THE FRESHBIZ GAME

– By Mark Young, President of Rational Games –

I took the occasion of my attendance at the European Conscious Capitalism Summit in Barcelona last month (https://www.consciouscapitalism.org) to meet with Ronen Gafni, co-founder of the FreshBiz Game and the game developer, and current member of the GameChangers500 list. The conversation was fascinating.

Founded just 8 years ago and now already played by 60,000 executives and entrepreneurs in 10 languages and 30 countries (!), this is one of the most exciting business games I have yet encountered. FreshBiz is a fairly old-fashioned analog board game, but the concept is anything but. For its basic premise is to turn Monopoly (and its mindset) on its head. Rather than bankrupting your opponent, successful business people are expected to rewire their thinking in creative ways that add value and build relationships. This is “conscious business” at its finest.

There are several things I really like about the game. The first is its philosophical foundation: all players compete not with each other, but against the clock (90 minutes), so that multiple winners are possible. Players do not need to wait their turn or be the one holding the dice, but can draw and act on “Action Cards” at any time, as well as invite other players to partner with them. To FreshBiz, all systems are games, and successful games are based on applied innovation, not fear. The job of business is to add value to the total pie for all.

Second, this game is an open system, not a closed and predetermined one. Through their progressive workshops of Fresh Minds, Fresh Skills and Fresh Moves, participants learn to “break the box” and come up with new issues, ideas and combinations to dramatically improve results for all. In their “collaborative quest”, players learn to “win to the winth power” by unleashing creativity and innovation together, all in a proactive way.

Finally, FreshBiz practices what it teaches. Its corporate strategy is not to compete with other training companies (like mine) but rather to seek opportunities for innovative cooperation and shared and complementary resources. They seek to “change the game you play and thus also the way you play life” and lead the way in that themselves.

More on this as we develop the relationship. But so far, this kind of thinking is a breath of fresh air indeed in the serious gaming world.

More information is at:

freshbizgame.com

Ronen’s TEDx Talk about ‘ The New Game Of Business’ :

–

Vector illustration created by Freepik.