Build Your Business Acumen.

The article presents information on business acumen. It aims to understand the organization's business model and competitive position in the marketplace, how the business leverages core competencies for growth and the profitability, and the value proposition to external customers. It also aims to understand financial goals and interpret financial data related to business success measures, such as a balanced scorecard, read and understand the implications of balance sheets, graphs, charts, tables and so forth accurately, and perform quantitative calculations in building a business case, preparing budgets, evaluating program impact and calculating return-on-investment. Finally it aims to use business terminology when communicating with others. The failure to understand and use basic business terminology can lead to the failure in developing or leveraging business acumen. While one is not expected to be an expert in the intricacies of financial analysis, they do need to have a basic understanding of the most important terms and be able to transfer their meanings across projects and, frequently, lines of business.