Reggie Fils-Aimé is a retired executive, most known for his long stint as the COO of Nintendo of America (NOA). His ascension, in conjunction with his distinctly American style of marketing and leadership, was in direct contrast to Nintendo’s normally conservative and reserved corporate culture. His extroverted demeanor—which he proudly labels “disruption”—naturally put him as the face of the company during his time there: conducting late-night talk show blitzes, delivering keynotes, and driving Nintendo’s increasing social media presence.
Disrupting the Game is his autobiography through his life and 35+ year career. Now, there aren’t that many biographies of video gaming luminaries—I guess the industry is still comparatively young, and not considered memoir-worthy—and even fewer autobiographies to give that first-person perspective of how it works at its highest echelons. Reggie’s book is thus a rare occasion to learn how decisions were made inside the most iconic videogame maker in the world.
Before all that, though, the book goes through Reggie’s early childhood and education, as well as the series of jobs he held coming out of school: a brand manager at P&G, stepping up to a marketing director for Pizza Hut, then Panda Express, VH1 and the like. These parts read like most other biographies, and I do find it important to get to know how someone’s childhood environment and early life experiences shape their subsequent decision-making. Throughout the chapters, there are also breakout “The So What” asides that summarize the lesson from these experiences, framing them as fables for the discerning reader.
So it was a bit unsettling to see a lot of these personal narratives fall away as the book continued along, and the latter two-thirds of the book framed entirely on Reggie’s career and the businesses he ran. Other memoirs—Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Delivering Happiness, Die with Zero, Hit Refresh—tend to weave in anecdotes, occasions with family and friends, and other life happenings, but for whatever reason the author doubles and triples down on work-centric lessons as he goes on. The first chapter recalls the details of his farewell to Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s widely beloved global president who passed away in 2015 from cancer; by the time he reaches the timeline chronologically late in the book, Iwata’s death was a footnote in between the lagging sales of the Wii U and the hardware development of the Nintendo Switch.
The insistence on sticking with corporate maneuvers has the unfortunate effect of dehumanizing Reggie himself. His kids don’t get much ink; his ex-wife is mentioned only as a part of the story of meeting his current wife at work, which itself is a lesson on the importance of establishing relationships so you can lean on them during fanatic times in your job. Most of the friends, mentors, and inspirational figures throughout the book are either his class professors or work colleagues-turned-acquaintances, though to be fair, the Epilogue of the book goes into his retirement and he seems to have mellowed out a bit with non-profits and philanthropy.
Another aspect of Disrupting the Game that didn’t sit right with me was how the lessons were presented. Throughout the chapters, they’re told in the form of explaining the situation, describing Reggie’s decision-making process, and talking through the outcome, with “The So What” as the parabolic capstone. I noticed, after a dozen or so of these, that the good:bad outcome ratio was something like 5:1, maybe more—Reggie selected story after story of how he made a call to save the business, or increase revenues by 100%, or honed in on a strategy that others missed. Perhaps it’s the manager in me that knows stories are never as clean or one-sided as motivated narrators would have you believe, but I’d be less skeptical if the book didn’t just cherry-pick 80% of the instances where the author is the hero. If anything, there’s more depth when analyzing mistakes and judgment errors.
That said, this autobiography unintentionally showcases the mindset of a career executive, who has climbed the corporate ladder to pretty much the top of the career mountain. The intensity, drive, and work ethic are all evident in his writing, and he’s continuously navigating the corporate politics around him to better his current and next positions. In a way, the naked ambition is refreshingly honest. Even though the stated purpose of these stories is to inspire others on what’s possible, the book serves as a reality check on the sheer difficulty and dedication required to reach for the uppermost rungs.
