It is a question that is asked in 100% of the Business Acumen training programs conducted by Advantexe and it never fails to be a provocative conversation in our business simulation debriefings, “Did our investments in social media marketing really work, or is it just the latest fad?”

Over the past few months, I have traveled around the world delivering high-profile business acumen programs to the future leaders of large organizations and I continue to see a trend of a lack of awareness about the impact of social media marketing that is startling.

I’m astounded every time I answer participant questions that yes, indeed, the cumulative investments they’ve made in their social media marketing strategies will pay off in terms of better awareness, stronger brand equity, and ultimately increased revenues and profits.

One of the most important, but often overlooked parts of a business strategy is the selection, development, nurturing, and management of channel partners. From a business acumen perspective, the channel partner could be the only way of getting products and services to the end customers.

Recently, I was conducting a business acumen training program for one of our clients in the chemicals industry. The audience was a group of Emerging Leaders being prepared to move from a functional role into an enterprise role and the primary learning objectives were to develop their strategic thinking and financial management skills to be able to lead a business unit.

The Taylor Swift – Travis Kelce relationship is like two different and unique galaxies on opposite sides of the universe colliding with unprecedented business outcomes.

Think about it for a moment…

The National Football League (NFL) is one of the most important and prestigious assets in the entertainment industry and for that matter, the world. Its fanbase is one of the most desirable to advertisers and their buying power is immense. Changing the way it operates and having it pivot toward becoming more inclusive of “Swifties” is unprecedented.

“My team is so inwardly focused because they have all been remote for the past 4 years they don’t know how to function away from their computers,” said the exasperated leader when asked about his biggest challenge in 2024 and beyond. “If we don’t start to help them understand what it means to have an external orientation, we will be doomed.”

During a recent set of interviews with business leaders as part of the process of building a new leadership simulation, we heard multiple leaders share their frustration about the inward focus of their key managers and how it was eroding the capabilities and the value proposition of the organization.

As part of our work, we created a new module on 10 things an organization can do to create an external orientation culture.

The end of September signifies many things including the end of the summer and the end of the business 3^rd quarter. It also signifies a host of new things such as the school year and football season. In the business world, this is when things get serious. It’s literally the 4^th quarter and if your business is down, it’s time to put some points on the board as time is running out. If your business is up, it’s time to maintain and then carry that momentum into the next year.

In another month or two all of the pundits and so-called experts will start writing their end-of-year, “year in review” articles and blogs and many of them will say basically the same thing.

So, I am going to beat them to the punch and share some early thoughts about the year in review from a learning and talent development perspective.