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Experiential decision making simulations for leaders.

Decision Rehearsal™ is a neuroscience-backed approach to facilitated, audio-driven mental simulation experience where your leadership team participates in a high-stakes decision-making scenario  and experiences the messy human reactions, second-order effects, and unintended consequences before they're real.

Develop judgement, creativity and critical thinking through pre-experience.

Custom in-Person
Custom Live Webinar
Custom On-Demand

Most leadership teams debate decisions. The best ones rehearse them

Decision Rehearsal™ puts your team inside the decision and lets the "messy" human reality unfold, on purpose, in the room.

Every day, companies lose millions in high-stakes decisions gone wrong. But these decisions don’t fail in the analysis. They fail in the second-order effects: the disgruntled VP, the competitor’s counter-move, the

customer reaction nobody modelled.

Decision Rehearsal is a risk-free way to immerse your team into the decision and experience real-world first and second-order effects through audio-driven, leveraging neuroscience principles of imagination and mental simulation.

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FREE iFactor Scorecard

Are you cultivating imagination, creativity, innovative thinking and 
real-world scenario risk analysis?

HOW IT WORKS

A rehearsal, not a recommendation.

1

Brief

We co-design a custom scenario around your real decision - the context, stakeholders, constraints, and the option set your team is weighing.

2

Simulate

In a 2–4 hour facilitated session, your team steps into the scenario/s through immersive audio. Decisions trigger consequences.
Consequences trigger reactions.

3

Debrief

We surface the patterns, blind spots, and second-order effects you lived through. Your team leaves aligned, with sharper judgment and a clearer path.

WHAT YOU REHEARSE

Built for decisions where the human factor decides the outcome.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Test integration assumptions before the deal closes

Examples

  • Choosing the acquisition target

  • Managing due diligence risks

  • Negotiating the final deal

  • Winning regulatory approval

  • Retaining critical talent

  • Resolving culture clashes

  • Communicating the merger

  • Delivering merger synergies

AI Adoption

Surface team resistance and second-order risks

Examples

  • Strategic AI decisions

  • Reporting AI issues & concerns

  • Managing AI backlash

  • Ownership of AI decisions

  • Confidential data leak

  • Customer demands & expectations

  • Public failures and lawsuits

Public Policy

Test and pre-experience the human response and reaction to public policy options.

Examples

  • Experiencing policy side-effects

  • Surviving intense public questioning

  • Resisting political pressure

  • Handling sudden crises

  • Launching AI services for the public

  • Rolling out new public programs

  • Privacy and confidentiality leaks

  • Managing workforce friction

Public Relations

Walk through public and media responses to decisions

Examples

  • Viral social media crisis

  • Major data breach

  • Reputation scandal

  • Product failure

  • Regulatory or Gov. Investigations

  • Mass layoff announcement

  • Protecting brand from misinformation

  • Merger or acquisition announcement

Strategic Negotiations

Rehearse the moves, counter-moves, and exit ramps.

Examples

  • Negotiating a high-stakes contracts

  • Renegotiating with critical suppliers

  • Mergers or acquisitions

  • Securing a strategic partnership

  • Resolving a commercial dispute

  • Hostile customer negotiations

  • Negotiating executive compensation

Leadership & Talent

Pressure-test succession and high-stakes hires.

Examples

  • Promoting the wrong high performer

  • High-stakes succession decisions

  • Managing a toxic executive

  • Organizational restructuring

  • Retaining critical talent

  • Employee resistance

  • Leadership team conflicts

  • Building an ai-ready workforce

Ethical Scenarios

Stress-test participants in ethical dilemmas with no easy way out

Examples

  • AI bias and flawed decision-making

  • Pressure to breach ethical principles

  • Conflicts of Interest

  • Political involvement/ interference

  • Toxic workplace behaviors

  • Whistleblower protection

  • Sensitive and confidential data

  • Professional Skepticism under pressure

Market Entry/Expansion

Walk through competitor and customer reactions.

Examples

  • Entering a hostile market

  • Expanding too quickly

  • Choosing the wrong partner

  • Responding to local backlash

  • Facing regulatory barriers

  • Defending market share

  • Exiting a failed market

  • Managing channel conflict

Change Management

Experience active and passive resistance, compliance and advocacy 

Examples

  • Leading a failed change

  • Change-resistant leadership

  • Key resignations

  • Rebuilding trust 

  • Team conflicts and sub-cultures

  • Ending a legacy process

  • Balancing speed and buy-in

  • Managing resistant influencers

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About the creator of Decision Rehearsal 

Decision Rehearsal™ is conceived and created by Russell Cullingworth. 

Russell has an Executive MBA in Strategy from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a strategic visionary with executive experience in finance, strategy and business planning. Russell is also the creator of the world's first audio-only professional development using scenarios, called StoryStyle™.

 

Through hundreds of hours of research into the neuroscience of imagination, he has become a thought leader and author in immersive audio scenarios and mental simulation for developing executive-level skills and experience. Russell's book, "Learn to Imagine" explores the power of imagination in corporate narrative style.​

READY TO REHEARSE?

Bring Decision Rehearsal to your team.

A 30-minute call with our CEO is the fastest way to scope a rehearsal for the decision you're facing right now.

TRUSTED BY EXECUTIVE TEAMS & LEARNING PROGRAMS AT

LinkedIn Learning
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)

The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (BC)

South African Institute of Chartered Accountants 

Ontario Society of Professional Engineers

Greater Vancouver REALTORS®

CPA British Columbia

CPA Alberta

CPA Saskatchewan

CPA Manitoba

CPA New Brunswick

CPA Nova Scotia

CPA Newfoundland/Labrador

Important Links

Book Russell Cullingworth as a speaker on imagination and creativity as key factors in long-term strategic advantage.

Speaking on "The iFactor"
as a Strategic Advantage

How to achieve exceptional results beyond knowledge & experience.

We create custom scenario-based learning and development using high quality story-based audio.

Custom Scenario Experiences

We produce custom scenario-based learning experiences.

How F1 and other high-stakes sports and milatary use mental simulation to enhance performance.

Mental Simulation for 
Exceptional Performance

Mental Visioning in Developing Judgement & Critical Thinking

The neuroscience behind imagination and learning, mental simulation and developing creativity, critical thinking, judgement and decision-making skills.

Neuroscience and Academic
Research and Resources

Read the Research on
Imagination, Creativity and Storytelling

INTRIGUED?
Text 604.763.8400 or 
 

Q&A

Everything you need to know about Decision Rehearsal

What is Decision Rehearsal™?

Decision Rehearsal™ is a facilitated scenario-based simulation session where leadership teams and future leaders experience the consequences of business decisions before making them. Instead of analyzing options in slides or spreadsheets, leaders step into immersive, audio-driven scenarios that reveal risks, reactions, and second-order effects in real time.

How is Decision Rehearsal™ different from scenario planning?

Traditional scenario planning involves discussing possible outcomes. Decision Rehearsal™ goes further by allowing teams to experience those outcomes as they unfold, including human response and reaction. Through immersive simulations, leaders encounter real-world dynamics - like employee reactions, market shifts, and unintended consequences - before committing to a decision.

What is a decision simulation?

A decision simulation is a structured environment where business leaders can test choices and explore outcomes. Decision Rehearsal™ uses guided, scenario-based audio simulations to recreate how decisions play out over time, helping leaders improve judgment, alignment, and confidence.

Why use audio for business simulations?

Audio activates the brain’s natural ability to mentally simulate real-world situations. By removing visual distractions, immersive audio scenarios engage imagination, emotion, and context - helping leaders feel the consequences of decisions, not just understand them intellectually.

How does Decision Rehearsal™ compare to AI tools?

AI tools can generate insights and recommendations. Decision Rehearsal™ focuses on judgment and alignment, helping teams understand how decisions play out in complex, human environments. It complements AI by turning information into lived experience.

What are the specific advantages of audio over a dashboard?

  • Deeper Cognitive Engagement: Audio is described as more imaginative because it forces the listener to "fill in the gaps," which leads to deeper mental involvement than simply viewing a screen. This aligns with how humans naturally simulate reality internally.

  • Neuroscience and Retention: There is a strong neurological basis for this approach; the brain encodes imagined experiences similarly to real ones. By using audio to provide emotion and context, the simulation improves both retention and decision quality in a way that bullet points or dashboards cannot.

  • Experiencing vs. Analyzing: Dashboards are often viewed as "reactive" or "too static" - In contrast, immersive audio allows leaders to feel the consequences of a decision before they make it. It moves the leadership team from "discussing the risks" to "living through what happens if this goes wrong".

  • Capturing "messy" Human Reactions: Dashboards typically miss the "human" element of a business crisis. Audio scenarios can weave in multiple perspectives - such as those of a disgruntled employee, a competitor, or a concerned customer - to reveal the internal politics and talent fallout that data-heavy dashboards often overlook

  • Focus on Second-Order Effects: While a dashboard might show immediate KPIs, audio-first narratives excel at illustrating second-order effects and unintended consequences, which is where the sources suggest most high-stakes decisions ultimately fail.

Who builds the scenarios and consequences?

The team at ProDio work with consultants and experts to map out the potential consequences of decisions, and then we bring them to life with immersive audio production.​

What types of decisions can be rehearsed?

Decision Rehearsal™ is designed to prepare decision-makers for high-stakes, uncertain decisions such as:

  • Game strategy

  • Public policy

  • Ethical scenarios

  • Strategic negotiations

  • AI adoption and digital transformation

  • Organizational restructuring

  • Market entry or expansion

  • Mergers and acquisitions

  • Leadership and talent decisions

Any decision with complex human, strategic, or second-order effects can benefit from rehearsal.

Who is Decision Rehearsal™ for?

Decision Rehearsal™ is built for:

  • CEOs and executive teams

  • Public sector officials

  • Future leaders and decision-makers
     

It’s especially valuable for highly visible organizations navigating uncertainty, change, or high-risk decisions.

What outcomes can organizations expect?

Organizations using Decision Rehearsal™ typically see:

  • Improved decision quality

  • Increased confidence, understanding and readiness

  • Improved judgement and discernment under uncertainty

  • Behavioral change through active participation

Is this a consulting service or a training program?

Decision Rehearsal™ is neither traditional consulting nor training. It is a simulation-based decision experience designed to pressure-test real business decisions. Unlike consulting, it doesn’t just recommend actions - it helps teams experience the consequences of each option.

How long does a Decision Rehearsal™ session take?

Most Decision Rehearsal™ experiences take 1 – 4 hours, depending on the complexity of the decision. This replaces weeks of debate and helps teams reach alignment faster with greater confidence.

Can Decision Rehearsal™ be customized for our business?

Yes. Each simulation is tailored to your organization’s context, including your industry, strategy, constraints, and decision dynamics. This ensures the experience reflects realistic scenarios and outcomes.

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