In May 2025, Microsoft eliminated 6,000 jobs. A week later, IBM cut 8,000 positions when AI agents took over entire functions of its human resources department. These are not isolated cases: in the first half of this year alone, nearly 55,000 layoffs in the United States were directly attributed to artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level office jobs in the next five years. And 30% of the code at Microsoft is already written by AI, according to its own CEO, Satya Nadella.
But here's the paradox that few mention: while 92 million jobs will be displaced by 2030, 170 million new roles will be created, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025. The problem is not the number of jobs. It is that the skills that are disappearing and those that are emerging are not the same, they are not in the same places, and they do not belong to the same people.
The question is no longer whether the labor market will change. The question is: are we preparing tomorrow's professionals for roles that do not yet exist, with tools they have not yet mastered?
The skills gap: the biggest obstacle to business transformation
Global employers anticipate that 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030. Although this figure represents a slight reduction from the 44% projected in 2023, thanks to increased investment in training programs, the challenge remains monumental.
The same World Economic Forum report reveals that if we were to represent the global workforce as a group of 100 people, 59 would need retraining or skills upgrading by 2030. Of these, 11 are unlikely to receive the necessary training, which translates into more than 120 million workers at risk of professional obsolescence in the medium term.
This gap has become the most significant barrier to business transformation: 63% of employers cite it as the main obstacle to preparing their operations for the future.
The competencies that will define professional success
The landscape of required skill sets is evolving toward a unique combination of technical and human capabilities:
Rising technological competencies:
- Artificial intelligence and big data
- Networking and cybersecurity
- Technological literacy
Essential human skills:
- Analytical and creative thinking
- Resilience, flexibility, and agility
- Leadership and social influence
- Curiosity and continuous learning
- Talent management
This duality represents a paradigm shift: it is no longer enough to master technical tools or possess only soft skills. The professionals of the future will need to integrate both dimensions seamlessly.
Why business schools need to rethink their methods
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has been clear about the path educational institutions should follow: business schools must incorporate practical AI-based simulations, up-to-date case studies, and industry collaborations to strengthen student employability.
According to the GMAC survey cited by the same organization, 46% of students consider AI to be essential in the curriculum of their ideal business school in 2024, up from 29% in 2022. But there is a fundamental problem with traditional education that technology alone cannot solve: the forgetting curve.
Research on knowledge retention reveals alarming data. Based on studies of Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve, people forget approximately 70% of new information within the first 24 hours without reinforcement. After a week, they may forget up to 90% of what they have learned. However, when learners are exposed to real-world application, they retain up to 60% more compared to purely theoretical learning.
Business simulations directly address this problem. For AACSB, case studies and dynamic simulations powered by AI adapt to each student's unique decision-making process, allowing them to directly experience the consequences of their leadership decisions in a controlled environment. This approach not only encourages deeper learning, but also combines the unlimited possibilities of virtual environments with the personalized and instantaneous capabilities of AI-generated solutions.
Experiential learning as a response to workplace transformation
Business simulations have proven to be extraordinarily effective pedagogical tools for developing the skills demanded by today's market. A systematic review published in Education Sciences in January 2025, which analyzed 13 rigorous studies on business simulations in higher education, confirms that competitive simulations promote not only decision-making, but also intrinsic motivation, learning efficiency, teamwork, communication, analytical thinking, and strategic thinking.
The same study found that these tools develop additional skills such as problem solving, proactive thinking, time management, argumentation, conflict management, and self-esteem. The systematic review by Faisal et al. (2022) published in Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies documents that global companies such as Google, Microsoft, American Express, and Caterpillar already use these simulation games to train their employees and managers.
These methodologies work because they replicate the complexity of the real business world. As documented in a case study by Queen Mary University of London published by AACSB in February 2025, during five weeks of simulation-based competition, students learned to make collective decisions within their teams and developed key employability skills such as negotiation, problem solving, teamwork, and adaptability.
Simulations for developing critical skills
At Eureka Simulations, we have designed immersive experiences specifically geared toward developing the skills that the job market of the future demands:
EntrepreneurSim: Mental agility and decision-making under pressure
In a world where 85% of employers plan to prioritize updating the skills of their workforce by 2030 (according to the World Economic Forum) the ability to make quick and informed decisions becomes indispensable.
EntrepreneurSim immerses participants in the role of an entrepreneur in the early stages of a startup. During 60-90 minutes of intense activity, players must:
- Select strategic markets to launch their company
- Build diverse and complementary teams
- Develop products using agile methodologies
- Validate hypotheses with potential customers and investors
- Navigate the B2B sales process
This simulation develops precisely the skills that the same source identifies as critical: analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, and the ability to continuously learn from mistakes.
Relic Island: Competitive and collaborative negotiation
Negotiation and collaboration skills consistently rank among the competencies most valued by global employers. According to the GMAC survey cited by AACSB, employers are particularly focused on social-emotional skills such as teamwork, adaptability, emotional intelligence, initiative, and determination.
A multiplayer experience where students face increasingly complex negotiation scenarios. Over multiple rounds, participants must:
- Assess power dynamics and build strategic alliances
- Make difficult decisions with incomplete information
- Balance individual goals with collective outcomes
- Manage conflicts and find mutually beneficial solutions
The simulation captures a fundamental reality of modern leadership: negotiations are rarely purely competitive or purely collaborative. Effective leaders know when to compete, when to collaborate, and how to transition between the two modes depending on the circumstances.
The imperative to act now
The data from the World Economic Forum is compelling: 70% of employers plan to hire staff with new skills, while 50% plan to transition current workers into new roles. This dual strategy of external hiring and internal development will be the norm, not the exception.
For educational institutions, this means that preparing employable graduates is no longer optional: it is the fundamental metric of success. While AACSB, these educational opportunities could strengthen students' employability by emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and ethical decision-making as key skills for leaders.
For professionals, the message is equally clear: continuous learning is no longer a competitive advantage but a requirement for professional survival. The World Economic Forum reports that 50% of workers have already completed training as part of learning and development initiatives, a significant increase from 41% in 2023.
Conclusion: Preparing leaders for an uncertain world
The Future of Jobs Report 2025 presents us with a picture of accelerated transformation, but also of unprecedented opportunity. The 78 million net new jobs that will be created this decade will require professionals capable of combining technical skills with deeply human abilities: leadership, negotiation, critical thinking, and adaptability.
Business simulations are one of the most effective tools for developing this integrated set of skills. As the systematic review by Education Sciences (2025) concludes, regardless of the design or particularities of each simulation, it is important to emphasize the different elements that must be present in the process to develop decision-making skills and link learning objectives to the simulation to be implemented.
At Eureka Simulations, we believe that the future belongs to those who learn by doing. Our simulations—from EntrepreneurSim to Relic Island—are designed to develop exactly the skills that tomorrow's job market demands: mental agility, decision-making under pressure, effective negotiation, and adaptive leadership.
The question is no longer whether we should transform the way we educate future leaders. The question is how much longer we can afford to wait.
