We introduce the creation of content-specific fictional characters (i.e., character building) as a role-playing activity, allowing students in Management and Leadership classrooms to meaningfully engage with course material while also stimulating students’ outside-the-box thinking and imagination. Character building as a classroom activity not only allows for creative thinking, but also serves to develop students’ skills in decision making, weighing and assessment of choices, and communicating about those challenges all while engaging with the course content in a creative, novel, and interesting way. We highlight an example character-building activity in which students create their ‘Ideal Leader’ in undergraduate and graduate classrooms, though this activity can be applied to a range of courses and specializations.