I. Welcome to the Experience

Welcome to Legacy & Lightning, a boardroom simulation unlike any event you’ve attended before. This isn’t a keynote. It’s not a lecture. And you won’t be passively observing from the sidelines.

Instead, you’ll be stepping into the shoes of a real board—in a dynamic, high-stakes scenario where every decision you make with your peers shapes the future of the organization you govern. This is an interactive experience designed to:

• Challenge your thinking

• Sharpen your oversight instincts

• Refine your judgment in uncertain, complex situations

• Expose the opportunities and risks of M&A in a disruptive era

You and your fellow attendees will break into large teams, engage in fast-paced strategy discussions, and experiment with governance-level decisions across a multi-phase simulation. You will:

• Evaluate ambiguous information

• Debate trade-offs

• Make investment decisions

• Chart a strategic course in real time

This simulation is built to stretch you. Not everything will go as expected. That’s the point. The best boardrooms are forged through friction, curiosity, and courageous dialogue. Welcome to the experiment.

II. Your Simulated Organization: Meritas Collective

You will be serving as the board of Meritas Collective, a nationally respected, legacy real estate and lifestyle brand. Meritas has earned trust over decades through:

• Market depth and reputation

• Service excellence

• Deep relationships across regions

Until now, Meritas has grown exclusively through organic means—no acquisitions, no mergers. It’s a company proud of its identity, but feeling pressure from:

• Shifting buyer demographics

• Rising expectations for digital experiences

• Tech-enabled competitors with agility and funding

The board must now grapple with whether M&A should become a lever for growth, transformation, or even survival.

III. Your Role in Overseeing Strategic Investments

Throughout the simulation, your board will be asked to make investment decisions—not as budget approvers or project managers, but as strategic stewards responsible for oversight, alignment, and long-term value creation.

These “investments” won’t always look like capital outlays. They may include initiatives like:

• Standing up governance structures

• Building cultural readiness for M&A

• Launching diligence or integration evaluations

• Prioritizing leadership capability development

• Establishing or refining post-merger success metrics

Each decision will come with trade-offs, resource implications, and consequences—some visible, some unfolding later in the simulation. Your job isn’t to execute the initiative—it’s to ensure the right initiatives are prioritized, properly framed, and structured to succeed.

What You’ll Encounter:

• Strategic Investment Options: Tailored to the current phase you’re in (e.g., readiness, deal evaluation, integration, long-term oversight)

• Red Herrings: Seemingly attractive ideas that are overly tactical, premature, or not board-level concerns

• Governance Dilemmas: Moments when you must decide how hands-on (or hands-off) your board should be in a given area

Why It Matters:

High-performing boards don’t micromanage, but they also don’t abdicate. They bring clarity, discipline, and alignment to moments of ambiguity. In this simulation, how you allocate board focus, attention, and strategic capital will directly impact the organization’s ability to thrive through disruption and complexity.

IV. Simulation Phases You’ll Encounter

Phase 1: From Deal Exploration to Pre-Close

This is the “evaluation and commitment” phase. You’ll:

• Guide leadership through structured deal evaluation—not reactive excitement

• Stress test assumptions around cultural fit, financial value, and strategic alignment

• Define board-level criteria for moving forward (or walking away)

• Maintain clear oversight boundaries while empowering management to do their work

Why it matters:

Deals don’t fall apart at the closing table—they fail in the fog of unclear diligence, misaligned priorities, or board disengagement. This is your moment to bring discipline, alignment, and structure before momentum takes over.

Phase 0: Strategic Pre-M&A

This is the “readiness phase” before any deal is on the table. You’ll:

• Define the strategic reasons (or not) for pursuing M&A

• Align as a board on values, risk appetite, and success criteria

• Establish governance, oversight, and internal capability foundations

• Practice decision-making in ambiguous scenarios

Why it matters:

Too many companies stumble into acquisitions unprepared. The best boards create alignment before any opportunity arises.

Phase 3: Post-Merger Oversight (New Entity Going Forward)

This is where many deals succeed—or fail. You’ll:

• Reaffirm long-term goals and what “success” looks like post-close

• Monitor cultural integration, talent retention, and synergy realization

• Ensure clarity between board-level and management-level decisions

• Adjust oversight based on how the new entity is performing

Why it matters:

Acquiring is just the beginning. The board’s true role begins after the ink dries.

Phase 2: Post-Close Integration Oversight

This is the “reality phase” when vision meets execution. You’ll:

• Track integration milestones and synergy realization through board-level KPIs

• Monitor talent risk, retention efforts, and morale across legacy and new teams

• Revisit assumptions made during the deal and course-correct if needed

• Balance strategic oversight with operational autonomy

Why it matters:

The close of the deal is not the end—it’s the start of the hardest part. The board’s job is not to manage the integration, but to ensure it stays on track, delivers value, and protects the organization’s long-term health.

V. Strategic Tensions You’ll Navigate

As a board, you’ll encounter moments of difficult trade-off and spirited debate. Expect to wrestle with:

• Agility vs. Stability

• Speed vs. Structure

• Culture Preservation vs. Transformation

• Innovation Investment vs. Core Protection

• Oversight vs. Overreach

VI. How to Get the Most Out of This Simulation

• Show up ready to collaborate. Your team will succeed (or struggle) together.

• Lean into disagreement. Strategic tension creates better outcomes.

• Decide with intention. Every investment and decision has consequences.

• Don’t try to “win.” This is about learning, experimenting, and practicing.

Your team will be guided by a facilitator—but the decisions are yours to make. Each choice will shape how the simulation unfolds.

1. What defines a high-functioning board during a time of disruption?

2. What are the board’s boundaries during a major strategic transformation?

3. When is it too early—or too late—to begin preparing for M&A?

4. How does a board safeguard culture and talent while steering change?

VII. Optional Reflection Questions

Take a few minutes before the event to reflect on these prompts:

VIII. Final Thoughts

This simulation is designed to be:

• Realistic, not theoretical

• Collaborative, not performative

• Strategic, not technical

No prior experience in M&A is required. The goal is to help you:

• Refine how you think

• Practice how you govern

• Expand how you lead in the boardroom

We look forward to your voice, your decisions, and your perspective.

Let's build the future-together.

Let Sage Bring Strategic Simulations to Your Boardroom

During this simulation, you’ll get a taste of something rare:

A safe, high-stakes environment where you can explore strategy, oversight, governance, and risk without real-world fallout.

A space where you don’t just talk about disruption—but practice how to lead through it.

That’s the power of modern interactive learning simulations. And that’s what Sage was built to deliver.

What is Sage?

Sage is a next-generation platform for boardroom and executive-level simulations, built to help leaders like you:

• Prepare for disruptive change

• Navigate complex decisions

• Strengthen cross-functional alignment

• Build muscle memory for high-consequence moments

Sage transforms static briefings into immersive learning. It replaces “what if” discussions with real-time scenarios, forcing strategic prioritization, adaptive thinking, and collective decision-making.

Bring It to Your Organization

If this experience sparks ideas for how your team could benefit from:

• A more engaged board

• Deeper alignment between management and governance

• Better preparation for M&A, crisis response, innovation, or transformation — Sage can help.

Whether you lead a corporation, nonprofit, university, or investment group, we’ll help you tailor the right simulation for your next retreat, strategy session, or board onboarding.

Learn More or Schedule a Private Demo

To explore how Sage can strengthen your governance, executive learning, and strategic foresight please share your contact details with us through our contact form, send us an email message, or give us a call.

www.sagesims.com