Show Notes:

In this episode of The Business Growth Spotlight, host Heidi Schalk sits down with Matthew Confer, Head of Strategy at Abilitie, an experiential learning company transforming leadership development through simulation-based, gamified learning experiences.

Matthew shares how Abilitie is redefining leadership training—moving beyond traditional lectures and workshops to create immersive, simulated environments that challenge leaders to make real-time decisions, manage teams, and build business acumen.

From their innovative use of AI-driven roleplay to their rapid global expansion across 50 countries, Matthew reveals how Abilitie helps companies build stronger leaders, retain top talent, and future-proof their organizations for a new era of learning.

Key Takeaways:

• Why experiential, gamified learning is more effective than traditional training.
• The four essential leadership skills every emerging leader must master.
• How Abilitie scaled from 8 employees to a global team driving growth in over 50 countries.
• How AI is enhancing—not replacing—human connection in leadership development.
• The biggest challenges companies face in scaling leadership training—and how to solve them.

Bio: 

Matthew Confer is the Vice President of Strategy at Abilitie, a Leadership Development company based in Austin, Texas that has worked with over 100,000 leaders around the world. Matthew has spoken on the topic of decision making at the TEDx Conference with a talk entitled Before You Decide that has been viewed over 1 million times. He also hosts the Learn To Lead Podcast.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewconfer/

Website:  Abilitie - Leadership Development Powered by Practice

Check out the Learn to Lead Podcast:  Learn to Lead - Podcast - Apple Podcasts

Connect with me:

🎁Spotlight to Scale:  Spotlight to Scale Blueprint

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/