Most Leadership Programs Fail. A Global Wake-Up Call.
At Davos this year, the message was clear. Leadership must change.
Between conversations about AI, economic resilience, and planetary health, one topic stood out. Human capital. Not as a resource to manage, but as the critical edge that separates thriving organisations from the rest.
The call wasn’t for more leadership training. It was for training that works. The kind that doesn’t just look good on a strategy deck, but actually prepares people to lead under pressure.
The World Economic Forum made one thing explicit. The future belongs to leaders who can build psychological safety, stay calm in complexity, and bring out the best in others. The world is evolving fast, and leadership programs need to keep up.
But the reality on the ground tells a different story.
According to a 2023 McKinsey study, 80% of executives believe their leadership programs don’t deliver lasting results. And yet, we keep investing. 370 billion dollars a year, globally, hoping for a different outcome.
So why do so many programs miss the mark? And more importantly, what should we be doing instead?
The Real Cost of Getting It Wrong
McKinsey outlined four reasons why leadership programs often fall short.
- They’re too generic. Most programs still assume that one approach fits all. They treat leadership like a checklist. But leadership is personal. It’s shaped by experience, context, and personality.
- They’re not relevant to the real world. People learn something in a workshop, then return to their team and forget half of it by Monday. If training doesn’t reflect the real messiness of work, it doesn’t stick.
- They focus on content, not behaviour. Knowing something isn’t the same as doing it. Without the right space to practice and reflect, learning stays in the head, not in the muscles.
- And there’s little accountability. No feedback loops. No way to see if anything actually changed.
The cost? Wasted time. Disengaged talent. A lot of talk about transformation with very little actual change.
The Deeper Problem. Performance over Presence
There’s another reason these programs Leadership Programs Fail.
We’ve turned leadership into a performance. Everyone’s learned the right words—trust, safety, inclusion, but the behaviours don’t always follow.
Leaders are rewarded for being visible, not always for being grounded. Identity gets shaped by frameworks. Authenticity gets swapped for messaging. And somewhere along the way, the human side of leadership quietly leaves the room.
The result is surface-level change. It sounds right in the room, but it rarely shifts anything outside it.
We believe real leadership starts with self-awareness. It’s the ability to recognise your own habits, especially under stress. To manage your emotions. To be present. And to lead from the inside out.
That’s not something you learn from a slide. It’s something you learn by doing.
What the Brain Actually Needs to Learn
Most Leadership Programs Fail. If we want people to lead differently, we need to teach in a way the brain actually understands.
Learning is emotional before it’s rational. Before we analyse a situation, the brain asks, “Does this matter to me?” If the answer is no, the information floats away. If the answer is yes, it gets encoded.
That’s why experiential learning works so well. It doesn’t just tell people what leadership looks like. It invites them to feel it.
When people take part in high-stakes simulations, they engage multiple areas of the brain at once—memory, emotion, movement, problem-solving. This creates stronger neural pathways through a process called neuroplasticity. In short: the more parts of the brain you activate, the more durable the learning becomes.
Even observation plays a role. Mirror neurons mean that watching someone else manage pressure activates the same circuits as doing it yourself. It’s one reason observer roles in GemaSim are just as important as being in the hot seat.
We also know that learning needs space. Our brains hold onto new skills more easily when we pause, reflect, and repeat. Spaced repetition, and quiet moments of reflection all help.
And let’s not forget fun. Curiosity, challenge, and even a little excitement release dopamine and other neurochemicals that tell the brain, “This is worth remembering.”
In other words, we don’t learn by consuming content. We learn by engaging with it, emotionally, physically, and socially.
Why Experiential Learning Works
Not all training is passive. Role-plays, case studies, and group activities all have their place. But they often fall short when it comes to emotional intensity, real-time consequences, and long-term behavioural change.
Experiential learning works because it does more than deliver information. It creates situations that engage the whole person. Emotionally. Socially. Physically. It activates procedural memory, not just conceptual recall. You don’t just know the theory. You start to embody the skill.
The process is what matters. You try something. It doesn’t work. You reflect, adjust, and try again. That cycle builds stronger neural connections. Especially when it involves pressure, feedback, and interaction with others.
We remember what moves us. We grow when we can connect our actions to real outcomes. And we retain what we’ve practised under stress, not just what we’ve heard in a room.
Done well, experiential learning becomes a mirror. It helps people meet themselves. Then go again, with greater clarity and skill.
What GemaSim Does Differently
GemaSim is more than a simulation. It’s a learning space designed around how people actually grow.
It begins with preparation. Before stepping into the mission, teams receive just enough information to settle their nerves and organise their thinking. They clarify their goals, assign roles, and develop a strategy. On paper, everything looks under control.
Then the mission begins.
This is where theory meets reality. The situation shifts, and what seemed like a solid plan no longer fits. Uncertainty creeps in. Teams are forced to adapt in the moment, rely on each other, and make decisions with incomplete information.
Some people take charge. Others fall quiet. Communication patterns shift. Stress rises. Choices are made. Behaviors emerge.
But the real learning starts after the action.
Each person rotates through different roles, including observer. Watching from the outside changes how people see themselves. They notice the small habits that show up under pressure: their default responses, their communication style, how they manage tension, and how their behavior affects the team.
The debrief is where it all comes together. It’s not rushed. It’s not just about performance. We create space to reflect on what happened, how it felt, and what it meant. We explore not just actions, but emotions. Not just decisions, but relationships.
People begin to connect what they did with what they experienced. They notice how stress shaped their thinking, how pressure influenced their tone, how assumptions affected collaboration.
Then they go again.
The next mission offers a fresh challenge, but now they bring insight. They have seen themselves clearly. They have made meaning from experience. And they have a new chance to apply what they’ve learned.
Over time, this cycle builds something lasting. Not just knowledge, but capability. The ability to stay grounded, to connect meaningfully, and to respond well under pressure.
GemaSim doesn’t teach people how to lead. It shows them how they show up. As team members, as communicators, and as humans under pressure.
That’s what makes the difference.
A Shift That’s Long Overdue
Most Leadership Programs Fail. We don’t need more programs. We need better ones.
Ones that respect how the brain learns. Ones that understand how behaviour really changes. Ones that move beyond one-size-fits-all content and into spaces where people can grow.
We have combined insights from neuroscience, high stakes industries, and years of behavioural research to build something that works. GemaSim is personal. It’s immersive. It’s challenging and safe. And it’s designed to stick.
Because in the end, it’s not about better slides or smarter frameworks.
It’s about people who can stay steady under pressure. People who can collaborate with clarity. People who understand their own patterns, and choose how they show up.
If your current training doesn’t support that, it’s time to stop tweaking.
And start rethinking.
