Business Simulations: Good For Leadership Development?

Hello SimDevGroup Community!
Is it really appropriate to use business simulations within corporate training and development programs? Again, great question, but actually, its very hard to say decisively. Some will say absolutely while others say its tricky. Even though we write business simulations and business training exercises that are most commonly used within corporate leadership development program, we say, "Its tricky."
Business Simulations Within Leadership Development Programs:
Why do we say it's tricky. Well, this is because connecting behavior to business results gets challenging at times. This is what we do best and have been doing it for years. That being said, we still find it very tricky at times. Every company has it's own leadership competency model that is used in many ways. Also, business methods vary greatly. This is why each of our simulations have to be custom built. It is simply impractical to assume that pre-made generic business simulations can fit all circumstances.
In our experience, business simulations and business simualtion exercises are a great tools, but it takes devotion from Training and Development to create the connection between behavior and business. But, this can certainly be done and has been done many times successfully.
If you decide to embark on using business simulations within leadership development, just be prepared to think carefully about how and why. Something we're very familiar with and enjoy very much.
Just food for thought and we hope it helps!