The award-winning Easy Meals simulation has been added to the Harvard Business Impact catalog, expanding its reach to institutions worldwide.
What began as an ambitious internal experiment at Goizueta Business School has evolved into an award-winning leadership development tool now reaching learners around the world.
The Easy Meals Leadership Simulation was designed to immerse participants in the complexity, urgency, and strategic tension of executive leadership. Today, after impacting more than 1,000 corporate learners and degree-program students, the simulation has reached a new milestone: acceptance into the Harvard Business Impact catalog—expanding its reach to academic institutions worldwide.
A Leadership Lab Built for Real-World Complexity
Easy Meals places participants inside the C-suite of a fast-growing subscription meal-kit company preparing for a high-stakes IPO. Revenue has doubled. Investor expectations are rising. Pressure is mounting.
Participants step into executive roles—including CEO, CFO, and COO—and are tasked with setting strategic priorities, allocating discretionary budgets, navigating crises, and aligning across competing interests. Each executive begins with different information, unique stock incentives, and role-specific budgets, reflecting the real-world pressures leaders face when balancing personal incentives with enterprise-wide success.
As the simulation unfolds, teams must respond to stakeholder reactions, media scrutiny, operational disruptions, and evolving market dynamics—all in real time.
The result is a powerful, immersive experience that moves leadership development beyond theory and into action.
The simulation was intentionally designed to strengthen the capabilities leaders need most, including:
- – Leadership communication and change management
- – Strategic decision-making in the midst of uncertainty
- – Cross-functional teamwork during crises
- – Crisis leadership versus business-as-usual management
- – The critical role of communication in high-pressure environments
By blending business strategy with behavioral leadership challenges, Easy Meals helps learners experience not just what decisions to make—but how leadership itself shapes outcomes.
Award-Winning, Global Impact
While the Easy Meals simulation has been available to Goizueta students and corporate learners, its recent inclusion in the Harvard Business Impact catalog extends Goizueta’s impact far beyond its own classrooms—bringing this proven leadership experience to faculty, students, and organizations across the globe.
For Goizueta, this milestone represents more than distribution. It is validation that innovative, learner-centered design can shape how leadership is taught at scale.
Another recognition of the impact the Easy Meals simulation has is it earning Silver Medal in the International Serious Play Awards in the category of “Serious Games and Simulations Designed for Use in Higher Education.”
This recognition placed Goizueta’s work among the world’s most innovative educational experiences—highlighting its success in harnessing experiential learning to drive meaningful outcomes.
Experience Easy Meals
- Corporate learners: Easy Meals Corporate Simulation
- Academic institutions: Harvard Business Publishing Catalog Listing
A Cross-Functional Goizueta Innovation
The original proposal was co-developed by Ken Keen, former associate dean of leadership development, and Nicola Barrett, chief corporate learning officer, with Keen serving as lead faculty member and subject matter expert.
Stephanie Adams, senior associate director of academic affairs and instructional design, led the project as instructional designer and continues to steward the simulation’s ongoing maintenance and faculty support. Key contributors also included Pam Tipton, senior director of custom programs in Emory Executive Education, who supported original development, and Lanero Hill, assistant director of academic media services, who filmed and edited the simulation’s immersive 360-degree video components.
Easy Meals demonstrates what’s possible when faculty vision, instructional design, and institutional support come together to create the future of leadership education.
Experience the award-winning Easy Meals Leadership Simulation—available for both corporate learners and academic institutions.
Explore Emory Executive Education’s portfolio of programs designed to help leaders build the skills needed to navigate complexity, drive change, and create lasting impact.
