Today Billhardt combines his consulting experience and love of teaching and technology as CEO of EMBAC corporate member Abilitie, which provides leadership development training through uniquely designed simulations.

Abilitie formed in 2015 when Billhardt transitioned the company he formed from his initial work with Harvard, Enspire Learning. While Enspire Learning custom developed e-learning business programs, Abilitie offers its own interactive leadership development simulation products, carefully crafted based on its experiences with Enspire Learning.

“While every company thought themselves different from others, there were universal themes,” he says. “We founded Abilitie on the thought leadership that we believe business leaders in the real world need to know and apply every day, regardless of their function and regardless of their industry.”

The simulations help strengthen both students’ business acumen and their people skills, as well as support cross-functional decision making. Some complex simulations can run up to 12 hours, and others are shorter, such as two-hour AI simulations. They all share important common ground: They take place in a synchronous, team-based environment emphasizing practical, real-world trade-offs.

“We pride ourselves in creating a rich environment, where we build a whole world around not just the numbers but the characters,” says Billhardt. The longer simulations expose students to environments with cross-functional trade-offs over multiple time periods with multiple interconnected issues. The shorter simulations still build that rich simulation environment but look at one issue and one trade-off.

In one simulation example, student teams must decide whether to shut down a plant because of a forecasted hurricane. If they shut it down, they will miss their quarterly earnings targets. Whether teams decide to shut down or continue, each decision comes with consequences, and team must identify defensible responses to those consequences.

In another simulation, teams find an employee with a stellar record who’s ripe for promotion on paper. Students who begin to probe the simulation’s employee character begin to realize that while the employee may be capable in managing a team, the employee’s passion lies in the hands-on work. Teams can then explore whether promotion is a wise choice for the employee and the organization.

Abilitie began incorporating AI several years ago, and Billhardt describes it as “a gamer-changer for education.” Students start a simulation watching a video of virtual characters and each team member assumes responsibilities for a character. Students can ask characters for information or conduct negotiations with characters. Their questions or negotiation skills can prove invaluable in the simulation outcomes.

AI also helps as a facilitation tool for faculty by quickly summarizing student opinions in a report for class discussion, as well as helping assess participant competencies, he says. In the future, Abilitie will continue to explore the ways AI can create a better learning environment, as well as developing more of the shorter simulations, such as two-hour case challenges.

A client recommended that Billhardt consider joining EMBAC. “It was a no-brainer for us because our collaborations with universities throughout the years already have been substantial and we hope to do more.”

Abilitie enjoyed its first conference this year in Atlanta. “We had a fantastic experience at the event.” Billhardt also appreciates EMBAC for the idea exchange among people who love education. He finds great rewards when he brings simulations to the classroom.

“I love being in front of a classroom when we’ve worked for a day on an intensive simulation,” he says. “Being able to see the impact that you have as a teacher, I can’t think of anything else that I like doing as much.”

EMBA and executive degree programs can benefit from Abilitie’s combination of experience and expertise in creating immersive, engaging, and thought-provoking educational simulations, says Billhardt.

“We’re affordable and we’re a flexible partner,” he says. “Where we add value beyond having cool simulations is by bringing these real-world dilemmas into the classroom environment.”

For more information about Abilite, contact Bjorn Billhardt at bjorn.billhardt@abilite.com   or visit https://www.abilitie.com.

Less...