So you say Split Testing wasn’t nerdy enough for you? Ok, I’ll do you one better. I’m here to tell you how Dungeons & Dragons actually makes you a more effective communicator, colleague, and collaborator. Yes, really.
For the uninitiated, Dungeons & Dragons (DnD) is a Role-Playing Game (RPG) in which players assume the role of a fantasy character and explore the world as created by the Dungeon Master (DM). These characters can range from the tame (like Tree, a barbarian named for his propensity for smashing things with a tree), to the strange (take Toki Tiger Tilted Tree Timid Turtle Timbers, a gnomish druid with an affection for all flora), to the extremely specific (my wife’s take on “Saylor Twift” comes to mind — she was a bard that battled by singing Taylor Swift lyrics).
It’s certainly a strange game, but that’s part of the charm. Everyone comes to the table as equals, and embarks on a journey of make-believe, silliness, and camaraderie. There are so many parallels between this fantasy world and the real world — but I want to focus on 3 specific ways DnD translates to business success.
1. DnD Teaches Empathy
We’ve all heard the overused adage about “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.” In DnD you quite literally have the opportunity to BE someone else — you take on the mannerisms, the goals, the fears, the past, and the hope for the future for your character. Without a doubt, it can be strange to start with. My first character, Rhorash, was orphaned and hellbent on summoning an evil dragon Goddess named Tiamat — in real life, I am neither an orphan or a Tiamat devotee. The act of playing this character, however, afforded me the chance to ask myself questions like “How does Rhorash’s past as an orphan impact his relationship with authority figures? Would he be slower to trust, or have challenges establishing relationships? Perhaps he is fiercely independent after years of relying on himself to succeed?”
This introspection is a massively valuable tool that helps you build empathy, not only for the characters in the game but for your fellow humans as well. Instead of rushing to conclusions about someone’s actions, you become more prone to ask yourself “Why might they be acting this way?” When you ask a question, you start to think about how the recipient might interpret your message, and adjust accordingly. When someone asks you for help, it becomes more and more natural to investigate why they are asking for this help in the first place.
When you learn to empathize with your fellow humans, you gain a level of understanding that drives interpersonal connection forward. Using something as simple as roleplaying a character in DnD, you can begin to make major strides towards becoming a more understanding, empathetic version of yourself… Which brings me to my second point —
2. DnD Embraces Diversity
In a world where thousand-year-old Elves, two-feet-tall Dwarves, and half-demon Tieflings interact, our human differences become small. In a typical Campaign, it’s not uncommon to have players choose characters that are (gasp!) a different gender than they identify with, or that (oh no!) follow a completely made up religion! You may end up with 4 different Races (DnD term for “type” of character, e.g. elf, dwarf, gnome, etc.) in a single party — Imagine that, multiple groups coming together for the common good.
A well-balanced party, much like a diverse team in the workplace, is SO MUCH more effective than a homogenous one. Imagine 4 dwarves arriving at the evil Dragon’s lair, decked out in heavy armor with axes in hand, ready to slay the foul beast… only to find out a Wizard has enchanted the fortress to float 200 feet in the air. If only the party had a Wizard to help them out. Conversely, imagine 4 wizards in robes walking into said fortress and coming face-to-face with a towering dragon — Bet they’d be thankful for some armored dwarves to help hack away at the serpent.
Learning that diversity is not just a thing you luck into, but something you have to actively fight for is a key learning here. Much like the wizards and dwarves in the above example, people in the business world should strive to build teams that encompass diversity of race, diversity of background, diversity of thought — It’s been studied and studied and studied, with the result showing the same thing each time: Diverse teams are better teams.
To be as effective as you can, you have to start by being empathetic towards your fellow humans and actively embrace and promote diversity. These aren’t one-and-done changes — they are a constant push, an ever-present, aspirational goal to strive for. The closer you can get to that world, though, the better colleague, advocate, and ally you’ll be.
The way forward isn’t always obvious, though — You’ll have to read on, adventurer, to see how DnD can help you navigate that path too…
3. DnD Helps You Lean Into Ambiguity
There’s a door in front of you. It’s solid gold, with an onyx-black trim around it. How do you get through? It’s a trope of DnD Dungeons to have a (probably) locked door in front of the party, and ask them to figure out how to get through. Is there a key hidden under a doormat? Do you have to pull instead of push? Maybe there’s a magic spell that makes the party have to enter in ascending order of height or age?
No matter what the solution, the DM needs to be able to adjust on the fly to what the party tries, or it’s never going to be fun! If the druid casts Wild Shape, turns himself into a housefly, flies through the keyhole, and tries to open the door from the other side, while your solution was “the key was hanging 10ft to the right”, it’s in the spirit of the game to agree that the druid’s solution was the way all along — “How did you know you had to open it from the other side? Great job, take Inspiration for that! (like a DM’s gold star sticker)”
This ability to adjust on the fly and keep the end goal in mind is vitally important in business as well. You’re 6 weeks into a 10 week project, and the client asks you to investigate using a completely different programming language than you’ve used for the last month and a half! Do you tell them no? Agree immediately? I’d suggest you combine the skills we’ve learned thus far to put yourself in the client’s shoes, gain a deeper understanding of WHY they are asking the questions they are, and adjust course as needed. Perhaps there’s an undercurrent that all BI reporting will be moving to Python instead of R in the next 18 months — When you act empathetically, lean into ambiguity, and build an effective, diverse team, you can find this out in time to build the right solution rather than floundering in a sea of unknowns.
With all those reasons to join in mind, who’s in to play DnD? … Ok, I get it, maybe DnD is still too far on the nerd-scale for most. But hopefully you all still got something out of this post! There truly are many benefits from taking part in a Campaign, and I only had time to touch on a few of them in this short article.
Comment your thoughts on this article below, and check in soon for my next post, Using Déjà vu to Your Advantage: Recognizing and Leveraging Pattern Sets
