Reggie guests on GeekWire podcast, to talk more about his book, his career, and gaming

The book is part of his larger effort to inform, mentor and inspire the next generation of leaders. Reggie is a first-generation American, the son of Haitian immigrants who grew up in a Bronx tenement, and the first member of his family to go to an American university, Cornell, where he has returned to teach as a professional in residence.

The memoir actually wasn’t his first idea for a book. Reggie originally proposed to write about all of the real-world lessons that people could learn from playing video games. He turned that idea into a speech but hasn’t ruled out the idea of returning to it for a second book.

He was a gamer and Nintendo fan long before he worked for the company. In one memorable anecdote from the book, when he was an executive at Pizza Hut, he stayed up until early in the morning playing Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past on the Super NES, only to come home the next night to the disheartening sight of his son defeating the final boss after picking up Reggie’s save file.
His experience as a gamer informed Reggie’s approach at Nintendo, and boosted his credibility inside the company and with fans.
“That’s the first insight that I would share: whatever it is that you’re doing, you better have a passion for it,” he says.