Starting today, millions of us in the global workforce will begin a well-deserved holiday break. Because Christmas and New Years both fall on Wednesday this year, many people are going to be able to take two weeks off returning the second week of January, 2020. While this may be a great time to catch up with family, go on holiday, or binge watch that TV show you’ve been putting off for the last few months, your Business Acumen can get flabby and lazy very quickly.
Like elite athletes who need to train every day to maintain their edge, business professionals should engage in exercises and training to maintain their Business Acumen edge as well. For those who don’t train or work hard at maintaining their Business Acumen prowess, it will take several days if not weeks to knock off the rust and get back into the swing of things.
For anyone interested, I have developed four easy exercises you can engage in over the break to maintain your focus and edge in terms of your Business Acumen skills.
The “Strategy Game”
This is the time of year when we are besieged by advertisements, branding, and non-stop messages that are trying to sell us something. Some market researchers estimate that in any given day around holiday season we each are exposed to at least 25,000 messages every 24 hours. To keep sharp at Business Acumen, suggestion #1 is to play the “Strategy Game” with yourself or a colleague. Based upon the latest message received in an advertisement or other media element, you have to guess the overall business strategy of the product and company in terms of the value proposition it is offering to its customers. The value proposition is going to be one of three strategies: Product Leadership (the best most innovative product in the market), Customer Intimacy (understanding the need of customers better than they understand them themselves and offering highly customized services and products), or Operational Excellence (having the lowest price and lowest cost in the industry).
When you see or hear an advertisement, your job is to guess the strategy. For example, this advertisement for Coca Cola:
What do you think the strategy is? Is it Operational Excellence? Customer Intimacy? Product Leadership? It’s the thought process and discussion that will keep your Business Acumen sharp. As you might know, Coca-Cola’s value proposition is Product Leadership. It’s one of the most recognizable brands on the planet. In this ad, someone has left Santa a present. The best present in the world! A bottle of Coke with his name on it. From a branding and messaging perspective, the combination of Santa and a bottle of Coke with his name on it just can’t miss. But then you should wonder about the name on the bottle? Is that customer intimacy? And what if I wanted a bottle with the name of John, or Ben, or Frank or Sally? You know Coca-Cola makes them all…does that mean the strategy has a touch of Operational Excellence in it to distribute to so many people of the same name. Interesting questions that will keep your Business Acumen brain sharp! What do you think?
Create a Strategic Financial Analysis
A strategic financial analysis (SFA) is a comparative analysis of at least two companies where you are comparing revenues, margins, profits, and other key metrics. In the SFA, you want to review at least two companies for at least four time periods (quarters, years, etc.) to provide both perspective and granularity.
By conducting various analysis using tools like Common Size and Percentage Change, you can learn about your business and the business of competitors
If decide to conduct a simple SFA, here are a few things that you should focus on:
- Revenues
- Gross Margin
- Profit
- Total Shareholder Return
- Common Size to Revenue Analysis
- Growth Trends Analysis
Developing a couple of SFAs for your company versus your top two competitors with keep your Business Acumen mind sharp and focused.
The Most Interesting Business Predictions for 2020
In addition to all the advertisements and other marketing messages we are exposed to, we will also be exposed to endless lists of business predictions for 2020. Some of them are very good and some of them are very bad and most of them are just trying to sell you something.
My suggested exercise is to keep a list of those predictions that you think will impact you and your business the most. On the list, leave room for a brief narrative on what you think about the prediction and why do you think will impact your business.
For example, a prediction that the United States and China will come to a long-term trade agreement by mid 2020. Why and how will that prediction impact you? Stable economic conditions, less foreign exchange volatility, less expensive costs for global manufacturing, expanding marker for all goods such as medicines and disposables products. Other predictions that you may want to list could involve sustainability, new forms of energy, or technological breakthroughs.
Play the Santa Business Simulation!
The final recommendation is to play through our Santa Business Simulation. To help celebrate the holiday season and usher in a New Year, we invite you and anyone else you know to have some fun and explore a new Business Acumen micro-simulation called “The Santa Simulation”.
You have just been appointed the COO of Santa’s workshop and your challenge is to help Santa run the business operations. In your role, you will be responsible for overseeing daily operations of the workshop including budgeting, capacity planning, inventory management, elf engagement, and most importantly driving holiday cheer to children around the world!
Click here, to access the simulation. For everyone who registers for the simulation, we will be making a donation to a Philadelphia non-profit called Musicopia.
I will be reviewing our website all break so if you want to try any or all of the exercises and share them with me, I will be sure to give you some feedback and engage with you in a Business Acumen dialogue. I need to keep my Business Acumen going as well!
Looking forward to hearing from you…