Rules of Play#

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A. EXERCISE STRUCTURE#

Format:

• Dinner the night before: ~60-min practice walkthrough (rules drill + mini-scenario; partial attendance OK)
• Main session: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM (5 hours), 4 scored rounds + debrief

Participants:

• 5–11 industry representatives (each represents one or more industries from the 11-industry framework)
• 1–2 facilitators

The 11 Industries: Retail, CPG, Healthcare Provider, Healthcare Payer, Finance, Consulting, Law, Manufacturing, Logistics, Big Tech, B2B/B2C SaaS

Duration: 4 scored rounds (~50–60 min each) + 30–60 min debrief. Practice round happens at dinner.

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B. INDUSTRY SELECTION#

Before the exercise begins, each participant selects the industries they will represent. The facilitator coordinates assignments based on participant expertise, professional background, and interest.

Assignment Guidelines#

• Ideal: 8 or more industries assigned across participants
• Minimum: Fewer than 8 is possible; the facilitator plays any unassigned industries
• Maximum: No participant should represent more than 3 industries
• Facilitator coverage: The facilitator can represent up to 3 unassigned industries, submitting decisions on their behalf using base-case assumptions

Recommended Assignments by Participant Count#

Assignment Principles#

1. Expertise match: Where possible, assign participants to industries aligned with their professional experience.
2. Natural pairings: Related industries (e.g., Healthcare Provider + Healthcare Payer; Retail + CPG) work well as pairs but cross-cluster pairings are also valuable.
3. Workload balance: Each additional industry = an additional Decision Worksheet per round.

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C. ROUND FLOW#

Each round runs ~50–60 minutes. Steps and timings approximate; facilitator paces to budget.

Round Sequence#

Industry Cluster Groupings (for Step 5 Huddles)#

Participants huddle within their cluster every round to refine decisions. The huddle is for revision and pressure-testing, not for groupthink — final decisions are still individual.

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D. DECISION RULES#

Industry-Level Decisions (Mandatory)#

Each participant submits one independent Decision Worksheet per assigned industry per round. If you represent 2 industries, you submit 2 separate worksheets.

Format & Submission#

• One Decision Worksheet per industry per round
• Each industry decision is independent — scored on its own merits in its own context
• Strategic Archetype is mandatory — every decision must commit to one of: Labor Reshape / Process Reinvention / Customer/Product Bet / Defensive Hardening / Strategic Swing
• Locked at submission. Once handed in (after cluster huddle), decisions cannot be revised. Sunk costs are real.
• No dollar figures. Use bands and qualitative impact — exercise is about intuition, not spreadsheet-ready estimates.

Default Fallback#

If a participant does not submit a Decision Worksheet for an assigned industry by the deadline, that industry receives a pre-defined base case fallback score from the facilitator's fallback bank (deterministic, small fixed delta).

Cross-Industry Synergies#

Participants representing multiple industries may coordinate decisions (e.g., Retail and CPG sharing a data investment). Each industry's decision must still be articulated separately on its own worksheet, scored independently, with cross-industry coordination noted in the worksheet's Cross-Industry Synergies field.

Decision Continuity#

• You cannot undo prior-round decisions (sunk costs are real)
• You can expand, modify, or shut down prior decisions in later rounds
• The Continuity Note field captures how this round's decision builds on or pivots from prior-round work, including reaction to the facilitator's outcome narration

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E. PRIVATE INFORMATION CARDS#

Distribution & Confidentiality#

• Cards issued in Rounds 1, 2, 3 only (no R4 card — final round is synthesis)
• 3 cards per industry per round (R1–R3):
  • Card 1 may be shared between related industries (e.g., Retail + CPG may receive the same Card 1, framed differently)
  • Cards 2 and 3 are unique to each industry
• Distributed face-down at the start of each round's solo prep phase
• CONFIDENTIAL to your industry. Do not share contents with other industries unless the facilitator explicitly permits
• All cards are located in Private Cards

Card Usage#

• Reference card information in your decision and discussions (without revealing specifics)
• Do NOT read cards aloud to other industries
• Card influence must be noted on each Decision Worksheet (field 12)
• Cards accumulate across rounds — keep them and refer back

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F. SCORING OVERVIEW#

Two-Layer Scoring (Per Decision)#

Every decision is scored on two layers that combine for the round total.

Layer 1 — Facilitator Scoring (Strategic Fit + Execution Risk)#

Facilitator subtotal: -4 to +4 (or -6 to +6 with red-flag exceptions)

Layer 2 — Peer Ranking#

After all decisions are read aloud, peers rank decisions on three axes:

Peer subtotal: -2 to +2

You cannot rank your own industry.

Round Total#

Strategic Fit (±2) + Execution Risk (±2) + Peer Success (±1) + Peer Impact (±1) = -6 to +6 per round

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G. PEER RANKING (Replaces Former Collective Bonus)#

Why Peer Ranking#

The peer ranking is the engine of cross-industry learning. It forces every participant to engage with every decision, creates structured discussion, and surfaces patterns across industries. Aggressiveness is read-only because the goal is to make boldness visible without rewarding or punishing it.

How It Runs#

The aggressiveness ranking is public on purpose — peer pressure to defend bold moves is productive.

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G2. OUTCOME NARRATION#

At the start of Rounds 2, 3, and 4, the facilitator narrates approximately 30–45 seconds per industry describing what happened from the prior round's decision and where each industry stands now. This includes the Industry Health Signal condition.

Template: "[Industry]: your [archetype] decision in R[n-1] [worked / partially worked / backfired]. [Specific consequence]. Going into this round, you are in [Surge / Tailwind / Steady / Headwind / Crisis]."

Outcome narration replaces the older "facilitator announces conditions in 2 minutes" beat — it integrates the condition announcement into a narrative that connects decisions to consequences.

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G3. INDUSTRY HEALTH SIGNALS#

Starting in Round 2, the facilitator announces each industry's Health Condition (folded into Outcome Narration) based on cumulative score across all rounds:

Facilitator Market Shock (Round 2 Only)#

In Round 2, the facilitator imposes one constraint each on 2–3 industries selected from the constraint menu. Targeted industries must adapt their R2 decision before submission. Constraints include: Regulatory Halt, Labor Cost Surge, Capital Tightening, Reputational Pressure, Competitive Response, Litigation Risk.

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H. AI ADOPTION ARC#

The exercise tracks a four-phase AI adoption arc that mirrors round progression:

Read each phase handout during solo prep. Materials in AI Adoption Arcs.

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I. PRACTICE WALKTHROUGH (Dinner, Night Before)#

A ~60-minute practice walkthrough runs at the dinner the night before the main session. Partial attendance is acceptable — anyone who misses dinner gets a 15-minute orientation in the morning opening.

Practice Walkthrough Flow#

1. Rules drill (~15 min): Walk through the worksheet, the bands, the 5 archetypes, the round flow
2. Mini-scenario (~30 min): Run a single non-scored practice round on a stripped-down version of one industry
3. Q&A (~15 min): Address questions on format, scoring, peer ranking

Goal: Demystify the format. No real scores. No carryover into the main exercise.

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J. DECISION WORKSHEET FIELDS#

Every Decision Worksheet must include 13 fields (completed before submission lock). Submit one worksheet per industry per round.

CRITICAL: Use bands and qualitative descriptors. No dollar figures, no point estimates. The exercise builds intuition, not spreadsheet projections.

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K. KEY RULES SUMMARY#

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End of Rules of Play — V7.5