Business Acumen Blog

You and I both know plenty of bright colleagues and peers who have years of experience and know everything there is to know about their particular function—HR, operations, marketing, sales, engineering, or some other role—but who would rather have a root canal than to have to give an opinion or interpretation of the company’s latest financial results.

And yet, business is a NUMBERS game.

When you are seen as only focusing on your function because you don’t understand the numbers, you can quickly lose credibility. That doesn’t mean you need to magically turn into an accountant to do your job well, but it does mean that you need to acknowledge the important role that numbers play in business.

Too often in careers, people become narrow in their perspective – entrenched in their roles. They focus on what they have to get done today or this week (tactical) and lose sight of the bigger picture (strategy). In other words, they do a good job… but they either do the wrong things, or they do the right things for the wrong reasons (think about it).

If you want to be the type of employee that management can’t imagine running the business without, you can’t be just another corporate robot. You have to not only be willing to roll up your sleeves and get the job done – you also need the perspective that will help you do the right things really well.

Surviving the recession takes intensity
Ram Charan speaks about his new book Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty. He tells CEOs to go “granular” — be aware 24/7 of their companies’ cash position (Driver #1) and customers’ needs (Driver #5).

Acumen Learning’s CEO, Kevin Cope has been invited to share his thoughts and ideas with Microsoft’s partners. Kevin will be hosting two different session, both focused on business acumen…