Building Foundational Business Acumen and Leadership Through SmartStart
Business Challenge
Organizations today face a common challenge: how to prepare early-career managers and new leaders with the right mix of business acumen and leadership skills. Many employees are promoted because of strong technical expertise but may lack a deeper understanding of how decisions impact revenue, profitability, and long-term strategy. Without this foundation, managers can struggle to align their teams with organizational goals, balance trade-offs, and make confident business decisions.
Solution
To address this need, the company partnered with Advantexe to implement the SmartStart learning journey, a half-day program designed to provide essential business fundamentals in an engaging, interactive format.
SmartStart combines three powerful components:
- Facilitated Learning – Interactive presentations and discussions introduce the core drivers of business success, including revenue, cost, profit, and cash flow, along with critical leadership concepts such as building trust, managing conflict, and leading through change.
- EverClean Business Simulation – Participants step into a realistic, risk-free environment where they manage a simulated business, analyze financials, make strategic choices, and see the impact of their decisions across the enterprise. Real-time AI-driven feedback and a culminating Board of Directors presentation ensure active engagement and reflection.
- Decoding the Earnings Call (DTEC) – To reinforce the lessons, participants later review and analyze an actual company earnings call, connecting real-world insights back to the business fundamentals and leadership concepts explored in SmartStart.
Results
The program exceeded expectations. Participants indicated that SmartStart was highly impactful, and 100% reported that the learning was directly relevant to their jobs.
Participant Quotes:
“Stepping into the simulation gave me the confidence to understand financials and how decisions really impact results.”
“I can already apply what I learned about profitability and cross-functional thinking back in my role.”
“This program made business fundamentals come alive. It’s the first time I’ve seen strategy, finance, and leadership connect in a way that feels real.”