Business Acumen Training for Rising Leaders

Southwest Airlines chose to incorporate Business Challenge™, Enspire’s business finance simulation, into its MIT II: Developing Legendary Leaders program designed to develop talent within the company.

Challenge

Southwest Airlines invests significantly in leadership development with a variety of learning experiences. Business acumen is an especially important concept for leaders to develop as they focus on meeting the company’s fiscal and operational goals. Recognizing this, Southwest identified the need to include a module on financial acumen in their high-potential leadership development program, MIT II.

Southwest Airlines partnered with Enspire Learning to incorporate Business Challenge into Southwest’s MIT II: Developing Legendary Leaders program. The nine-month program utilized Business Challenge to help these high-potential leaders to:

  • Understand the relationships between operational decisions and financial measures at the company and product line level
  • Increase financial literacy and understanding of financial statements
  • Develop foundational expertise in investment and ROI analysis
  • Relate strategy and execution at the operational and tactical level
Approach

Enspire worked with Southwest Airlines to create a blended learning program with two major components: Fluent in Finance™ and Business Challenge.

Fluent in Finance is a six-hour finance course for non-financial managers that combines tutorials, case studies, and challenging interactivities. Program participants completed Fluent in Finance in April 2011 as part of the “Developing Your Strategic Muscles” section of the MIT II program. Business Challenge, a multiplayer business acumen simulation, was deployed in August 2011 and allowed program participants to read financial statements and make strategic business decisions based on financial metrics. Participants were paired into teams and competed against each other in a dynamic marketplace. Leading a virtual company, participants executed strategic business decisions, balanced sales growth with cash flow, and analyzed financial statements to make operational and investment decisions.

Simulation debriefs focused on financial strategy brought learning to life, allowing participants to further explore the impact of their choices on the company’s bottom line.

Outcome

Participant reviews of the program included comments such as “The business simulation was the best I’ve had since grad school.” In 2010, participants rated the experience, which ranges from “very poor” to “Totally Awesome”, 100% “Totally Awesome”.

Business Challenge was also played at Southwest in 2011, and was once again received very well. Participants surveyed after the simulation rated the experience either “Pretty Darn Good” or “Totally Awesome.”