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Leadership Crucible

Leadership & Organizational Behavior

Lead an organization through a leadership transition over 5 high-stakes years. Make people-and-culture decisions, answer a crisis every year, and decide what to change after each one lands.

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Inside Leadership Crucible

What your students see

Screens from a class in progress. Click any screen to see it full size.

The people you inherit keep scoreStudents become the new leadership team after the founder leaves. Six stakeholders each hold a trust score from 0 to 100 that the team's decisions move and that carries into later years.
One student leads, the whole team decidesEach year one student, in rotation, is leader of record and writes the team's intent. The team then makes the year's hard calls together, such as how to answer a flagship project's public failure.
Crises are earned by earlier choicesEach team faces one crisis a year, and its earlier choices and people's trust set how severe it is. A written team response of 40 or more words cuts the harm by 40%.
Scored as a team and individuallyThe team is scored on four weighted leadership pillars, shown against the class average. Each student also gets a personal score for their own reflections and share of the team's work.

About This Simulation

Leadership Crucible focuses on the people-and-culture challenges that make or break organizations. Student teams inherit an organization mid-transition: a beloved founder has just left, the direct reports are still loyal to them, and the board is watching. Each in-sim year runs the same cycle: a briefing and a private pre-decision reflection; team decisions on talent, ethics, communications and resource allocation; a crisis that every team faces and answers in writing (its harm always lands, cut by 40% by a response of 40+ words saved before the year is scored, and any positive effect counts only with such a response); an Adapt window, opened by the decisions deadline and closed by the professor's Adapt deadline (24 hours later if none is set), where the team may change up to 2 decisions (final answers are scored, with no bonus for changing); results on four leadership pillars (Team Morale, Decision Quality, Organizational Trust, Operational Stability) with feedback on every choice; then a post-decision reflection and a class debrief. The five-year story (the transition, building a team, an outside bid and a leaked memo, board pressure and a whistleblower, a failed flagship and succession) is written for five industry tracks: Manufacturing (the default), SaaS, Healthcare, Banking and Nonprofit. The course grade is 70% team score and 30% personal score, which counts each student's own reflections and share of the team's work.

LMSCanvas + LTI 1.3 compatible platforms·SSO + one-click grade publishHow it works
Share this with your team— printable one-pager for a chair or procurement./for-your-team/leadership-crucible

Learning Objectives

  • Make people-and-culture decisions with the same rigor as financial ones
  • Apply leadership frameworks (Heifetz adaptive leadership, Edmondson psychological safety, Goleman EQ) to specific decisions, not just essays
  • Answer a crisis in writing, then use the Adapt window to decide what to change and what to defend
  • Hold a position under pressure, and know when to revise it
  • Communicate decisions transparently when stakeholders disagree
  • Read organizational signals (morale dips, voluntary attrition, board tension) and act before they escalate
  • Reflect individually on your own leadership contribution, not just team outcomes

Week-by-Week Overview

1

The Transition

You inherit an organization mid-transition. The founder's lieutenants are still in the building and the board is watching. Read the organization profile, assess morale and stakeholder posture, make Year 1 decisions, and answer the year's first crisis.

2

Building Your Team

Inherited lieutenants and new hires clash, a key leadership role opens, and the founder's pet project needs a decision. Make your people calls, answer the crisis, and use the Adapt window to change up to 2 decisions before results lock.

3

The External Threat

A larger rival makes an acquisition offer and an anonymous internal memo goes public. Lead through outside pressure and a breach of trust at the same time.

4

Culture Under Pressure

The board demands aggressive growth while a whistleblower questions the numbers in your fastest-growing division. Short-term results against long-term culture, under scrutiny.

5

Legacy & Succession

Your flagship initiative fails publicly and competitors poach your best people. Own the failure, plan the succession, and leave an organization that can thrive without you. The team score, personal scores and final report lock here.

See Leadership Crucible in action

A walkthrough from Jeff Forgrave, who built Boardroom Rivals.

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