Many readers of this blog tell me their favorite posts are the ones that feel very real, very practical, and that “hit home.”

I think this one will do exactly that.

Before getting into a very interesting story, let me start with a few questions that leaders ask me all the time:

• “I need my team to make better business decisions—what can I do?”
• “I manage a team with very different personalities—how do I get everyone working together effectively?”
• “How do you rebuild a strong culture after a difficult situation on a team?”

These are not theoretical leadership questions. They are real-world challenges that leaders face every day. And interestingly, they all came together during a recent conversation I had with a sales leader while conducting subject matter expert interviews for a new business acumen simulation we are building.

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Why business professionals who thrive with AI will be the ones who accelerate the value they bring to the business.

Over the past year, nearly every conversation about artificial intelligence has focused on increasing efficiency. Companies are using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini to write emails, summarize documents, analyze data, generate ideas, create reports, develop PowerPoints, and automate tasks that once took hours. And the results are impressive. But efficiency is not the real story of AI. Value is. AI can make people faster. But speed is not the real story. The real story is value creation.

Efficiency vs. Productivity

During a recent discussion I had with a group of learning leaders, the conversation quickly shifted to anxiety about job security. “Is AI going to replace us?” My response was simple. AI will help you do more. But doing more efficiently and creating more value are not the same thing.

Efficiency means completing the same work in less time.

Productivity means creating more meaningful, high-quality breakthrough outcomes with the time you have.

AI is extraordinary at improving efficiency:

• Drafting first versions of documents
• Summarizing research
• Creating outlines
• Generating ideas
• Automating repetitive tasks

But productivity still requires judgment, experience, and expertise. And that’s where your value comes in.

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There was an old saying in Sales: The moment you win a new customer is the moment you start losing that customer.

The job of the account team was simple, deliver great products and services, deepen trust, and retain the relationship for 5–10 years… at least until your champion got promoted.

That world is gone.

In today’s volatile business environment, turnover is constant. Restructuring. Layoffs. M&A. PE ownership. “Strategic realignment.”

In many industries, 70–90% of your direct customer contacts may change within 2–3 years.

As part of a Commercial Leadership program I’m building for a pharmaceutical client, a sales manager told me:

“You spend years building trust, winning the business, growing the account. Then one day, you find out your customer was escorted out of the building. And now every competitor is flooding the zone, discounting, and trying to reset the narrative with their ‘latest and greatest’ product.”

That’s not bad luck. That’s the new normal.

So the question isn’t if your direct customer will leave.

The question is:

Are you proactively preparing for it?

Here are five ways to do exactly that.

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Five Business Acumen Tips That Separate Order-Takers from Trusted Advisors

Senior executives do not need another product pitch. And quite frankly, they don’t care about your product pitch. They need clear business solutions. When you’re sitting across the table from a CEO, CFO, BU President, or Chief Commercial Officer, the evaluation criteria shifts toward real business solutions that have measurable short-term and long-term impacts.
They are not asking:

• “Does this have good features?”
• “Is the team responsive?”
• “Can you send a proposal?”

They are asking:

• “How does this drive sustainable revenue?”
• “Does this improve margin or manage costs through efficiency and productivity?”
• “Does this reduce enterprise risk?”
• “Does this align with our strategy and capital priorities?”

If you want to impress a senior-level buyer, business acumen is not optional. It is the price of entry to the opportunity. Business acumen in sales is what separates order-takers from trusted advisors when selling to senior executives. 

Based on our research and years of experience designing, developing, and delivering award-winning business acumen skill-building solutions, we are pleased to share five specific ways to demonstrate it with examples.

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Some of my best blogs come directly from interviews with subject-matter experts while we are designing business acumen simulations.

Recently, I interviewed a senior line manager at a high-tech company. He shared a story that was equally hilarious and horrifying.

They were launching a major AI-enabled services initiative to support their core hardware platform. Big opportunity. Big revenue potential. Big margin expansion if executed well.

The marketing team was already a little chaotic. Eight people. Project managers. Event planners. Administrators. Everyone busy. No one is quite sure who owned what.

And then…

Corporate procurement stepped in.

“We were told we had to route every vendor, every venue contract, every service agreement through corporate procurement,” he said. “It turned managed chaos into mismanaged chaos.”

Procurement didn’t understand the product. They didn’t understand the launch strategy. They didn’t understand the revenue objectives. They didn’t understand the margin profile of the new services.

But they absolutely understood how to slow things down.

The tipping point?

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