A. Understanding the business
5. Business insight
- How to see the big picture, without losing sight of the details. Chief Executive.net
- How to find a mentor. Forbes
- What is a strong general business acumen? Chron
- 5 Ways to know what your customers want before they do. Inc
Additional resources
Read all about it...
Sharpening your business acumen
Ram Charan, business consultant, speaker, and writer, provides a six-step guide for incorporating external trends into your internal strategies:
- What is happening in the world today?
- What does it mean for others?
- What does it mean for us?
- What would have to happen first (for the results we want to occur)?
- What do we have to do to play a role?
- What do we do next?
11. Customer focus
- Why every organization needs a standard response time policy. Forbes
- Listening to customers yields success. Forbes
- Here’s what happens when you don’t listen to your customers’ complaints. Business Insider
- Employee satisfaction key for customer satisfaction. Psych Central
- Nurture your most profitable customers. Inc
Additional resources
Watch and learn...
Six differences between customer-focused companies and operations-focused companies
New York Times best-selling author Shep Hyken shares six key differences between companies that are customer-focused and those that are operations-focused.
17. Financial acumen
- Presenting financial reports: Turning numbers into information. For Dummies: A Wiley Brand.
- 12 Things you need to know about financial statements. Investopedia
- Understanding accounts: Basic finance for non-financial managers. Mind Tools
- The fallacy of financial statements. Harvard Business Review Blog Network
- Beginners’ guide to financial statements. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- A guide to developing strong business acumen The Ascent
35. Tech savvy
- 5 Ways businesses benefit from having a tech-savvy CEO Entrepreneur
- Leading off: Essentials for leaders and those they lead McKinsey & Company
- Your organization’s leaders aren’t (yet) prepared to unlock generative AI’s full potential Harvard Business Publishing
Additional resources
Read all about it...
Why tech-savvy CEOs rule the world
Aaron Skonnard, President & CEO of Pluralsight explains why today’s most successful CEOs are tech savvy. He describes five key reasons for pairing tech savvy with key leadership traits and exceptional vision, regardless of the nature of the organization.
B. Making complex decisions
8. Manages complexity
- Creative problem-solving strategies to test your business idea. Entrepreneur
- Making sense of complexity: An introduction to Cynefin Cultivating Leadership
- Leading in complexity: What makes complexity different and how can leaders respond effectively? Cultivating Leadership
- Polarity management Cultivating Leadership
- How to become a strategic problem solver in 5 steps Think with Google
- The pause principle: When/why to go fast and when/why to go slow Cashman Leadership
- Building the agile business through digital transformation by Neil Perkin and Peter Abraham: An executive summary The Digital Transformation People
- Are you solving the right problems? Harvard Business Review
- How to rethink a bad decision TED
- The real key to an innovative organization: Continuous innovation Center for Creative Leadership
- Developing talent? You’re probably missing vertical development Center for Creative Leadership
Additional resources
Competencies in action...
How good is your problem solving?
A quick quiz to help you identify your approach to dealing with problems. A variety of tools is provided to help you increase your effectiveness in managing the complexity of problem solving.
12. Decision quality
- Stop worrying about making the right decision. Harvard Business Review
- 15 Ways to make much better decisions. Forbes
- How to minimize your biases when making decisions. Harvard Business Review
- Polarity management Cultivating Leadership
- Are you solving the right problems? Harvard Business Review
- How to rethink a bad decision TED
- Why facts don't change our minds and beliefs are hard to change Research.com
- The elements of good judgment Harvard Business Review
- Change the way you persuade Harvard Business Review
32. Balances stakeholders
- How to win loyalty from others. Business Insider
- Improving stakeholder engagement increases productivity, profit and sustainability. The Huffington Post
- 15 Strategies for balancing competing stakeholder priorities Forbes
- The ethics of project management: Balancing stakeholder interests Tutorialspoint
Additional resources
Competencies in action...
Stakeholder Management Toolkit
An interactive toolkit to help you manage your stakeholders. This step-by-step guide takes you through how to identify, prioritize, and understand your stakeholder group. Including videos and downloadable tools, it’s simple and fun to use.
C. Creating the new and different
18. Global perspective
- The best sales leaders are trend hunters. Harvard Business Review Blog Network
- Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: Understanding workplace values around the world. Mind Tools
- How managers can support their Asian peers through troubling increase in anti-Asian violence, Business Insider
- The micropedia of microaggressions, Micropedia.org
- 1 in 4 Hiring managers say they are less likely to move forward with Jewish applicants, Resume Builder
19. Cultivates innovation
- Free your frontline workers to innovate. Harvard Business Review Blog Network
- 5 ways to promote creativity in the workplace. The Business Journals
- The pause principle: When/why to go fast and when/why to go slow, Cashman Leadership
- Neurodiversity is critical for innovation in the workplace, Fast Company
- Building the agile business through digital transformation by Neil Perkin and Peter Abraham: An executive summary, The Digital Transformation People
- What great problem solvers do differently, Forbes
- Building a culture of experimentation, Harvard Business Review
- The creative power of misfits, TED
- How to foster an innovative mindset at your organization, Center for Creative Leadership
- How to drive successful organizational change and innovation in traditional industries, Center for Creative Leadership
- Fostering innovation through a diverse workforce, Forbes Insights
Additional resources
Watch and learn...
How schools kill creativity [Video file]
33. Strategic mindset
- Becoming more strategic: Three tips for any executive. McKinsey Quarterly
- What’s keeping you from being strategic? Forbes
- The best sales leaders are trend hunters. Harvard Business Review Blog Network
- Strategy ain’t what it used to be. Forbes
- Leading in complexity: What makes complexity different and how can leaders respond effectively?, Cultivating Leadership
- Polarity management, Cultivating Leadership
- How to become a strategic problem solver in 5 steps, Think with Google
- The balanced scorecard—Measures that drive performance, Harvard Business Review
- Porter's five forces: The framework explained, Mindtools
- The three pillars of a teaming culture, Harvard Business Review
- The pause principle: When/why to go fast and when/why to go slow, Cashman Leadership
- How managers drive results and employee engagement at the same time, Harvard Business Review
- Beyond doing good: 6 Mindset shifts for purposeful leadership, Center for Creative Leadership
- 4 Ways to develop your strategic thinking skills, Harvard Business School
- Talks at GS: Adam Grant, The psychology of resilience, Goldman Sachs
- What great problem solvers do differently, Forbes
- How to drive successful organizational change and innovation in traditional industries, Center for Creative Leadership
- Developing talent? You’re probably missing vertical development, Center for Creative Leadership
- 18 Time management tips, strategies, and quick wins to get your best work done, Asana
- 5 Science-based techniques to learn from failure, Psychology Today
- 3 Key ways to begin overcoming deep perfectionism and self-doubt, Forbes
- Don't learn the wrong lessons from failure, Harvard Business Review
- 7 Ways to motivate yourself to work hard when you're really not in the mood, The Muse
- 10 Ways to cope during challenging times, Forbes
- Become action-oriented: Tips for overcoming inaction, LifeHack
- How to stop procrastinating: 8 Tips to increase productivity, MasterClass
- 9 Ways to take initiative at work, Indeed
- 10 Action oriented skills and how to improve them, CLIMB
- 5 Ways businesses benefit from having a tech-savvy CEO, Entrepreneur
