The Friday after Thanksgiving has quietly become one of my favorite new traditions, not just because of leftovers, but because this year, my Philadelphia Eagles are now part of the NFL’s post-holiday lineup. As usual, I’ll be glued to every snap and coaching decision… all of it pointing toward one thing: the scoreboard.
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It has been a wild and volatile year in business, and as we head toward the holiday season, most companies expect the usual mid-December slowdown. This year, I think it’s going to arrive early. Economic caution, delayed budgets, and a growing “let’s revisit this in January” mindset are kicking in before Thanksgiving.
But while the pace slows, leaders have a rare window to step back from short-term pressures and think strategically about what’s next. And when it comes to AI, it is still very much in its early innings; two major shifts are coming that will reshape how organizations compete in 2026.
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It’s earnings season, and publicly traded companies are conducting their quarterly earnings calls. As usual, Q3 2025 is filled with good news and bad news. While the estimated GDP growth rate was a fairly robust 4%, a lot of companies, especially those that rely on consumer purchasing power, are starting to feel the impact of a bifurcated economy where higher wage earners continue to spend, but lower wage earners continue to struggle.
As a leader in the design, development, and delivery of Business Acumen training programs, I pay special attention to these trends because they influence how we teach financial literacy and best-practice business decision-making. The pattern we’re seeing isn’t just about numbers; it’s about how leaders interpret and act on those numbers.
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Halloween used to be simple. A few pumpkins on the porch. A string of orange lights. Maybe a couple of wicked witches at the end of the driveway to scare visitors.
Now? People are spending hundreds of dollars on 12-foot skeletons, fog machines, synchronized light shows, and animatronic zombies that could give Disney Imagineers a run for their money.
I saw a TikTok the other day where someone asked, “Where do people store all this stuff the other 364 days of the year?” Great question.
But beneath the jokes lies something interesting: Halloween has become a big production. And when expectations rise, costs follow, especially for the one thing every trick-or-treater actually cares about: the chocolate!
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Too often, the easy “analysis” of a profit problem is to say we just need to charge more. It’s a convenient narrative, especially in markets where customers are fighting for every penny.
If you’ve ever sat in an Operations or Finance meeting, you’ve probably heard one (or all) of these lines:
And sometimes that’s true, but more often, price is the symptom, not the cause.
In large businesses, the real drivers of margin erosion usually live deep inside the cost structure: inefficiencies, unnecessary levels of bureaucracy, poor communications and workflow systems, systems gaps, supplier creep, or hidden operating costs that quietly pile up. These issues rarely show up in PowerPoints, Monthly Reports, or Board of Directors Presentations, but they absolutely show up in the P&L.
Based on years of experience in business acumen, we have identified five overlooked factors that might be eating away at your operating margin (EBITDA) long before a customer ever sees your price tag.
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