Shaping European Leadership

• Companies with gender-diverse executive teams are 21–25% more likely to outperform peers on profitability.
• Companies with gender-diverse leadership teams generate about 19% more revenue from innovation.

Purpose and Rationale

Despite all the benefits, progress in Diversity Equity and Inclusion(DEI) remains slow. Many organizations struggle with how to approach DEI meaningfully, even when intentions are positive. Neuroscience research confirms that human brains are inherently biased. True progress requires awareness and action. That’s why we say: Allyship is a verb.

With over 15 years of experience in DEI training, we’ve learned that lasting behavioral change is hard to achieve. Traditional approaches often lack emotional impact or fail to translate knowledge into action. This insight led us to explore Serious Gaming as a solution, and early results have been highly promising.

Objective

The Allyship Game aims to create powerful, emotionally engaging experiences that foster deep awareness and drive real behavioral change. This game will help accelerate adoption of inclusive leadership practices across the European Union. 

What Is It?

In collaboration with a Dutch university (NHLStenden, Faculty of Serious Gaming), we are developing a serious game focused on diversity and allyship. The game is customizable for various organizational settings (e.g., corporates, government, universities, healthcare) and adaptable across different DEI topics. The current prototype focuses on gender equality in the workplace.

How It Works

The game simulates a professional career journey through a board-game format. Players face real-world scenarios and decisions that reflect workplace challenges. Examples of experiences included in the game:

·  Equal pay

·  Maternity leave

·  Gender swapping mechanics to explore lived experiences

Players quickly notice disparities: during our latest test run, when noticing men will have more chances to win this game both men and women participating rushed to obtain the "gender swap" card. Players experienced frustration when ideas were dismissed or advancement was hindered by biased game mechanics. These moments sparked meaningful emotional responses and reflection.

Target Audience

While the game is relevant for everyone, the current prototype is designed for leadership and board-level professionals. Whether it's a start up, Scale up or large corporate, inclusive leadership will drive competitiveness and profit. The game concept allows future adaptations for broader audiences and different DEI themes.

European Test Round

Our prototype was selected by the RUN-EU Program in 2025. During a regional university collaboration event in the Netherlands, 30–40 lecturers participated in our session to test the game and engage with our research.

Player Feedback:

“Now that I’ve experienced it myself, it will be hard to look away when I see a woman in my org being paid less.”

Commercial Model

The Allyship Game is developed as a non-profit initiative, with a sustainable funding model under exploration. Revenue would be used to:

·  Support ongoing development and testing

·  Expand to new DEI topics and audiences

·  Maintain and update game content

·  Fund related research

Get Involved: Partner or Invest in Phase 3

Serious Gaming offers a powerful and innovative approach to DEI. It combines emotional engagement with experiential learning, sparking deep conversations and long-term mindset shifts. The Allyship Game allows participants to experience inequality first-hand, creating the kind of insight that reading or training alone often fails to achieve.

This is not just a game. It’s a platform for real change.

Latest update:

In September 2025, we have launched the third phase of development, this time with additional support from the Master in Design-Driven Innovation program. This phase will:

·  Mature the prototype for use beyond academic environments

·  Launch field testing with organizations that have already expressed interest

Several companies have indicated interest in piloting or acquiring the game, reinforcing its potential and effectiveness.

What is Serious Gaming?

Many people are familiar with gamification: the use of game-like elements to make tasks more engaging and motivate specific actions. Think of supermarket loyalty cards or progress bars encouraging us to complete our online profiles. Serious gaming, however, goes a step further. It uses immersive, game-based experiences to simulate real-life scenarios with the goal of fostering learning, skill-building, and behavioral change.

Unlike gamification, which adds fun to routine tasks, serious games are designed to mirror complex, high-stakes situations. For example, firefighters use serious games to train for unpredictable emergencies inside burning buildings, helping them develop decision-making skills in a safe yet realistic environment.