Liderazgo y negociación · Teoría del liderazgo

The Lonely Chair — A Newly Promoted Managing Director Builds Support, Delegates and Survives

A four-round, intermediate leadership simulation set inside Talea Digital Solutions, a Barcelona-based B2B software and digital-services firm (EUR 78M revenue, 16% EBITDA, 640 employees).

4 rondas MBA / Máster English, Español
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Sobre la simulación

A four-round, intermediate leadership simulation set inside Talea Digital Solutions, a Barcelona-based B2B software and digital-services firm (EUR 78M revenue, 16% EBITDA, 640 employees). Three weeks ago the board promoted Elena Roig, a respected 39-year-old delivery director, to Managing Director of Enterprise Platforms — 280 people and 60% of revenue.

The colleagues she relied on for candid advice are now her direct reports; one is the internal rival who also wanted the job. The chair is hers, and it is lonely.

On her first full week the board hands her a non-negotiable commitment: deliver Project Atlas (a EUR 9.2M re-platform for the firm's largest client) by a fixed 30 November 2026 go-live — already 5 weeks behind an 8-week runway — or trigger a EUR 1.8M penalty and risk the EUR 4M annual renewal.

Engagement has slid from 74 to 61, four senior engineers are flight-risks, 23 decisions are queued on Elena's desk, approval cycle time has tripled from 2 to 6 days, and Elena's leader-wellbeing index sits at 42/100 while she works 70+ hours a week.

Playing Elena's leadership group, you (1) diagnose the isolation trap and separate symptoms from the root cause; (2) build the support architecture — coach, peer board, chief of staff, delegation with decision rights and protected recovery — investing a scarce pool of Elena's hours and a support budget; (3) run six live decisions under deadline pressure (Atlas recovery, the rival, the board's amber-vs-green call, a resignation threat, the weekend, candor with the team); and (4) institutionalise a 90-day sustainable operating model and present it to the board sponsor.

The math rewards the concept's correct strategy — treat isolation not effort as the binding constraint, delegate with escalation thresholds, couple wellbeing to delivery, choose honest amber, and repair the rival — and measurably punishes the hero trap, abdication-by-delegation, burning the team for the date, green theatre and avoiding the rival.

Final KPIs track Team Engagement, Leader-Wellbeing, Decision Quality and Delivery on Target, with Elena's hours used against a sustainable cap and the support budget committed against EUR 120k.

Para quién es

Una simulación de nivel intermedio para participantes que ya conocen los conceptos básicos de la materia, pensada para programas de máster y MBA.

Cómo funciona una sesión

  1. El docente crea una sesión desde el panel de Eureka e invita a los participantes.
  2. Los participantes juegan 4 rondas. En cada una envían sus decisiones y la simulación calcula los resultados.
  3. La simulación se puede jugar en: English, Español.
  4. El docente sigue el progreso y los resultados de cada participante desde el panel, y usa los resultados de la clase para el debriefing.

Decisiones que toman los participantes

Las decisiones que toman los participantes durante la simulación:

  • What is the root cause behind the missed approvals, the engagement slide and the flight risk?
  • Which relationship must Elena rebuild first to break the trap?
  • How candidly does your team name this as an isolation problem, not an effort problem? (%)
  • Which support structure do you stand up first — the one that protects Elena's judgment under pressure?
  • Delegate a real, meaningful mandate — including a test of trusting the internal rival
  • Set the delegation protocol — the escalation thresholds that make delegation safe
  • Protect a minimum recovery block for Elena this week (hours / week off the desk)
  • Six live decisions arrive this week. First: the Atlas recovery path within the penalty/renewal stakes.
  • The rival escalates and threatens to leave within two weeks with the legacy knowledge. You
  • The board sponsor wants an update in 10 days. What posture do you take?

Qué siguen los participantes

Lo que los participantes siguen en pantalla a medida que avanzan las rondas:

  • Leadership KPI Trajectory

Temas que cubre

Diseñada para asignaturas de Teoría del liderazgo.

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