Highwire
Highwire provides expert-led, high-pressure practice sessions that condition the human skills that can't be automated—strategic thinking under uncertainty, commanding presence under scrutiny, and effective feedback delivery. Teams face realistic simulations, receive direct feedback, and repeat exercises until correct responses become instinct. The approach is built on a method proven across 35 years and 20 million study hours with 500+ top financial services firms.
Funding
Founders
Founder details are not available yet.
Product
Problem
Traditional leadership training relies on theory and passive learning, leaving employees unprepared for high-stakes situations involving uncertainty, scrutiny, pushback, or difficult feedback. This creates a "readiness gap" where emerging talent and their managers disagree about performance (90% of employees believe they are performing well, but only 16% of managers agree), stalling development and compounding gaps as AI removes tactical work that used to build critical skills.
Solution
Highwire conditions the human skills that can't be automated through expert-led, high-pressure practice sessions. Teams face the exact situations that expose their gaps—such as strategic decisions under uncertainty, commanding presence under scrutiny, giving and receiving feedback, and earning trust—receive direct feedback, and repeat the exercise until correct responses become instinct. Built by the team behind Knopman Marks, trusted by 500+ top financial services firms over 35 years and 20 million study hours, Highwire applies a proven method of real-pressure simulation and performance repetition to professional development. The approach is described by Inc. Magazine as training corporate employees "like elite athletes."
Target Audience
Primary customers are corporate teams, particularly in financial services and other demanding industries, plus emerging talent and their managers who need to close the readiness gap between self-perception and actual performance under pressure.
Features
- High-pressure practice simulations that mirror real workplace environments rather than theoretical instruction
- Real-time performance feedback delivered during sessions to correct behavior as it happens
- Repeated reps designed to convert intentional responses into instinctive behavior under pressure
- Focus on specific human skills: strategic thinking in uncertainty, command presence under scrutiny, feedback delivery, and trust-building at every level
- Session formats based on 35 years of methodology from Knopman Marks, proven across more than 20 million study hours with 500+ of the most demanding firms in financial services
- Measured outcomes include 3x increase in taking initiative, 47% improvement in command presence, and 51% increase in effective feedback delivery