Free betaPeople leadership
The high-potential who wants a promotion now
With: Delivery lead
Your best delivery lead wants the title now, and on today's record you would not nominate her.
- Estimated time
- About 5 min
- Level
- Advanced
- Mode
- Voice beta
The library
Thirty leadership situations.
Each is a short spoken role-play with a counterpart who pushes back. Three are free in beta now. The others are in development, and their cards do not link anywhere yet.
Free beta
Start here.
- Free betaInfluence
The sceptical CFO
With: Chief financial officer
You have ten minutes to ask for $250,000 from a CFO who has turned down two similar requests this year.
- Estimated time
- About 5 min
- Level
- Advanced
- Mode
- Voice beta
- Free betaExecutive communication
Bad news, upward
With: Vice president
You have found an error in a figure your team sent a customer yesterday, and your VP does not know yet.
- Estimated time
- About 5 min
- Level
- Core
- Mode
- Voice beta
In development
The rest of the library.
Filter by track or level. These situations are written and being built into voice simulations.
- In developmentPeople leadership
The retention bind
With: Your director
Your strongest senior engineer is quietly looking elsewhere, and your director wants them kept at any cost.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentInfluence
Product and engineering deadlock
With: Chief product officer
Twelve days before launch, product wants to ship a reduced scope and engineering says it is still unsafe. Your team sits in the middle.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentPeople leadership
The tired star
With: Senior engineer
Your strongest engineer has missed three deadlines this quarter, has never complained, and has just asked for five minutes.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Foundation
- In developmentStrategic judgement
Flat revenue, board on Friday
With: Chief executive
Revenue has been flat for two quarters while the market grew, and your CEO needs a view she can defend at Friday's board.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Foundation
- In developmentStrategic judgement
The cost line that isn't a cost problem
With: Chief financial officer
Support costs are up 30% on flat ticket volume, and the CFO wants your read before deciding on a cut this month.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Foundation
- In developmentStrategic judgement
The pilot that looks too good
With: Chief product officer
A six-week pilot shows conversion up 11%, and your CPO wants to announce a national rollout on Thursday.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentStrategic judgement
The customer who is leaving
With: Chief executive
Your third-largest account gave notice this morning, and the CEO has two minutes to hear whether it is one account or the start of a trend.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentStrategic judgement
Flat revenue, then the tired star
With: Chief executive, then a senior engineer
Two linked conversations: defend a plan for flat revenue to your CEO, then stand behind it with the engineer who has to carry it.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentExecutive communication
The interrupted update
With: VP, operations and technology
Your 15-minute project update has shrunk to five, and your VP cuts in before you reach the decision you need from him.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentExecutive communication
Board Q&A: the missed quarter
With: Independent director
Your division missed its quarterly target by 9%, and a director who used to run finance has read every page of the pack.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Executive
- In developmentExecutive communication
“I don't know”
With: Chief executive
The CEO asks about a market segment ahead of next week's board, and your data has a gap you cannot close today.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Advanced
- In developmentPeople leadership
The first feedback conversation
With: Analyst
A hard-working graduate analyst is about to hear, properly and for the first time, that two client decks fell short.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Foundation
- In developmentPeople leadership
“I'm drowning”: delegating the stretch
With: Senior analyst
You want a capable analyst who is already at capacity to lead a high-visibility review for your VP.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentPeople leadership
The career conversation
With: Senior analyst
A strong analyst has booked 30 minutes about her career, and you have decided not to nominate her this cycle.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentPeople leadership
Coaching the struggling new manager
With: New team lead
A well-liked new team lead re-checks every file herself and is still online near midnight.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentPeople leadership
The former peer
With: Senior engineer
A friend who applied for your job challenged your plan in front of the team, and you now have to hold the standard.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Advanced
- In developmentPeople leadership
The rating conversation
With: Senior manager
Your best performer on the numbers expected a higher rating, and calibration held it because of how the results were achieved.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Advanced
- In developmentInfluence
Saying no to your boss
With: VP, engineering
Your VP wants two engineers for his board dashboard, and lending them would delay a customer go-live.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentInfluence
The peer who blocks you
With: Head of data platform, a peer
A data request your launch depends on has sat in a peer's queue for four weeks, and neither of you can instruct the other.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentInfluence
The pre-wire
With: Head of sales operations, a peer
Two days before a steering committee, you need to tell a peer that you will propose moving the desk she built into your team.
- Estimated time
- About 9 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentInfluence
Managing across the matrix
With: Global head of operations
Head office and your managing director have given you opposite instructions on a global process change.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Advanced
- In developmentInfluence
The vendor who has you cornered
With: Vendor account executive
A critical platform auto-renews in 19 days at 34% more, and the vendor knows you cannot switch in time.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Advanced
- In developmentInfluence
The pitch that gets taken over
With: Director of product, a peer
Halfway through your pitch to the COO, a peer you will need later starts to take over the room.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Executive
- In developmentLeading with AI
The memo that reads well
With: VP, customer
Your VP wants to forward an AI-assisted churn memo to the CEO within ten minutes, and you decide whether it can go.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Foundation
- In developmentLeading with AI
Redesign the monthly close
With: Reporting lead
The CFO wants the close cut from eleven days to six, and the person who built today's process missed the redesign workshop.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentLeading with AI
“So this tool replaces me”
With: Team lead
A respected team lead wants ten minutes about the AI drafting pilot you are about to sign off.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Core
- In developmentLeading with AI
The pilot failed: brief the CFO
With: Chief financial officer
An AI pilot sold on 35% automation delivered 12%, and the CFO who funded it decides on phase two today.
- Estimated time
- About 10 min
- Level
- Advanced