Introduction

Welcome to Business Acumen Institute

Cultivate managerial and leadership talent with our transformative business acumen training programs that bridge the gap between learning and performance. Empower your emerging leaders and managers to drive innovation, make strategic decisions, and propel organizational growth. Our tailored approach integrates effortlessly with your talent and leadership development programs.

Training & Advisory

We are a premier training and advisory firm dedicated to elevating the business acumen skills of evolving managers and leaders, across industries and around the world.  Founded by Steven Haines, a renowned expert and author of the acclaimed “Business Acumen Handbook,” our institute is at the forefront of best-practice research in this critical domain.

Our Mission

We believe that business acumen is the cornerstone of effective leadership and organizational success. Our mission is to empower individuals and teams with the knowledge, tools, and mindset to make informed, data-driven decisions that drive business performance, and create sustainable value for complex organizations.   We seek to develop the next generation of strategic thinking, market focused, results oriented leaders and managers.

What We Do

Our flagship business acumen training programs are designed to enhance strategic thinking, problem-solving, financial literacy, and business savvy.  Our interactive, customizable workshops provide compelling content and hands-on exercises so that participants gain a deep understanding of business acumen.

Our business acumen training programs inspire people to think holistically and systemically about business.  Regardless of the functions in which they work, our business acumen training courses nurture the skills and capabilities executives look for to produce superior results and competitive advantage.

Multi-faceted Solutions

We Wrote the Book on Business Acumen

Most resources about business acumen focus too heavily on financial skills.  However, the cultivation of business acumen requires much more.   Our benchmark research revealed that poor, costly decisions were made without an understanding of the strategic intent of the organization, the customers served by the company, and how the company’s business model mattered.  We also learned that products were often created without adequate market research, poorly conceived business cases, and misaligned teams. Further, we discovered that people, regardless of function, ignored process inefficiencies that cost the company money and negatively impacted customer satisfaction.

Steven Haines examined these problems and concluded that a more comprehensive perspective is needed for this multi-faceted, multi-disciplined construct we call business acumen. The Business Acumen Handbook and the Business Acumen Canvas are the most unique resources to guide and cultivate business acumen.

Our Methodology

We think about the cultivation of business acumen in the same way a strategy might be developed. This is done by understanding where you are and where you want to go.  We always start by learning about your company, your challenges, and your goals.  We ask questions like “what’s not happening that should be?” Or “what would you like to see in the behaviors and performance of targeted populations?”   We learn a lot through this discovery process so we can be a more effective, collaborative partner.  

We often begin with a business acumen competency assessment of people within targeted populations. This assessment reflects the many items in the Business Acumen Canvas.  We use two rating scales per item: knowledge and application, so we can determine what people know versus what people do. We can use that gap analysis to customize the workshops.   We also work with key executives and stakeholders to understand more deeply what their concerns are and what they’d like have happen.

In complex engagements with large populations, we work closely to determine how to scale our training, which often means customized online or asynchronous content, virtual, in-person, or hybrid offerings.  In summary, we are flexible, reliable partners, not trainers.