War Games Help Top Leaders Build Better Strategies

Booz Allen Hamilton's war-gaming practice uses highly structured, well-researched simulations to give business and government leaders more insight into strategies and their consequences. War games began as a tool for militaries to suggest and test new strategies. Similarly, companies can use these tools to identify paths not taken, test them in a simulated setting, and force hard decisions that they might not otherwise be willing to make. Because war games require a significant amount of preparation and resources, organizations should be sure that, among serious-gaming options, war games are the right tool for the job. War games work especially well at the senior level, where top leaders can justify this investment and use the results to hone grand strategies for the overall organization.