Introducing The Food Truck Challenge!

I am very excited to announce the launch of a new online experiential exercise that I have developed in collaboration with Harvard Business Publishing and Forio (the same partners with whom I collaborated on two prior simulations including the Everest Leadership and Team Simulation).   This new teaching tool is titled, New Venture Exercise: The Food Truck Challenge.  Unlike my prior simulations, this exercise is designed to be run in just 30 minutes.  Faculty members should be able to run the exercise and debrief it in a single class session.   In this online exercise, students try to run a successful food truck in the city of Boomtown. Students work individually or in teams to achieve maximum revenue over 5 simulated weeks and win the "Food Truck Challenge." In each round, students make decisions about where to park and what menu item to offer in hopes of finding the best menu-location combination and yielding the highest sales.  We believe that this exercise is well-suited for instructors teaching entrepreneurship, design thinking, new product development, innovation, and team/organizational learning topics and courses.   I hope that many professors will take a look!  

Judgment in a Crisis Simulation Earns Bronze Award!

I'm thrilled to announce that my newest Harvard Business Publishing simulation (Judgment in a Crisis) will receive a Bronze Award at the Serious Play Conference to be held at Carnegie Mellon University in July.  In this simulation, students play the role of a product manager at Matterhorn Health, a medical device manufacturer. The company encounters product quality problems almost immediately after the launch of its highly anticipated new blood glucose monitor.  This simulation explores issues related to human judgment and decision making during a crisis. 

New Simulation Released!

Harvard Business Publishing has released the new simulation that I have been working on over the past two years.  The simulation is titled "Organizational Behavior Simulation: Judgment in a Crisis."  Participants play the role of executives at Matterhorn Health, a fictional medical device manufacturer.   When customers begin reporting major problems immediately after a major new product launch, executives must get to the bottom of the issue.  What is causing the problems reported by users?  How should the company proceed?   Participants must make a series of crucial decisions in the aftermath of the product launch.  The simulation provides powerful lessons in leadership, decision making, and crisis management.  A great team of people worked with me to develop this simulation, including talented content creators at Harvard Business Publishing and the software firm Forio, a specialist in simulation development.  We look forward to seeing educators at universities and chief learning officers at corporations utilize the simulation in various courses and workshops.   Thank you to everyone who helped with beta testing over the past year!   In this short video, I describe why I have developed simulations to enhance my teaching.