1. A method of developing decision-making skills of a user through practice in a simulated environment, comprising the steps of: a. defining a simulated business situation to be influenced by the user including a set of objects that are represented by an attribute-characteristic representation; b. presenting information concerning a current state of the simulation to the user; c. obtaining decisions from the user; d. evaluating at least one object design using a value function having multiple optima, wherein the obtained decisions at least partially determine the object designs to be evaluated; e. updating the simulation with the results from the evaluating step; and f. selectively repeating steps b) through e).