Why Do So Many Managers Make Poor Business Decisions?
- Acumen Learning
- Aug 5
- 4 min read
You don’t get promoted to manager by accident. You’ve proven your value. You lead people. You know the work.
But even the best managers can find themselves making decisions that don’t move the business forward—costly hires, ineffective processes, bloated budgets. Not because they lack intelligence or ambition, but because they lack business acumen: the ability to see beyond the day-to-day and understand how decisions ripple through the entire business.
At Acumen Learning, we help managers at every level close this gap with training that speaks your company’s language and equips your leaders to think like executives.
The Pressure is Real—But So is the Opportunity
You may have heard this before: “I knew our team was busy, but I couldn’t explain how what we were doing was impacting the business. We were executing well, but without direction.”
That’s the heart of the problem. Managers are asked to deliver results without always being shown how to measure value. Strategy becomes abstract. Finance feels like someone else’s job. And decisions are made with limited context.
But when managers understand the why behind the business—the strategy, the numbers, the priorities—they shift from doers to drivers.
Why Strategic Thinking Changes Everything
Strategic thinking isn’t just about big-picture vision. It’s about making smarter decisions day-to-day. Managers who think strategically:
Choose better projects by asking, "Will this move margin, growth, or efficiency?"
Manage budgets with confidence, not guesswork.
Align their teams with the broader goals of the company.
After taking our training, a marketing leader at a health solutions company told us: "I’ll leverage technology to boost marketing productivity, partner with leadership to eliminate inefficiencies, and ensure every effort drives profitability, growth, and competitive advantage."
What Gets in the Way?
Most managers want to make smart decisions. But three common challenges get in the way:
1. Lack of Financial Literacy Many managers are brilliant in their domains, whether that’s product, operations, HR, or IT, but freeze up when financial terms enter the conversation. Words like gross margin, EBITDA, or capital allocation aren’t just jargon, they represent how the business measures success.
Example: A department head once greenlit a project that seemed like a cost-saver—outsourcing a function overseas. But they overlooked the hidden costs: vendor management, time zone delays, and additional compliance expenses. The project saved money on paper, but ultimately shrank gross margin. Why? They didn’t understand how margin is calculated or what actually drives profit.
Why it matters: Without basic financial fluency, managers can’t weigh trade-offs effectively or align their decisions with what matters most to the business: the bottom line.
2. Tactical Overload Managers often operate in “firefighting mode”—responding to emails, solving team issues, filling out reports—leaving little space for long-term thinking.
Example: A sales manager spent weeks reorganizing their team’s CRM dashboards to track every interaction. It looked productive, but none of it addressed their real issue: declining renewals. By the time they turned their focus to customer retention, it was too late to reverse the trend.
Why it matters: Strategy dies in the weeds. Without space to think, even great managers get stuck reacting instead of proactively steering toward growth or efficiency.
3. Miscommunication Different functions speak different languages. Finance talks in ratios and returns. Marketing talks about brand lift. Ops talks about throughput. Without a shared framework, even smart ideas get misunderstood or dismissed.
Example: An engineering lead proposed an infrastructure upgrade that would reduce downtime by 30%. But when presenting it to leadership, they focused on tech specs, not financial impact. The initiative was rejected. When reframed in terms of cost savings and customer churn, the same proposal was immediately approved.
Why it matters: Communication isn’t just about clarity, it’s about speaking the language of business. When managers frame their decisions in terms of business outcomes, they gain traction and credibility across the organization.
It’s not a competence issue, it’s a context issue. That’s what Acumen Learning solves.
What Makes Acumen Learning Different?
We teach the foundational principles that drive any business and apply these principles to your company. We don’t do generic training. We bring strategy down to earth using your company’s own goals, challenges, and financial statements.
Your employees will:
Align better with company strategy.
Engage deeper in their work.
Make smarter decisions that drive real business outcomes.
The Next Step Is Simple
If your managers are smart but stuck making poor business decisions, it’s time to level them up. Let’s equip your team to stop guessing and start leading with strategic intent.
👉 Contact us today to learn how Acumen Learning can tailor a business acumen program for your organization. Or download our free L&D Impact Guidebook for tools and templates to link training directly to business outcomes.
Business acumen isn’t a luxury skill. It’s a leadership essential. Let’s build it together.
✅ Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more Business Acumen videos!
✅ Follow us on LinkedIn @AcumenLearning to keep up with all company updates!
✅ For more on our business acumen training, visit our website!
