A wide view of a conference room with participants seated at round tables, some wearing captain's hats, while a presentation slide is displayed on a large screen.

Acumen: a business simulation for senior leaders

Pricing, strategy, and negotiation across four simulated quarters

Acumen is an immersive simulation for senior leaders, and for the learning and development managers who build their programmes. Participants take charge of a global consumer business and run it through four simulated quarters, making pricing, product, and negotiation decisions under pressure.

It suits leadership teams who want to:

Build strategic clarity in complex, fast-changing markets
Strengthen financial decision-making and pricing insight
Develop confidence in high-stakes negotiation

Acumen builds financial acumen and strategic thinking in a single simulation. If you need a scenario that reflects your own business, industry, or products, we can build a tailor-made simulation.

Four people gather around a tablet on a round table in a conference room, looking intently at the screen.

How Acumen can help your business

In Acumen, participants become the executive leadership team of a successful global entertainment business. Over four simulated quarters, they navigate a series of high-impact dilemmas, making strategic, financial, and organisational decisions in a competitive and collaborative environment.

Acumen enhances leadership capabilities across three critical domains:

Strategic thinking

Creating strategy based on shifting customer demographics and spend
Managing organisational health and competing priorities
Reacting to sudden market changes and challenges

Financial acumen

Working with a realistic P&L and KPI dashboard
Making pricing decisions and understanding revenue levers
Tracking gross and net margin, fixed and variable costs

Negotiation

Setting and aligning success criteria with the CEO and board
Negotiating with other teams for shared objectives and insights
Managing tension between collaboration and competition

At a glance

Duration: Acumen is played over four to six hours
Scenario: Participants act as the executive team of a global B2C entertainment company. Over four simulated quarters, they manage pricing, product strategy, market response, and internal alignment, making decisions under pressure and reviewing their results in real time
Skillsets: Strategic thinking, financial acumen, negotiation

Choosing the right simulation for your leaders

Acumen, Compete, Acuity, and Consortium all build financial acumen and strategic thinking. They differ in scenario and in what the room practises:

Acumen: pricing, strategy, and negotiation in a consumer market, for senior leaders
Compete: a head-to-head contest for market share
Acuity: four years leading a global B2B business, across finance, operations, and innovation
Consortium: rival businesses joining forces on a pilot, balancing competition with collaboration

Our guide to choosing a business acumen simulation covers what to look for. Or tell us about your group in the form below and we will recommend the best fit.

Talk to us about Acumen

See how Acumen develops the business acumen of your senior leaders.