Every time a program wraps, we look forward to the written comments. Some participants write a sentence. One recently (and cheerfully) apologized for the length of their answers ("See my book above"). We read every chapter.
Here are two recent favorites:
"The fact we all showed up on what felt like equal footing in service of a common objective helped eliminate some apprehension I might otherwise feel in rooms with the level-diversity at my table. The thought-diversity from various members, how we challenged one another along the way, and seeing differences in how we consumed information, was thrilling." — Manufacturing leader, global energy company, 2026
The Case for Learning Together
Over the last several years, much of corporate learning has moved toward self-paced, personalized, on-demand content, and there's real value in that. A few years ago, in a column for the Korn Ferry Institute, Jeff Orwin argued that L&D leaders shouldn't overlook cohort-based learning and that the pendulum had started swinging back toward the middle. He points out that cohorts can be deliberately composed to bridge gaps between teams, build cross-functional collaboration, and create relationships that often outlast the program.
There's another reason this matters now. AI tools can summarize a market, draft a strategy memo, or model a forecast in minutes, and many organizations are putting them to good use. (We do, too.) Leaders still have to sit across the table from a skeptical peer, weigh a trade-off with incomplete information, and bring a team along to a decision. Those skills get sharpened the way they always have: in practice, with other people, and with honest feedback.
What does learning together give leaders? Our participants' comments point to three things.
1. More Voices, Better Decisions
Across programs and years, participants tell us some version of the same thing: The decisions got better when more perspectives shaped them. One director in a 2022 program wrote that hearing "diverse perspectives from each member of my group in the simulation in an inclusive way really strengthened the quality of the decisions we made in the simulation,” adding that it’s “amazing to realise what true collaboration looks like."
The numbers back this up. At a 2026 Enterprise Leadership program, all 93 leaders who responded to the post-event survey agreed that the simulation encouraged teamwork and collaboration, and 83 of them strongly agreed. In a separate global program for senior leaders, the top-rated of the statements reported was "It gave me the opportunity to learn from my peers." It averaged 4.77 out of 5 across 143 leaders.
2. Seeing the Business Through Someone Else's Eyes
A well-composed group puts leaders next to colleagues whose work they rarely see up close. "Being grouped with other functional leaders allowed me to see problems from a different POV and definitely improved my ability to think in an Enterprise mindset," a leader in a 2023 program told us. A participant in a 2020 program said the most useful part was "the collaboration between [project leaders] and [finance business partners] in the simulations." Another, preparing for a first management role, appreciated "the peek under the curtain of what people leaders deal with on a day-to-day basis."
At the 2026 Enterprise Leadership program, one manufacturing leader's team finished last in the simulation. The leader admitted that at first they blamed the simulation for paying out all of their team's earnings as dividends. On reflection, though, they concluded that the team "didn't focus enough on the future." It had put its efforts into what it already had and fell behind. The simulation gave them a safe place to find that out.
Asked whether the event inspired new approaches for their team, the leader said yes. The leader wrote that in 2025 they had been "extremely combative" about testing a new technology on their production lines because they were protective of key metrics like yield and throughput. This year they have already run two tests, and their engineering team has contacted counterparts to learn what the conversion will require and how they can help.
3. Watching Other Teams Choose Differently
When several teams work through the same business with the same information, they rarely make the same choices. That gap is where much of the learning happens. "[I]t was interesting to see how each decision of the simulation varied between teams," one leader wrote in 2025. Another participant that year wrote that "the simulation and the playful competition between groups really helped to drive home the concepts."
Pressure plays a part, too. One participant who had asked for more time during the simulation wrote the next day, "upon reflection, it was the time constraints and the pressure that made [the program] and the simulation particularly special."
And the learning holds up after everyone goes home. When one global program checked in with participants 90 days later, all 29 who responded said it had changed the way they think about leadership, and 82% said it had led to lasting behavior change.
Why We Build Learning This Way
Insight Experience was founded on the belief that leaders could better understand the connection between their decisions and behavior and the results they drive. As adults, we build most of our experience through the work we do, and most of that work happens with other people. A business simulation brings that kind of work into the room.
We design our programs so leaders learn in four ways: by doing, by reflecting, from their peers, and by connecting to real-life business situations. A simulation supplies the doing within a business realistic enough to connect back to participants' own work. A cohort supplies the peers, and it deepens the reflection, because reflection goes further when you hear how others saw the same moment.
Orwin adds an important caveat from his Korn Ferry Column: Group learning works best when people feel psychologically safe, free to contribute, question, and push back. We agree. Because the business in the simulation belongs to no one (read "Why Fictional Business Simulations Drive Real Learning” to explore why this is effective), people tend to open up, take risks, and admit what they don't know. As one leader put it, "It's a safe space to mess up!"
The facilitator matters a great deal here. Our expert facilitators are business people who graduated from top business schools, worked for major corporations, and walked these leadership paths themselves. They know how to keep a room candid and how to connect what happens in the simulation to the organization's goals, which we learn through the process we use before any program. One participant said that, compared with leadership programs they had attended at several other large companies, this facilitation raised the bar.
Group learning also scales further than people expect. We've delivered simulation-based programs to groups as small as 12 and as large as 300 in one room. Whatever the size of the group, the best lessons often come from the people at the table.
If you're thinking about how to develop your leaders together, we'd love to hear about the challenges your organization is facing. Drop us a note.
