Possessing business acumen won't make you, or anyone else, a great leader – but without it, you will never become one.
By the end of this course you will:
- Use the 5 Business Drivers (Cash, Profit, Assets, Growth, & People) to understand how companies make money
- Develop a working knowledge of financial statements
- Consistently make the right strategic bets for your company
Whether you are currently working for a company, own a company, or looking to start a company, you need business acumen. Especially when the stakes are high and when the right decisions, made at the right time, will strengthen your company and your career in the long run. We are not interested in turning you into an accounting genius, but we are very interested in building your business confidence.
Why Business Acumen?
Ninety percent of business professionals don't understand important business metrics, and those who do, have a hard time explaining the numbers to those who don't. What they're both missing is business acumen.
At its heart, "business acumen" means knowing how your company makes money and making better decisions around the money you make, no matter your role.
A company that doesn't know how it makes money isn't likely to make more.
So how does your business make money? The answer to this question isn't simple. Are we talking about cash or profit? Do we mean relative to last year, or relative to competitors? Are we making more money than we owe? Where is the money coming from and where is it going? Are we making money slower than we used to, and if so, why?
To find answers and improve career opportunities, savvy leaders focus on 5 critical Business Drivers: Cash, Profit, Assets, Growth, & People.
The first three drivers appear on the financial statements: The Income Statement (Profit), The Balance Sheet (Assets), and The Statement of Cash Flows (Cash). Growth is the goal of every company and People is how you make it all happen. But understanding your company's financials is only the beginning.
Next, you need to apply that understanding.
Your Instructor
Kevin Cope is a successful executive and author of the #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller, Seeing the Big Picture. For over twenty-five years, Kevin has promoted the idea that the brightest minds in business understand the essence of how a company makes money, and they use this knowledge to drive their decisions. In other words, they have business acumen.
Recognizing that business acumen is not only essential, but also lacking in many organizations, Kevin founded Acumen Learning in 2002, a training company that has gone on to teach Kevin’s Five Drivers business model to some of the world’s most respected and profitable companies, including 17 of the Fortune 50.
Kevin Cope teaches employees, leaders, and business owners how to speak the language of business as fluently as they speak the language of their department or function. Kevin believes that business people who exercise their business acumen execute smarter, faster, and make more profitable business decisions.
Course Curriculum
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StartThe First Business Driver: Cash
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StartCash Video (11:41)
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StartCash Quiz
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StartIntro to Austin's Cycle Shop (0:35)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Cash Part 1 (0:20)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Cash Part 2 (0:40)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Cash Part 3 (0:08)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Answers & Explanations
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StartThe Second Business Driver: Profit
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StartProfit Video (9:08)
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StartProfit Quiz
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StartAustin's Case Study - Profit Part 1 (0:35)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Profit Part 2 (0:10)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Profit Part 3 (0:16)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Profit Part 4 (0:08)
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StartAustin's Case Study - Answers & Explanations