In 2024, Business Acumen skills proved once again to be of critical importance to business leaders. Our marketing automation system is able to track the number of readers for each of our weekly blog posts, and looking back at the past year, a few posts stood out as favorites. These posts might have been written in different years, but they’ve found their audience in the digital world and continue to provide value.
Here’s a look at the top six most-read posts and my personal thoughts on why the topics resonated with our business leader audience. I also reflect on what makes business acumen skills such a critical topic.1) Business Acumen Reboot – 6,502 Readers
This post explored what it means to rethink and refresh your understanding of the business acumen skills needed to make the best business decisions. Why was this #1? Because staying relevant in today’s business world requires more than just understanding the basics. The post provided readers with practical, no-nonsense advice on how to adapt skills to modern business challenges and opportunities.
2) Marketing, Please Take Your Seat at the C-Suite – 6,311 Readers
This one sparked some important conversations. Marketing professionals are increasingly being called on to step up and take a strategic role in the C-Suite. This post offered a thoughtful perspective on how marketing can—and should—drive business decision-making.
3) What is Business Acumen? – 6,199 Readers
This post was a straightforward defining overview of what business acumen is (and isn’t) in our complex global world and how business leaders can focus on the main thing, such as aligning decisions to execute strategy.
4) Understanding the Business Acumen of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce – 6,195 Readers
This one was one of my personal favorites of the year. Rob couldn’t resist tying business lessons to one of pop culture’s most talked-about duos. From Taylor Swift’s brand empire to Travis Kelce’s marketing magic, this post showed how important business acumen is in every walk of life.
5) Business Acumen: The Real Skills Your CEO Wants to Know - 4,375 Readers
The business world was crazy last year. CEOs, Boards, and shareholders were not looking for fluff or hope; they demanded results. They want leaders who understand the numbers, see the big picture, and can make decisions that drive results. This post cut through the noise to outline the specific skills CEOs need and value most. It was a great piece for readers to learn what is important to senior leaders and how to focus on them.
6) Seven Benefits of an Escape Room Business Simulation – 4,120 Readers
This post focused on the growing interest in experiential learning. During the year, we designed, developed, and delivered an amazing new type of business simulation called the escape room simulation, where small teams of participants escaped (digitally) from the basement of an IT Datacenter by engaging in the best practices of their new Operating System. We received a lot of great feedback and interest in how escape room simulations can bring business acumen concepts to life in a fun, hands-on way. It really focused on the idea that learning doesn’t have to be a boring page-turner.
A Final Thought
If there’s one thread that ties these posts together, it’s this: business acumen is at the core of effective leadership. Whether you’re a new manager trying to understand the difference between revenue and profit or a seasoned executive aligning your team with the execution of your company’s strategy, business acumen skills are critical to success. There is just no getting around it, and having a culture of business acumen skills can become a huge competitive differentiator.
Business acumen should not be just a buzzword. It needs to be a top-down mindset, a skill set, and a game changer for everyone. Please take a few minutes to read or reread these posts. We would love to hear which of these posts, or others, stood out the most.
Let’s keep the conversation going into the new year!