How A Corporate Board Really Works

The Dream Weaver Boardroom Simulation

The Problem...

What happens in a corporate board room nearly always stays in the board room. That may be good for some purposes, but it’s bad for allowing interested outsiders to see how boards work in practice. Tools that teach concepts of corporate governance help a little. However, learners usually can’t apply corporate governance concepts in a real-world way to the workings of a corporate board. They end up not really understanding how boards work in practice.

...The Solution

We have a solution: a simulation of a board meeting of the fictitious multinational company Dream Weaver. Other boardroom simulations exist, but the Dream Weaver simulation is different. After going through the simulated board meeting experience, a learner with our simulation can watch a video of that very same board meeting where the board members are experienced practitioners of corporate governance.

The experienced practitioners prepared for their simulated board meeting using exactly the same agenda packet; then while a video production crew recorded them, they had an unscripted simulated board meeting in which they asked questions, made observations, and tried to make decisions just as they would have in a real board meeting. This experienced practitioners video allows learners who have just gone through their own simulation experience to compare what they and their fellow simulation participants did with what the experienced practitioners did in the very same situation.

The timeline below shows how learners use the Dream Weaver simulation tools.

Timeline For The Dream Weaver Process

Who Can Use the Dream Weaver Simulation?

All kinds of learners can use the Dream Weaver simulation, from business and law students, and social science students more generally, to executives, lawyers, and also rising corporate boardmembers.

The Dream Weaver simulation is free to use, thanks to the generous support of KPMG.

How to Use the Dream Weaver Simulation?

Learners begin by watching a set of about 20 short videos that we’re calling Corporate Governance 101, to ensure a common base of background knowledge.
Next comes the agenda packet, and preparing for a simulated board meeting.
Then there’s the simulation experience in which learners ask the questions and make the comments that they think ought to be asked and made as they try to make decisions.
Afterwards comes the video of experienced practitioners doing their own unscripted simulation of the same board meeting, and the learners can compare how their group did with how the experienced practitioners did.
The next step is a videotaped discussion in which professors comment on the meeting of the experienced practitioners, pointing out issues that deserve attention, and expanding on what was said and done.
Finally, there are videos of some of the experienced practitioners commenting on their own simulation, again pointing out issues that deserve attention, and expanding on what was said and done.