The best way of describing how these work that we have come across is the mirror analogy outlined by Michael Schrage in his book Serious Play: How the world’s best companies simulate to innovate. The mirror is a hypothetical one but imagine how it works. This full length mirror has the power to instantly modify how you look in response to voice commands. You can see how you would look if you lost or gained a few pounds or had an extra session in the gym each week. You could ask it to show you the best and worst case pictures of how you will age or explore what different outfits would look like. What would you ask that mirror and how would its images change how you behave as the real you.

An upgraded mirror could go even further. It could show different actors how they relate to each other - their best sides and their worst – and even the thinking that lies behind the facial expressions and actions.

Simulations are like these hypothetical mirrors. They have the power to transform organizations, the way they see themselves and how other see them and of course change the way they determine their future. They allow organizations to alternate between their present image and possible strategic futures, to explore questions or proposals that clients or staff might put forward or even to understand how best to respond to competitors.

Imagine you had this hypothetical mirror for your organization – what questions would you ask? And which would you take care to avoid. Some organizations would want to alternate between their present image and possible strategic futures – others might ask clients or staff to suggest modifications to look at what might happen.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Insights.
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