Fourteen-week strategy simulation
You inherit a transformation that has already failed once.
You’re the new CIO at DigitalCo, an industrial manufacturer with a stalled core migration, a factory floor you have no visibility into, and a board that wants a real direction by the next meeting. Fourteen weeks, one continuous strategy, and every decision compounds into the next.
If you ignore an early risk, it may not be fixable later. Your objective is to optimize fourteen weeks of results, so focus on the entire simulation, not just on the immediate result.
The inheritance
A bold mandate with no direction, on a broken foundation.
The CEO gives you thirty days to get a real read and come back with a direction. Underneath sits the mess your predecessor left. A core migration two years late and past budget. A connected-products platform that ships data nobody sells. A data lake used as a dumping ground. And an IT organisation where one or two people still understand the systems that run the plant.
The private-equity owners want returns. The founding family is wary. The board expects movement at the next meeting. Your first move has to create visibility without foreclosing the strategy you haven’t written yet.
How it ends
Four ways it can land.
Your ending is earned across all fourteen weeks. Strong decisions build toward the best outcome. Unaddressed risks and broken promises pull it down.
Triumph
You held one direction the whole way, and nothing came back to bite you. The board believes you.
Win with scars
You got there, but something you left unfixed cost you along the way.
Squeak through
Enough went right to survive the board vote. Not much more than that.
Disaster
The failures compounded week over week. The board's confidence is gone.
Why it’s hard
The decisions compound, and some of them can’t be undone.
Some decisions can't be undone
Money spent, systems chosen, promises made. Some of what you decide early stays decided.
Nothing stays in its own week
A choice in Week 2 changes what Week 9 looks like. You will not always be told which one.
Six advisors, six agendas
Every advisor is compelling, and every one is protecting something. The most persuasive voice in the room may be the one steering you straight into a trap.
You are judged on the record
At the end you present your case to the board. They have watched the whole run. A good story cannot outrun what actually happened.