Whoops! This page has moved. Go to the Right Page

Read this free business acumen case study. When other airline companies were unprofitable, how has Southwest remained viable? What does your CEO want you to know about assets? You and your team will learn: How Southwest uses assets to grow profitably Why ROA is important to executives Where your team can make the biggest impact How to build business acumen GET YOUR FREE CASE STUDY and bonus team activity!

Whether you’re looking for the ultimate follow-up to your business acumen course or an open enrollment experience to align your workforce, there is no better solution than quarterly earnings call debriefs. Download the Earnings Call Executive Overview Submit Click here to download Earnings Call Debrief Executive Overview Your solution awaits... Earnings Calls Whether you’re looking for the ultimate follow-up to your business acumen course or an open enrollment experience to align your workforce, there is no better solution than quarterly earnings call debriefs. Help your teams master business acumen with Acumen Learning Business is complicated. Acumen Learning knows that to engage an entire workforce, you need to empower and teach each individual their impact. That's why we commit to knowing your company's needs and helping every employee know their importance in the big picture. Whether you’re expanding your business acumen or increasing leadership skills, we'll partner with you and cater a solution that expands your people's capabilities. We’re committed to your business's success. © Acumen Learning | All Right Reserved

Get in touch with Ron Saffell about our business acumen training. Schedule a Demo with Ron Saffell | 801-224-5444 Training Solutions Business Acumen Training Sales Training Keynotes and Events The Experience Customized Experience Standout Facilitators A Process. Not An Event. No Lectures, Games, SIMS. The Results Case Studies Clients & Industries Participant Feedback

How did Petco go from an overnight success to broke in 268 days? < back

With business acumen training, Acumen Learning helped teach top sales reps how to speak the language of the executive suite. PHILIPS HEALTHCARE Business Acumen Training Case Study WHY CHOOSE US CLIENTS STORIES FAQs ARTICLES OUR TEAM Royal Philips—the parent company of Philips Healthcare—holds over 48,000 registered patents, employs over 115,000 people, operates in more than 100 countries, and possesses a brand valued at nearly $10B. Philips Healthcare faced a critical market shift where equipment purchase decisions were no longer being made at the department level. Business acumen training helped their top reps move up to the C-suite. Acumen Learning is proud to partner with Philips Healthcare, one of the leading medical technology companies in the world, to help their sales leaders make stronger connections with customers so they can, in turn, make healthcare better. Philips' sales executives have long recognized that for this to happen, they need stronger relationships with hospital executives who are increasingly involved in purchasing decisions. So rather than just selling medical devices and supplies to physicians or at a department level, Philips needed reps who could partner with executives and help them identify, not just the products they think they can afford, but the solutions they need to further patient care. This partnership allows salespeople to work with providers to create solutions that bridge the gap between those needs and tight budgets – enabling hospitals and physicians to continue making patient health and wellness their top priority. The reality for most healthcare providers is that the current economic challenges and budgetary pressures they face often hamper their ability to introduce and integrate the latest innovations in healthcare into their practices. Regardless of how hard they work to improve patient outcomes, they may not meet the high-quality standards they could achieve with the newest technology on their side. Therefore, they’re looking for creative partnerships and solutions that can help get the equipment and supplies they need in a flexible and economically prudent way. In an effort to excel in this vision, Philips leadership implemented the “Accelerate!” initiative to improve customer focus and create lean end-to-end customer value chains. Since hospital reimbursement has shifted toward a focus on patient outcomes rather than volume of care, having access to newer, more effective technology allows physicians and hospital staff to do more and provide better treatment to their patients, which promotes more positive patient outcomes, and as a result, more reliable reimbursement rates for hospitals. To more fully execute this initiative, company leaders needed their salespeople to better understand the trade-offs that hospital leadership wrestle with day-in and day-out. "Acumen Learning consistently scored and rated head and shoulders above the others. It’s not a canned class. They work with you on what you want to present and deliver. It’s very customized. They did deep research on our company and our competitors. They knew the industry. Their research sets them apart." Director of Marketing So, in 2011 Philips partnered with Acumen Learning to develop a business acumen training program that would institutionalize a client-centric mindset and help get the newest tech into the hands of physicians faster. As a result of this training, the company’s salespeople have gained a greater understanding of healthcare economics and the business of hospitals, as well as the financial challenges that hospitals face. The results for Philips have been tangible, with company leaders noticing more meaningful discussions into how access to cutting-edge technology and supplies positively impacts patient outcomes while also enabling hospitals to achieve their financial objectives. For a case in point, we received an email from a patient-monitoring salesperson—a clinically trained nurse with fifteen years experience and no business background. She knew the products inside and out and had successfully sold devices to nurses, physicians, and department heads for years, but was increasingly running into business questions that she couldn’t answer or didn’t understand. After the class, she discovered that one of her customers was having problems with re-admission rates. Under the Affordable Care Act, a hospital can’t be reimbursed if a patient is re-admitted for the same condition within 30 days. Some Philips solutions have algorithms built in that can detect and prevent many of the things that can lead to re-admission. In the past, these features were sold as a patient benefit only. Rather than sell the traditional way (i.e., by selling nurses on the technical benefits of the solution), the patient-monitoring specialist decided to approach the Chief Nursing Officer. Using her newfound business acumen skills, she demonstrated how Philips Healthcare solutions could save the hospital 30% on readmission costs and directly impact their bottom line. She won the deal. CAREERBUILDER READ AEROSPACE & DEFENSE CLIENT READ ANTHEM READ VERIZON READ

Read this free business acumen case study. How did Nintendo go from being a card company to one of the staples of the videogame industry? What does your CEO want you to know about growth? You and your team will learn: The balance Nintendo has mastered between quality and quantity Why executives find growth so important Where your team can impact your company How to build business acumen GET YOUR FREE CASE STUDY and bonus team activity!

Their top leaders saw a measurable increase in their manager effectiveness scores after attending business acumen training. ANTHEM Building Business Acumen Case Study WHY CHOOSE US CLIENTS STORIES FAQs ARTICLES OUR TEAM With over 73 million people served by its affiliated companies, including nearly 40 million within its family of health plans, Anthem is one of the United State's leading health benefits companies. To support the rollout of a new corporate strategy, Anthem concluded that their managers would need to fully understand the relationship between their individual roles and the company’s broader strategy. Anthem recognized a pattern of similar training requests coming from different areas of the business. To pinpoint a solution they conducted a comprehensive skills assessment and found the following: Decisions were being made with unintended negative consequences to the business. Individuals were not able to connect their personal actions with organizational measures. Managers and leaders were not able to easily and usefully communicate the company direction and strategy. Anthem identified a need for business acumen and began to outline areas where improvements would have the most impact: Employees could develop a better understanding of the company’s financials and how they compared with competitors. Decisions made with unintended negative consequences to the business could be reduced. Employees could more clearly connect their personal actions with key measures. Managers and leaders responsible for communicating the company direction could articulate it easier and with more usefulness. Employees could gain a broader perspective to better understand how financial decisions impact other areas of the business. Download their research › "I’ve been a learning professional for 20 years and this is the best training I’ve experienced in that time." Chief Learning & Performance Officer Anthem selected Acumen Learning to customize a business acumen course with a focus on helping Anthem's leaders connect business imperatives throughout the organization to support a new executive strategy resulting from a merger. The learning objectives for this program were to: Better understand financials and know how they impact top and bottom results Understand recent CEO directives and how to support them Improve leadership through better communication of business and financial results Make better, faster and more profitable decisions by aligning their objectives with the needs of their organization “One of the reasons we landed on Acumen Learning, as a partner of choice, was their underlying program model that was designed to carry our strategy to the company in different situations,” said Todd Harrison, former Director of Leadership and Associate Development. “The solution was customized to exactly what we needed and what our managers needed; to understand fully how our company operates and what they need to do in that system to make it successful.” Working closely with Anthem's leadership development team, Acumen Learning conducted a series of interviews with executive officers, including the CFO, to ensure the course would be relevant to leaders and specific business units. Weaved into the learning process were Anthem's financials, competitive data, key metrics, and core messages so that learners could experience first-hand the impact business decisions have on the company’s bottom-line. “It’s really about the results. We have compared the people who have been to the training with those that haven’t, and we can see the difference in the numbers,” said Harrison. “It’s very clear, those who have gone through the training gain a better understanding of how our company operates and they’re producing and getting better results. Our Manager Effectiveness Scores (an annual measure performed by Anthem) showed a 50% improvement of those who attended the training compared to those who had not.” Through our decade-long partnership Anthem has weathered changes big and small, from the Affordable Care Act to increasing M&A trends. With each industry shift and executive move, Acumen Learning's business acumen course has proven to be a key in helping Anthem's top leaders achieve greater decisional alignment and business leadership. CAREERBUILDER READ PHILIPS HEALTHCARE READ AEROSPACE & DEFENSE CLIENT READ VERIZON READ

Read this free business acumen case study. After the boom of dot-com companies, what led to their ultimate demise? What does your CEO want you to know about cash? You and your team will learn: How cash saved Amazon's from the dot-com crash Why cash is important to executives How to build business acumen GET YOUR FREE CASE STUDY and bonus team activity!

Use our marketing materials to convince your team that business acumen training is just what you and your company needs. < Go to Spread the Word Convince your team. Use our marketing materials to convince your team that business acumen training is just what you and your company needs. Need help? 801.224.5444 info@acumenlearning.com Marketing Materials Company Brochure View Get a holistic view of Acumen Learning's sales, finance, and business acumen training options, including our customization process, curriculum, and customer experience. Course Descriptions Download Get a course description for each of our learning modules. Building Business Acumen Executive Overview Our customized Building Business Acumen® course will help any professional understand the big picture of their business. Download BBA for Sales & Marketing Executive Overview Download You need your sales and marketing team to deliver profitable results. Building Business Acumen training (BBA) helps sales and marketing teams understand how all the moving parts of a company work together to optimize profitable results for your company and customers. Building Business Acumen Essentials Executive Overview Equip your trainers with the skills to teach the big picture of business, how to align decisions to corporate strategy, and improve engagement among employees at scale. Download Applying Business Acumen Executive Overview Download Applying Business Acumen is the next step in your employees’ business acumen journey as they develop professional skills to listen and align to executive communication, understand the factors that guide business decisions, and plan and execute on top priorities. In short, act like a CEO. Virtual Delivery Executive Overview Download Whether working from home or at the office, business acumen training can be a part of your workforce’s curriculum. Since 2010, Acumen Learning has been pioneering virtual instructor-led courses, and there’s no time like the present to teach your employees what executives need them to know and do. Corporate Online Executive Overview Download Whether you’re looking for greater alignment or career advancement, online business acumen training can bridge the gap. Build your credibility, career, and company with a deep knowledge of the customer, commercial, operational, financial, and people dimensions of your business. Earnings Calls Executive Overview Download Whether you’re looking for the ultimate follow up to your business acumen course or an open enrollment experience to align your workforce, there is no better solution than quarterly earnings calls. Activities 10 Questions to Test Your Business Acumen Take Test Test your business acumen fluency with our simple ten questions test. Quick Quiz Get Quiz Answer the Big Picture Quick Quiz based on your company's performance in the most recent fiscal year. Case Studies Get Free Case Studies Get access to our 12 case studies and take your team through the included activities. Client Stories Anthem Read How do we support our executive’s strategy to ensure long-term growth and success as well as meet the short-term expectations of our shareholders? CareerBuilder Read What would our business look like if we trained one thousand sales, marketing, and customer service professionals to be more business savvy? Philips Healthcare Read If we improved our customer focus, created lean end-to-end value chains, and could speak intelligently with executive buyers, how would that change the game? Aerospace & Defense Client Read A leader in the aerospace and defense industry partnered with Acumen Learning to customize and deliver their Building Business Acumen® course. To assess the results of this training, MetrixGlobal evaluated how well employees applied what they learned and the impact on their organization. Verizon Read When the accepted data says that most mergers and acquisitions don’t live up to shareholder expectations, how do we beat the odds? Seeing the Big Picture Resources Seeing the Big Picture Foreword Read Read the foreword of Seeing the Big Picture by Stephen M.R. Covey, author of New York Times bestseller The Speed of Trust . About Kevin Cope, Author Read Meet Kevin, the author of Seeing the Big Picture and founder of Acumen Learning, and his journey in recognizing the need for business acumen training in corporations. Videos What is Business Acumen? Watch While most people understand their job function, most people don't understand important business measures. That gap is where business acumen comes in. Who is Acumen Learning? Watch We help companies get clear on how their companies make money, and then help them make better decisions around that money-making process. In other words, we help build their business acumen. Virtual Business Acumen Training Watch As COVID-19 continues to force companies to shift strategies and make incredibly difficult decisions, there's no time like the present to teach your employees what executives need them to know and do. Our virtual training allows you to do just that. Online Business Acumen Training Watch In this online course, we'll give you the tools you'll need to succeed. Create insights and goals you can use to create specific goals to measurably impact the business. BBA for Sales Training Watch Building Business Acumen training (BBA) helps sales and marketing teams understand how all the moving parts of a company work together to optimize profitable results for your company and customers. A Different Kind of Virtual Training Watch We don’t want you to feel like checking your email is a better use of your time than participating in a poorly taught training. That’s why we’ve made a virtual class that’s as much a discussion for you and your peers as it is instruction for your career. Training with Waste Connections Watch Hear from Waste Connection's leadership on the impact of Acumen Learning's business acumen training. Teaching People to Be Teachers Watch Hear from Mary Anne Whitney, CFO of Waste Connections, on the difference of business acumen training. Customer Testimonials Watch Hear from participants of our course on how business acumen training helped them to see the bigger picture of their company. Next Level Business Watch Our business acumen training courses are customized to your business. We're not a SIM or a game, we're your numbers, your strategy, and we impact your decisions. Build Your Future Leaders Watch Financials aren't the sort of thing people would think is interesting, but with our business acumen training, we get you excited at the importance and impact of your career. Engage Your Employees Watch Engage your employees with a customized business acumen training experience that dives into your numbers, your strategy, and decisions that impact their careers. Building People Watch Business acumen training should make business leaders out of your employees. That's what we do best. Exciting Process Watch We want our business acumen training to help you understand the business of your company and the business decisions that impact your role. You'll walk away smarter and a better partner to your company. Career Changing Training Watch At Acumen Learning, our customized business acumen training will give you an MBA in your company. We bridge the gap of business understanding and business strategy for all companies. Industries Healthcare View The healthcare industry is complex, but from med-device to payors, everyone can benefit from learning how their companies make money. Basic Materials & Energy View The energy producers of the world and those who produce energy-intensive goods face unique and ever changing complexities that are reshaping the marketplace. Consumer Products View Consumer brands have been moving towards transparency. Senior leaders know that they need employees who are able to see things anew, perceive shifts in the marketplace quickly, and understand how to leverage new rules to improve financial performance. Financial Services View New regulations and a global economy has forever changed the financial and insurance landscape. Manufacturing & Industrial Companies View With emerging technologies and new capabilities, manufactures must adjust to the current realities of the marketplace. High-Tech & Telecom View Cloud computing, edge analytics, artificial intelligence, the digitization of media, and far too many other advances to count are changing the way we all work and connect with the world.

We provide thoughtful follow-up to your business acumen training. What follow-up do we use to solidify the learner's experience? FAQs WHY CHOOSE US CLIENTS STORIES FAQs ARTICLES OUR TEAM THOUGHTFUL FOLLOW-UP TO YOUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TRAINING Ultimately it’s up to graduates to become more valuable and valued, but we’re going to do everything we can – as if it were up to us. Graduates will return to work speaking the universal language of business. No matter their level in the organization, they’ll have a big picture mentality and be wrestling with the inherent complexity of your business. They’ll also have a renewed appreciation for how money making is valued throughout the organization and by the stock market. They’ll be excited to share their new knowledge and to use their classroom tools on the job. Our follow-up activities are designed to tap into this energy to help ensure there’s a real change in how decisions are made and how business gets done. 7-Day, 30-Day, and Quarterly Facilitator Check-Ins Within 7 days participants will receive an email from their facilitator to remind them of the commitments they made in class and introduce them to our Acumen in Action follow-through series. On day 30 they’ll do a quick check-in to see how they’re progressing. And every quarter, a week or two before your earnings are released, they’ll remind them to listen in on their earnings calls and use the tools from class to channel their energy toward the right business priorities. Acumen in Action Series Helping others along the way will add dimensions of experience, knowledge, and insight that will benefit your entire organization. And that’s why we developed our Acumen in Action Series. Every month for an entire year graduates are emailed a quick (10-15 minute) activity to be shared in a team meeting. Graduates are expected to lead these discussions, even if they’re not the team leader. The activities are designed to increase information flow and expand not only the graduate’s business acumen , but also his or her colleague’s business acumen . Think of it as your secret weapon in building your organization’s bench strength. Accountability Partners Before participants are let loose, they’re required to choose an Accountability Partner (a classmate) to whom they can be accountable. They’ll commit to a meeting 30 days out to discuss their progress on their business acumen Action Plans. Together they can help further each other’s knowledge and support efforts to influence results. The goal of these mentorships is to deepen a graduate’s ability to partner cross-organizationally and more fully understand another’s world within the company – in an effort to further breakdown organizational chimneys. Challenge: Manager Review & Debrief Graduates will schedule a meeting with their supervisor or boss to review what they learned in the classroom and share their Action Plan – what they’ll be doing in the next sixty to ninety days to improve company performance. Setting up this discussion need not be complicated or overly formal, a quick lunch conversation, or a brief scheduled meeting is all that’s need to have a conversation with your boss to discuss how you can better achieve meaningful results. We’ll challenge your employees to meet with their manager on a regular basis just to talk about business. Challenge: Teach a Colleague It was the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger who said, “By teaching we are learning.” We agree. We commit participants to teach one of the principles they learned in class to a colleague because in the real world businesses are complex and it’s up to leaders with business acumen to provide clarity and direction. Besides, the more our graduates become known for their insightful business acumen the more valued they’ll become to your business – and you’ll want to send even more people through our courses. It’s a win-win! QUARTERLY EARNINGS CALLS Our Quarterly Earnings Calls are the ultimate follow up to an instructor-led business acumen training course. Every quarter, shortly after your earnings are released, graduates will join their facilitator on a web conference to break down your company’s most recent earnings announcement using the Navigating the Financials and Executive Alignment tools they received in class. In about an hour, your facilitator will reconnect graduates to concepts they learned in class and share insights into your executive team’s analysis of the business and industry. They’ll review key numbers and look at the business like an investor. And most importantly, we’re not merely disseminating company information – we’re modeling how to listen to future executive releases… quarter-after-quarter and year-after-year. Next to taking one of our customized courses, there’s no better way to build your business acumen than to participate on one of our Quarterly Earnings Calls. They’re the ultimate follow-up solution that virtually guarantees movement of the needle. Start a Conversation

Have your team take the business acumen quiz to see if there's a gap in business and financial strategy at your company. Business Acumen IQ ® 01 ARE YOUR PEOPLE FINANCIALLY LITERATE? Employees who can't speak the language of business can't help their companies bridge the gap between ambition and performance. Test your business acumen by taking the quiz today. 95% of employees don't understand company strategy 90% of employees don't understand important business metrics 70% of U.S. employees are disengaged 02 WHY FINANCIAL LITERACY MATTERS Employees who understand how your company makes money and how their decisions impact the money-making process are valuable. Whether you're looking for greater alignment, engagement, or productivity, business acumen training can bridge the gap. Have your team take the business acumen quiz. See if there's a gap in your company. Learn to speak the language of business See the big picture of your organization Understand important company data Make informed business decisions Know your impact on company objectives Effectively communicate your ideas | ACUMEN LEARNING 10 QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TAKE QUIZ ▹ acumenlearning.com | © Acumen Learning