Business, financial and strategic acumen are all Interrelated, so sometimes it can be difficult to define each one without slipping over into the others, but this morning I'm going to try to do that for business acumen.

Intro

Good morning from the shores of Rincon, Puerto Rico. 

This morning I'm musing about business acumen because a colleague was struggling to find her own definition. So, let me share with you my thoughts about business acumen.

As you know, I've said a million times that business, strategic and financial acumen are all Interrelated, so sometimes it can be difficult to define each one without slipping over into the others.

But this morning I'm going to try to do that for business acumen.

Defining Business Acumen

When I think about business acumen, one of the things that comes first to mind is that it requires you to lift your field of vision from the job that you were hired to do. So whether you're an individual contributor, a manager of individuals, a manager of managers, or an executive, you have to be able to look across and up, not just down at your area or areas of responsibility.

What that means is that business acumen includes an understanding of the entire business, how the various parts support one another in order to bring value to customers and consumers. As I've touched on in other podcasts, it means that you have to understand the entire value creation chain that brings value to those customers and consumers. And you have to understand your role in it.

The other thing that is important when thinking about business acumen is that it means understanding the key outcomes by which the organization is measured and your role in delivering on those key outcomes.

I sometimes say business acumen is understanding the business of the business (which is what I've just discussed) where it's going and your role in taking it there.

"Business acumen is understanding the business, where it's headed and your role in taking it there."

'Where it's going' slips a little bit into strategic acumen, but to the extent that where it's going has to do with meeting short term quarterly or annual goals, that is a part of business acumen.

if you don't understand what those goals are at the highest level and how you contribute to them from wherever you are there's a gap in your business acumen.

What can you do to enhance your business acumen?

There are many many actions you can take. For example:

• Learning from people adjacent to you in your value creation chain.
• Interviewing people in other business units about what's going on over there.

These and many, many more tips and concepts and tools are available to you in the Build Business Acumen course.

Click the link below to find out more about it, and I hope I'll see you there.

Build Business Acumen

Catch you next time. 

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Podcast produced and original theme music by Megan Tuck www.megantuckaudio.com