In 2009, virtual computing company VMware was in a state of transition. The founder and CEO had left and a new leader was at the helm. While server virtualization had powered a decade of success, the company needed to find its next revenue growth engine. The CEO had made several acquisitions, but employees struggled to understand why. The company decided to take an unconventional route to address a rapidly changing landscape: Do a business simulation. VMware partnered with consultancy BTS to build a simulation that mimicked the challenges facing the company. The two-day “game” forced company leaders to wrestle with funding challenges and make trade offs between short- and long-term investments. Leaders also swapped roles, such as sales switching with product. The all-encompassing exercise did the trick, upleveling empathy, understanding and collaboration at a critical time.
