential employees through a new strategy board game called Toy Tycoon.
Hasbro’s potential leaders undergo a program that begins with a two-day intensive led by top executives, including CEO Chris Cocks, reports Fortune. Participants learn core business foundations, such as strategy, capital allocation and the mechanics of the toy industry through real-world case studies.
The true challenge arrives on the third day, when leadership training participants sit down to play Toy Tycoon, Hasbro’s proprietary leadership simulation game that is only available for workers to access. Cocks called the game “Monopoly meets a crash course MBA meets startup hustle, Hasbro-style,” per Fortune.
Related: ‘Embrace the Change.’ How the CEO of a 101-Year-Old Toy Company Adapts to an Ever-Evolving Industry
In Toy Tycoon, teams take on the role of co-CEOs managing Hasbro brands and competing in an evolving marketplace. Players are tasked with building a brand by carefully managing the company’s cash, time and resources. Each round of the game represents a year in the company’s life, forcing players to make tough decisions about hiring, product launches and manufacturing.
As in the real world, every choice has ripple effects. For example, over-investing in a low-margin product results in declining profits. Neglecting supply chains leads to stalled operations. Hasbro uses the game to mirror the challenges of executive decision-making.

Hasbro is a $12 billion company with offerings that center on play — and a CEO who believes in the power of games. Cocks first encountered leadership simulations while working at Microsoft, where similar exercises tested top managers’ ability to react to uncertainty. Inspired by that experience, he adapted the idea for Hasbro’s culture of play. Toy Tycoon was the result.
“I think the job of a CEO is very similar to a grand strategy game,” Cocks told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. “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.”
Related: Hasbro’s CEO Saw a ‘Clear Signal’ That It Was Time to Embrace AI for Dungeons & Dragons
Cocks isn’t the only business leader who sees gameplay as a tool to sharpen strategic thinking. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also fans of the complex video game Civilization, which is built on long-term planning.
Hasbro’s Toy Tycoon captures the idea that learning through play can be both serious and effective. One player told The Wall Street Journal that the game “gave me a much broader perspective of what it takes to run a business.”
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Key Takeaways
- Hasbro requires rising managers to play a board game called Toy Tycoon as part of the company’s leadership training.
- In Toy Tycoon, teams take on the role of co-CEOs managing Hasbro brands and competing in an evolving marketplace.
- Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said that the role of a CEO is very similar to a grand strategy game, and called Toy Tycoon “a crash course MBA.”
Hasbro, the toy and entertainment company behind brands like Monopoly, Dungeons and Dragons, Play-Doh and Scrabble, is turning its creativity inward. Instead of sending rising managers to business school or corporate leadership programs, Hasbro is training its high-potential employees through a new strategy board game called Toy Tycoon.
Hasbro’s potential leaders undergo a program that begins with a two-day intensive led by top executives, including CEO Chris Cocks, reports Fortune. Participants learn core business foundations, such as strategy, capital allocation and the mechanics of the toy industry through real-world case studies.