BioWare founders say corporate humility is key to success (video)

One of the core values at Canadian game developer BioWare is corporate humility. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, the founders of BioWare (a highly successful game division at Electronic Arts), believe that being humble is key to success.

In an environment where corporate bluster is the norm, humility can be viewed as a weakness. But Muzyka (left) and Zeschuk (right), two medical doctors who quit their profession to make video games at BioWare, believe in it so much that they instilled it in their company’s corporate culture. They say it’s an acknowledgment that anything can change in business. Many industries are in a state of constant chaos and disruption. Being humble shows you are willing to change your ways, the founders said in their talk at an elite video game conference and in an interview.

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The two men are being honored today in gaming’s Hall of Fame for their contributions to the game industry over the past two decades. They are being inducted into the rarified group of gaming pioneers by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, which is staging the Dice Summit in Las Vegas this week.

Muzyka says what the company means by humility is the ability to acknowledge mistakes, discuss them and learn from them.

“Some of that comes from being in medicine,” Zeschuk said. “The minute that you think you know everything you can get into trouble.”

Muzyka and Zeschuk have a lot of old-fashioned values. They run their company as a meritocracy. They keep their  promises. They communicate with a clear measure. They focus on quality. They are persistent in the face of adversity.

Those values may seem bland. But executing them over the course of decades will earn a leader the trust that he or she needs from the rest of their team. The result is that BioWare is one of the unique companies in the video game business that has had hit after hit, from Neverwinter Nights to Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins.

Here’s a video interview with Muzyka and Zeschuk talking about corporate humility.