Games Inc Chief Executive Fiona Hickey Urges Professionals to Abandon Ego to Accelerate Industry Success

Games Inc CEO Fiona Hickey explains how abandoning ego and asking basic questions helped her transition from recruitment to leading a top iGaming supplier.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 27, 2026, 9:32 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from iGB

The Strategic Risk of a Career Pivot

In 2019, Fiona Hickey made the unconventional decision to leave a lucrative directorial role at Betting Jobs to join Push Gaming. Despite having zero experience on the supplier side of the industry, she opted for a significant pay cut to explore a new professional territory. According to Hickey, the move was met with confusion from peers, yet she viewed it as a necessary challenge to expand her understanding of the gaming landscape beyond the recruitment perspective.

Navigating the Complexity of the Supplier Sector

Upon joining Push Gaming, Hickey admitted to being naive about the operational demands of the supplier side. She initially believed the role focused primarily on commercial agreements, only to discover the intense technical pressure of integrations and the competitive fight for market positioning with every game release. During her tenure, she witnessed the company grow from 45 staff members with no direct integrations to a 300 person organization with 80 direct partnerships prior to its acquisition.

The Professional Value of the Stupid Question

A core philosophy for Hickey is the rejection of ego as a barrier to learning. She advocates for the skill of asking stupid questions, noting that many talented individuals fail because they are too proud to admit a lack of knowledge. As the current CEO of Games Inc, she continues this practice by requiring technical teams to explain complex concepts in plain language, asserting that those worth learning from will never judge a colleague for seeking clarity.