1The Challenge
What was the challenge?
Mercer came back to The Thought Bulb with a theme close to the way modern organisations work: technology. The problem wasn't a lack of awareness — Mercer's people already know that new tools and technologies are all around them. The harder question was how to move from knowing to doing: how to actually build technology into day-to-day working life, rather than admiring it from a distance.
Three constraints shaped the brief: the session had just one hour; while Mercer was a returning client, all 20 participants were new to a Thought Bulb experience; and the debrief had to stay tightly anchored to the technology theme.
2Our Solution
What solution did we design?
The Thought Bulb brought in the Lost in Space Escape Box — a compact, immersive tabletop escape challenge that fits a one-hour window and puts problem-solving under pressure at the centre of the experience.
The 20 participants were split into 4 teams, each receiving a sealed Lost in Space box. The scenario: the crew is stranded in space, the ship's systems are failing, and the only way home is to unlock the box layer by layer — cracking codes, decoding clues and piecing together information before time runs out. Lost in Space is a story where technology is the only way out, and where knowing a system exists is worthless unless the crew can actually operate it. Teams had to read unfamiliar information, work out how things fit together, test ideas quickly and adapt — the very same moves it takes to adopt a new tool at work.
3How We Did It
How was the programme delivered?
Two Thought Bulb facilitators ran the session in Gurgaon. After a brief that set up the scenario and the technology theme, the four teams opened their boxes simultaneously and the clock started. Facilitators circulated throughout — not to give hints, but to observe collaboration patterns and note moments for the debrief.
The debrief ran for around fifteen minutes following the escape challenge. Rather than a general reflection on teamwork, it stayed deliberately anchored to technology: what did navigating the box teach you about how you currently use technology? Where did you default to an old approach when a new one was available? What would it take to close that gap at work? The discussion moved from the escape box back to Mercer's real working environment, with participants drawing the parallels themselves.
4Key Outcomes
What were the results?
In one hour, the Lost in Space Escape Box turned an abstract theme into a lived experience. Participants didn't just talk about adopting technology — they went through the discomfort of encountering something unfamiliar, figuring out how it worked under pressure, and realising that the team around them was as important as the tool itself.
As a returning client, Mercer brought a new cohort to The Thought Bulb — and the programme delivered exactly what the brief asked for: a tight, energetic session with a clear and specific takeaway, all within sixty minutes.
