To a lot of people working in large (and not so large) businesses, the word “Finance” means one of two things: the whole time-consuming, confidence-threatening mess of numbers associated with budgets, plans or – argh! – ratios (or even worse … Read More
Business acumen: “Keenness and speed in understanding and deciding on a business situation.” The need for this is particularly strong when your industry is being unexpectedly disrupted. You might think that disruptions are essentially driven by technological change, and therefore usually only … Read More
Just because you follow the recommendations in the previous post to improve your decision-making by broadening your sources of information and opinions, it doesn’t mean all your problems are solved! What happens if everyone has a different opinion? Suppose you … Read More
Good decision-making is impaired by two things: limited information, and by the decision-maker being too narrowly focused – especially when events or conditions are abnormal, or outside the decision-maker’s experience. This is confirmed by a study published in April 2012 … Read More
How do you make sure you are getting good information? And how do you make good decisions, especially when faced with conflicting data or forecasts? You need three things: Business literacy. A common language and common understanding of finance, because … Read More
For the past couple of years Andromeda Training has been working directly with various organizations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as the rapid changes in the region fuel demands for better business acumen. Humans have been walking out of … Read More
In 2001 Eliza and I went to Kitwe in the Copper Belt area of Zambia, to run Income/Outcome workshops for Chambishi Metals and to license them to do their own training. We ran a ‘Finance For Everyone’ (Level 2) workshop … Read More
Skeptics said no quickie business simulation could teach a foundational concept in finance to non financial managers. I love a good challenge. This business simulation builds business acumen quickly & effectively. The same method is at work in our popular … Read More