Object of Play
The object of this game is to imagine possible futures from multiple perspectives.
Number of Players
1–10
Duration of Play
1–3 hours
How to Play
- Divide your group into three roles: Customers, Employees, and Shareholders.
- Ask the players to step into their roles and imagine their business five years from now. What will they value? What will their experience be like? What events or trends emerge? What specific, tangible things are different?
- Have the players draw their visions of the future and share them.
- Ask the group to identify themes and new possibilities. Capture them and consult the group on next steps.
Strategy
In this exercise, the group is given a chance to relate intuitive knowledge about the business that may not surface otherwise. If possible, allow the group to cycle through multiple roles by reshuffling the roles and repeating the exercise.
The Customer, Employee, Shareholder game is based on the Stakeholder Framework developed by Max Clarkson in “A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance” in the Academy of Management Review (1995).