SimuRise partnered with one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies to design a simulation-led learning journey for its High Potential Employees. The goal: move from passive learning to active ownership by inculcating a founder mindset and deeply embedding company values across every decision.
Introduction
One of the most powerful things a company can do is invest in its future leaders, not just to teach them what to do, but to shape how they think, to build a founder mindset in them.
That’s exactly what this global petrochemical giant set out to do when they partnered with SimuRise. The organization wanted its High Potential Employees (HIPOs) to move beyond functional excellence and start thinking like founders.
This meant developing a new lens: One that emphasized productivity, strategic thinking, resourcefulness, and values-driven execution.
Our challenge? Create an immersive, behavior-based experience that would reflect real-world business pressures, while reinforcing the company’s core values in action, not theory.
The Purpose
The purpose of this initiative was twofold:
- To ignite the founder mindset among HIPOs across departments and geographies.
- To use simulation as a mirror, where participants could see whether they truly embodied the organization’s values in high-pressure decision-making environments.
Rather than rely on presentations or classroom learning, the company chose an approach rooted in “learning by doing,” leveraging the power of experiential learning to deliver real reflection, growth, and ownership.
The Solution
SimuRise curated a simulation experience that wasn’t just engaging—it was transformational.
Using the Diamonds of Amazonia business simulation, participants were thrust into a 22-day virtual expedition, starting from a basecamp in Rio and heading toward the elusive Diamond Valley in Colombia. The journey was filled with strategic decisions, unexpected twists, and team dilemmas—mirroring real organizational complexities.
Each decision carried weight. Each action reflected a value. Each result traced back to behavior.
Participants had to plan, collaborate, adapt, and make high-stakes choices under pressure. Their ability to successfully return with diamonds wasn’t based on luck—it was directly linked to how well they demonstrated leadership behaviors aligned to the organization’s core principles.
The simulation unfolded in structured stages:
- Briefing: Setting context and expectations.
- Strategy Time: Collective planning with limited resources.
- Gameplay: Navigating decisions and consequences in real-time.
- Debriefing: Reflecting on behavior, patterns, and learning takeaways.
The Impact
The simulation wasn’t just a game. It was a reflection of how participants show up in their day-to-day work.
They saw the consequences of poor collaboration. They felt the ripple effects of unclear planning. They understood the cost of siloed thinking and reactive decision-making.
But more importantly, they discovered the power of alignment. When values, decisions, and leadership behavior were in sync, results followed.
Participants walked away with a renewed founder mindset, not just toward their roles, but toward the entire organization.
They committed to:
- Bringing the founder mindset into their everyday work.
- Embedding company values into daily decision-making.
- Thinking beyond their teams and functions to drive enterprise-wide impact.
Conclusion
The six simulation programs delivered by SimuRise were executed seamlessly, receiving high praise from the client for their depth, energy, and execution precision.
But the real success lay in what participants took back:
A belief that leadership isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about behavior.
And when future leaders are given the space to practice real ownership in a safe, simulated environment, they start behaving like the leaders every company needs.
This case study is a powerful example of how experiential learning can do what most training cannot – turn potential into proactive leadership, and values into daily practice.
