How D&D Makes You A Better Entrepreneur With Phil MacNevin

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Today we have Phil MacNevin on the show talking about Dungeons and Dragons. Phil is a friend of mine that I have had in the entrepreneurial world for many years now. I have known him as a copywriter, brilliant operations manager in several companies, start-ups, and growing his own businesses and brands. Most recently Dungeons and Dragons miniatures which has landed him in an entirely new industry of tabletop gaming.

So Phil has a lot of the same roots in entrepreneurship, coaching, leadership, and personal development and is now exploring the world of gaming. I find that the way that these two worlds interact is really fascinating and powerful and a much-needed tool for entrepreneurs these days. There are a lot of benefits that you can get through playing a role-playing game such as Dungeons & Dragons. That is what we are going to be talking about with Phil today.

We discuss:

[02:28] Phil shares his defining moment living in Hawaii.
[04:56] What is your footprint that you are leaving behind in the sand?
[05:40] As entrepreneurs there is a lot of talk about hustle. Hustle tends to lead to a lot of burnout.
[06:08] Taking that time to rest is actually what allows you to problem-solve. Learning more about play gives you another place to let go of a lot of that stress.
[06:49] With Dungeons and Dragons there is so much you can take away both from a development standpoint and connecting with others.
[08:54] Dungeons and Dragons allows you to release the inner child in you. It brings out your imagination and creativity on how you would problem solve in these situations.
[09:38] It puts you in situations where you have to think outside the box. As an entrepreneur that allows us to expand our creative thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
[12:27] Dungeons and Dragons is a collaborative storytelling experience.
[14:12] By playing these characters, it gives us practice to learn new skills that we can then take into other situations outside.
[15:04] You can create a character in D&D and it could be exactly what you want to be like in 5 or 10 years’ time and then now you are on a regular basis putting that into practice and making decisions like you would be when you are your future self. That will start to lead to actual character development for you to actually bring into the world.
[16:28] Phil shares step by step how to create your D&D character.
[17:24] Once you have defined what your character looks like and acts like then you actually get into their shoes. You get into the mindset of your D&D character.
[19:35] Entrepreneurial qualities to cultivate: leadership capabilities, being able to make decisions on the fly, and knowing when to put other people first.
[22:27] Role-playing gives you an opportunity to practice these skills in a safe environment that does not impact the real world. You are learning from these experiences but you are not in a real-world situation. It gives you a safe environment to test and experiment.
[26:45] Learning to think and react quickly helps to increase confidence in future situations and connect with more people.
[28:51] Many parents see Dungeons & Dragons as a great homeschooling tool because it teaches you creativity, storytelling, writing, math, and art. It has many different creative elements that we can incorporate into our lives.
[30:03] As a Dungeon Master you have to be prepared ahead of every session, knowing what has happened, what you want to happen, the environment, the different people, and more. There is a lot of organization that needs to happen in order for you to be a good storyteller and a good Dungeon Master.
[34:01] One of the key things that being a dungeon master has really helped in is learning empathy and learning how to build better customer avatars. It takes your customer avatar-building skill to a whole new level.
[35:52] The biggest part is to have fun. Let yourself unwind, have fun, relax, have some great relationships with people while you play.