upGrad · Crucible
AI Mandate
 
Simulation 03 · Tier 1 · v2

The Helios Mandate

28 years of trust. 32,000 engineers. An activist filing publicly. The board's mandate: 90 days to a credible AI plan, or a CEO change.

✓ 12–15 minutes ✓ 7 decisions · 90s each ✓ 3 live meters ✓ Branching scenarios

You are the CEO of Atlas Systems, a $40B legacy enterprise software company. Customers in 78 countries. A product portfolio that has, for 28 years, defined the category.

Today, Wall Street is asking the question your customers are asking: are you the next Kodak?

The board met Thursday. The mandate is clear. 90 days. A credible AI strategy. Or a CEO change. Hyperion Capital (5.8% activist stake) filed publicly this morning, demanding both. CNBC has been looping it since lunch.

Seven decisions. A 90-second shot clock on each. Three live meters. Four advisors arguing in the background. Your story, told back to you when it's done.

RI
Rakesh Iyer
Chief Technology Officer
DC
Daniela Cruz
Chief Financial Officer
MW
Marcus Webb
Chief HR Officer
MC
Mei Chen
Chief Product Officer
$40BMarket cap
32,000Engineers
5.8%Activist stake
90 daysMandate
How this works
01
A 90-second shot clock per decision
A red bar at the top of the screen empties as the seconds tick down. If it runs out before you pick, the default position (the safe, lawyered, committee-approved answer) gets filed under your name. We call that a missed call.
02
Three missed calls and the ending changes
Three timeouts override whatever leadership archetype your choices were earning. You become The Deferrer, the leader whose silence kept getting filled by other people's decisions.
03
Three live meters, always visible
Strategic Clarity, Talent Density, Investor Patience. Each call moves them. Some scenarios (and some endings) only unlock when a meter drops past a threshold.
Before you start

Who's in the chair?

The sim calibrates to your stakes. A CTO at a 2,000-person SaaS firm gets different pressure than a CEO at a 30,000-person incumbent. Two minutes. Your report comes back sharper.

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Round 1 of 7
 
 
 
Your people are weighing in
 
 
The world reacts
 
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Your leadership archetype

 
 
 

What this archetype is

Where this archetype serves you

Where this archetype bites you

What the data from your run says

Where you left value (or velocity) on the table

    What to sharpen in the next 12 months

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