Ep 8  |  The Business Acumen Podcast

Business Acumen FAQ: Kevin Cope Answers the Question We Most Hear

Show Notes

Drawing on over two decades of experience training thousands of professionals—including leaders at 34 of the Fortune 50—Kevin answers the most common questions about how companies make money, why functional expertise isn't enough, and how business acumen directly impacts individual career growth and organizational performance.

The conversation covers the critical shift away from traditional command-and-control leadership toward an empowered, business-savvy workforce. Kevin shares practical strategies for reading earnings calls, navigating high-stakes executive sales conversations, and building an engaging, high-ROI business acumen curriculum that connects day-to-day employee decisions directly to top-line and bottom-line success.

Key Takeaways for Leaders

1.  The Hidden Business Acumen Gap 

While organizations assume senior managers and functional experts understand the big picture, the reality is starkly different. Brilliant leaders in IT, marketing, operations, and R&D often operate as functional specialists rather than business leaders. Bridging this gap by teaching how a company actually generates profit and cash flow transforms technical experts into strategic decision-makers.

2.  Alignment Drives Employee Engagement  

Employee disengagement costs the global economy an estimated nine trillion dollars annually. Business acumen provides the antidote by giving employees line-of-sight into how their daily work impacts key corporate goals. When team members understand the business strategy and see how their actions drive key performance indicators, engagement and job satisfaction naturally rise.

3.  Elevating Executive and Sales Conversations 

In sales and executive leadership, technical product knowledge alone is no longer enough to win in the boardroom. C-suite leaders expect trusted business advisors who understand their business model, financial statements, and operational pressures. Preparing for executive meetings by analyzing recent earnings calls and profit-and-loss statements allows sales professionals and internal leaders to align their proposals directly with executive priorities.

4.  Making Business Acumen Training Stick 

Effective business acumen development cannot rely on generic concepts or static, one-time simulations. To drive real behavioral change, training must be customized to a company's actual financial results, designed to be highly engaging to break down financial anxiety, and structured to offer immediate, actionable application for Monday morning.

Featured Tools & Resources

• Seeing the Big Picture
  

  Read Kevin Cope's New York Times bestselling book that simplifies the financial drivers of business success and helps employees at all levels think like a CEO.

• Business Acumen for Sales Success
  

  Explore Kevin Cope and Ben Cook's guide designed specifically for sales professionals looking to move beyond product pitching and connect with executive buyers as trusted business advisors.

• Monthly Earnings Call Breakdown Webinars
  Join Brent Barclay every month as he takes a live, real-time look at a major publicly traded company's earnings transcript to decode their financial strategy.
  

Additional podcast platforms

Listen to The Business Acumen Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Business Acumen FAQ: Kevin Cope Answers the Questions We Most Hear

Host: Stephen H. Covey; Guests: Kevin Cope (Founder of Acumen Learning)

Stephen (Host): 

Today, we're going to be doing something a little bit different. Over the last two decades, Acumen Learning as a company has trained thousands of professionals around the world, including 34 of the Fortune 50. During that time, we have noticed the same questions coming up over and over again. So today, I'm putting Kevin Cope, our founder and CEO, in the hot seat, asking him the most common questions we hear about business acumen.

I've got roughly 40 questions for you, Kevin, that span across five different categories. We're going to talk about what business acumen is, why it matters, how it applies to sales, how people develop it, and how organizations should think about business acumen training. This should be fun, Kevin. Now, some of these might be a little bit redundant, but we're just going to go with it.

So, first question: Let's start with the most basic question. Kevin, what is business acumen?

Kevin:

Yeah, great first question, Stephen. I like to define business acumen as understanding how your company makes money, and then making good decisions around that moneymaking process. If you think about it, there are two parts to it. The first part is understanding business, in particular your organization's business. The second part is making the right kind of decisions to improve the company's results.

Stephen:

Next question: Why is business acumen important?

Kevin:

Boy, I was on a webinar this morning with an individual from South Africa who was describing how leadership and companies have changed, and what you need in this new world. An important part of that is that it's no longer a command-and-control style where you have a leader who dictates everything. You've got to have knowledge workers who really understand their role and understand how to adapt to the changing world around them to make better decisions.

When you look at business acumen and why it's so important today, a company doesn't succeed just because an executive creates a strategy and dictates it. It only succeeds if every individual in the organization is clear on that strategy, aligns their actions and decisions, and adjusts their approach in a changing world. Why is it so important today? Because of a rapidly changing world—a world in which AI is dominating, or at least prolific—you have to have every individual clear on where the company is trying to go, what our strategy is, and what our business objectives are, as well as what they are doing in their role to align their actions and decisions with what the company needs. I need to adapt that based on what's going on in the environment around me. So, people need to have a much better awareness about their business, the industry, the requirements for their role, and the end goal, and then align their actions to that.

Let me add another piece to this: Not only is that good for the organization, but it also creates engagement. As people understand how they matter, how they make a difference, and how they add value, they're going to be much more engaged in their work. Engagement is one of the top challenges in the business world today—Gallup estimates the cost of a lack of engagement at $9 trillion worldwide. It's a huge expense. So, business acumen isn't only important for aligning people with market needs; when employees have a sense of how they fit in, they become far more engaged.

Stephen:

Next question: What is the biggest misconception people have about business acumen?

Kevin:

From a leadership standpoint, it's assuming that everybody has it. We've been in business for 24 years. When we first started this—by the way, I started this with your father, Stephen M. R. Cope—we assumed that business acumen was fairly well-understood in organizations, except at the entry-level. We thought entry-level employees would be our target audience. What we quickly learned—and it’s validated even today—is that you can go very high in any organization, even very well-run ones, and find that the gap in business acumen is a lot bigger than you would ever imagine. At the VP and Senior VP levels of some of the most well-known companies in the world, individuals are real experts in their function. They're brilliant at IT, marketing, operations, or R&D. But when it comes to understanding the big picture of how their company makes money and what they can do in their role to drive those results, the gap is just a lot bigger than you'd imagine. So, I think the common misconception is assuming a lot more people have it than actually do.

Stephen:

Next question: How is business acumen different from financial acumen?

Kevin:

When you think of financial acumen, a lot of people think of accounting—how to put a P&L together, debits and credits, and how to establish different accounts. A good part of that is important for business acumen, but business acumen is much broader. It's taking that financial information and pairing it with market awareness, understanding the competition, understanding the importance of suppliers, knowing how to best serve customers, and then using all of that to make good decisions. Financial acumen is certainly an important subset of business acumen, but it's just one piece.

Stephen:

Next question: Can business acumen actually be taught, or is it something you're just born with?

Kevin:

Well, I certainly hope it can be taught because we've been doing this for 24 years! Across hundreds of thousands of people in 60 countries on every continent, we have found great success in teaching this.

Now, some people might have a different type of intellect—some are left-brained, some are right-brained—so some may have a more innate sense or pick up business acumen faster. But no matter where a person is on the scale, you can develop and enhance your business and financial acumen.

In fact, whether you're using us or teaching it yourself, there are three things you must do to have a sound business acumen curriculum. First, it must be customized to your business results and industry realities, otherwise, it feels generic. When you're teaching how to read a profit and loss statement, you should teach it based on your company's P&L so people understand the strategy behind the numbers. Second, it must be engaging. This topic can be intimidating. Some people fly under the radar, hoping no one notices their gap in business knowledge. They might come to a class with trepidation, thinking, "Am I going to be found out? I'm at this level and I don't know what EBITDA means." You have to break down those barriers. Third, it must be actionable. People have to know how to apply what they're learning to their own role on Monday morning.

If you do those three things, yes, you can absolutely teach this and develop great business acumen in people.

Stephen:

To wrap up this first segment on "What is business acumen": How do you know if you need business acumen?

Kevin:

Honestly, probably all of us can improve our business acumen! But there are a few clues that might indicate a gap. One is when you are reviewing company performance, such as reading an earnings call transcript or sitting in an all-hands meeting listening to your CEO talk about quarterly results, and you don't clearly understand what they're talking about—for instance, references to earnings per share or gross margins increasing by 10 basis points. Another indicator is when managing a budget or a P&L for your business, and you aren't clear on what the numbers mean or what levers you can pull to improve your results. Finally, you might see this gap in sales situations when sitting down with a potential customer and, as they describe their business, you aren't tracking with them or understanding their business model, such as meeting with a bank and not understanding that they primarily make money through interest income and fee income.

Stephen:

All right, let's head to the next category of questions: Why Business Acumen Matters. Starting with the first question: Why has business acumen become such an important skill?

Kevin:

When we are called into organizations, clients usually highlight a few specific gaps. One is that companies are promoting individuals into senior positions because they were great individual contributors—like a great engineer—but once promoted, they don't know how to lead a team toward broader business goals. Another gap is poor decision-making, where leaders see employees making decisions that optimize things locally while missing the bigger picture of how it impacts the rest of the company. A third gap is an inability to contribute strategically during high-level meetings because team members don't understand the measures, performance gaps, or strategic concepts being discussed.

Stephen:

The next two questions go hand-in-hand: Why is business acumen important for leaders, and why is it important for employees?

Kevin:

Leaders have to set the strategic direction for an organization. If they are fumbling or unclear on the most important objectives, the whole company is being led by people who don't know where they're headed. So, business acumen is paramount for leaders.

Down in the organization, business acumen won't automatically make you a great leader, but it's hard to become one without it. You still need people skills, EQ, and the ability to empower a team, so business acumen is necessary, but not sufficient on its own.

For employees—especially millennials and Gen Z—they want to understand how they align with the business, how they matter, and how they make a difference. If employees lack that line of sight to their contribution, they are much more likely to look elsewhere. Connecting their role to company success requires business acumen.

Stephen:

How does business acumen help someone advance their own career?

Kevin:

People who get promoted are the ones who consistently produce results. To produce results, you must understand your environment, know what the organization needs, and make decisions that deliver on those needs. People who do that consistently build trust with management. They get promoted because they can be counted on to meet and exceed expectations.

Stephen:

What separates people who understand the business from those who only understand their function?

Kevin:

Understanding your function is vital—you need IT professionals who excel at IT. What separates them from leaders is that leaders can create goals, build an aligned culture, and navigate the business environment to get macro results. Those who stay strictly inside their functional mindset tend to stay in functional roles. Those with a big-picture understanding are the ones who move up.

Stephen:

Last question in this category: How does business acumen improve decision-making?

Kevin:

Ideally, a company focuses on about five key performance indicators (KPIs)—any more than that and people lose focus. If an individual is clear on those main KPIs, decision-making becomes much easier because you can simply ask whether a decision will help improve those core KPIs or not. Without business acumen, you're essentially guessing or throwing darts at the target.

Stephen:

The next set of questions is around Business Acumen in Sales. As many listeners know, Kevin Cope and Ben Cook wrote the book Business Acumen for Sales Success. Why is business acumen important for sales professionals?

Kevin:

When a salesperson calls on a business, that buyer is looking for help solving business challenges. If the salesperson is just a product expert and doesn't understand the client's business or objectives, they won't be able to show how their product improves the client's bottom line. They might get lucky occasionally, but overall, they'll be far less effective.

Stephen:

Why do executive sales conversations often fall short?

Kevin:

Because salespeople often lead with deep product knowledge rather than connecting with the buyer's business needs. Executives want a trusted advisor who understands their industry, operational challenges, and strategic goals. If you can't speak to those high-level business needs, you're going to fall short.

Stephen:

What advice would you give someone in sales who is preparing for an executive meeting?

Kevin:

Take time to understand their business model and current performance. Two quick tips come to mind. First, listen to their latest earnings call by reading the prepared remarks from the CEO in their most recent quarterly transcript. The CEO will explicitly outline what's going well, where the gaps are, and what their strategic priorities are. Second, look at their P&L to check if sales and profits are growing, and look at their profit margins. A high-margin company evaluates purchases based on innovation and value creation, whereas a thin-margin company focuses heavily on cost, efficiency, and rapid ROI. Knowing this changes how you position your offer.

Stephen:

Is your book and training meant to replace a company's current sales methodology, or complement it?

Kevin:

It's completely complementary. Most sales methodologies—like the Challenger Sale or SPIN Selling—actually assume the salesperson already possesses business acumen. We don't replace those frameworks; we fill in the business knowledge gap that enables salespeople to execute them effectively.

Stephen:

Moving into our fourth category: Developing Business Acumen. How does someone go about developing business acumen?

Kevin:

If you recognize a gap, you can start by cultivating curiosity and building an interest in business, because just like learning to fly-fish, it's hard to master if you aren't genuinely curious. Next, immerse yourself in business news by spending fifteen minutes a day scanning headlines on business sites or journals to see why companies are succeeding or struggling. You can also read targeted books on business and financial acumen. Finally, talk to leaders and mentors by sitting down with your manager or a colleague to ask about your group's key measures and how they align with broader company goals.

Stephen:

How long does it take to build business acumen?

Kevin:

I don't know that you ever truly "arrive." I've been studying this topic for 24 years and written books on it, and I still have a lot to learn! The economy, market dynamics, and technology are constantly changing. Geopolitics and AI are driving major shifts right now. If you thought you had it all figured out five years ago, you'd be a novice today. It's a continuous learning process.

Stephen:

Should people listen to earnings calls, especially if they've never done it before?

Kevin:

Absolutely. Start with your own company if it's publicly traded. You don't even have to listen to the live audio; you can read the transcript. It reveals how executives frame performance to shareholders and shows what analysts are concerned about.

If your company is private, listen to the earnings calls of your public competitors, suppliers, or customers. If you get confused by the financial jargon, bring a couple of questions from the transcript to your mentor or manager to help break it down.

Stephen:

Our final section is about Business Acumen Training. How do you keep participants engaged throughout a learning experience on what some consider a dry topic?

Kevin:

Engagement comes down to relevance and delivery. First, use real company data to talk about actual challenges, competitors, and numbers from the participants' own organization rather than abstract theories. Second, make it actionable by showing employees how applying these concepts directly benefits their daily work, career advancement, and decision-making. Finally, keep it interactive and fun by using engaging video clips, real-world case studies of famous business successes and failures, and peer discussions.

Stephen:

Who should receive business acumen training? What level is it best for—new employees, mid-level managers, high-potentials, or executives?

Kevin:

It's almost easier to ask who doesn’t need it! Across 24 years, we've delivered programs to every level, function, and role imaginable.

That said, while you shouldn't mix drastically different experience levels in the same classroom, training is particularly impactful for four key groups: newly promoted managers who were just given budget and team responsibilities, high-potentials being groomed for senior executive roles, sales organizations trying to shift from selling products to becoming trusted advisors, and functional teams like HR, IT, or Legal that want to better connect their work to company performance.

Stephen:

What typically prompts a company to invest in business acumen training?

Kevin:

Usually, it's senior leaders seeing poor decisions being made across the organization. Leaders get frustrated when employees' day-to-day choices don't align with strategic objectives. That disconnect is rarely due to a lack of effort; it's almost always a lack of financial and business clarity.

Stephen:

If an L&D team has a tight budget, which level of leader sees the most immediate impact?

Kevin:

The frontline to mid-level manager, because they are responsible for translating strategy into execution for their teams.

To stretch budgets, organizations can also look at self-paced digital options, train-the-trainer models where we train internal HR and L&D teams to deliver the content, or virtual cohort sessions.

Stephen:

Is there a specific time in a business cycle that benefits most from this training—like during M&As, hypergrowth, or strategy pivots?

Kevin:

We've been brought in during all of those scenarios. During mergers and acquisitions, it aligns two distinct corporate cultures around a shared set of financial metrics and goals. During turnarounds, it helps employees focus strictly on the levers that drive recovery. During hypergrowth, it keeps teams disciplined so growth remains profitable. There really isn't a stage in an organization's lifecycle where better decision-making isn't valuable.

Stephen:

How do you measure the ROI of business acumen training?

Kevin:

Using Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation, Level One measures participant feedback, where our Net Promoter Score sits around 70% with course ratings averaging 4.8 out of 5. Level Two measures actual learning using real-time polling technology, teach-back exercises where participants explain concepts to a peer, and pre and post-tests. Levels Three and Four look at behavioral changes and business results, such as tracking how quickly newly trained salespeople close their first major deal compared to an untrained control group.

Stephen:

How does Acumen Learning's approach compare to business simulations?

Kevin:

Simulations can be fun and competitive, but they have a limitation because once built, they are static and do not reflect what is happening in your business today. If your company released quarterly earnings yesterday, our live sessions discuss those actual numbers and what they mean for your strategy right now. Simulations offer a fun exercise, but live, customized training drives immediate alignment on current priorities.

Stephen:

Is it better to train intact functional teams, like only Sales or only HR, or are mixed-function groups better?

Kevin:

Both have advantages. Intact functional groups allow for deep-dive application specific to that department's operational levers. On the other hand, cross-functional groups break down silos, allowing Operations to learn how its decisions impact Sales, or Marketing to learn how it impacts Finance, gaining a holistic view of the business.

Stephen:

Down to our last few questions, Kevin! Does your training require pre-work or prior finance experience?

Kevin:

No prior finance experience is required. If people want a head start, reading Seeing the Big Picture or Business Acumen for Sales Success is helpful, but we design the sessions to build capability from the ground up.

Stephen:

How do onsite training sessions differ from virtual sessions?

Kevin:

We deliver both. In-person training provides slightly higher engagement because it's easier to read the room, foster spontaneous discussions during breaks, and keep everyone focused. However, our virtual sessions deliver about 85% of that effectiveness and allow organizations with tight budgets or remote teams to reach a much broader audience efficiently.

Stephen:

What is the ideal class size?

Kevin:

The sweet spot is 16 to 24 participants because it is small enough for individual attention and large enough for diverse peer perspectives. That said, we've facilitated effective cohorts ranging anywhere from 6 to 80 people.

Stephen:

What resources do you provide to sustain the learning after the event?

Kevin:

Every participant gets access to our Acumen in Action portal, which provides Training-in-a-Box lessons that managers can run with their teams during staff meetings, micro-learning videos on core topics like EBITDA or interest rates, recorded earnings call debriefs analyzing major companies like Nike and Walmart, and self-paced refresher courses on financial statements.

Stephen:

You did fantastic in the hot seat, Kevin! Is there anything I forgot to ask today?

Kevin:

You covered a lot! But if there's one question you didn't ask, it's what motivates me to do this work. What motivates me is seeing the lightbulb go on for someone in the room, especially when it's a tenured employee who has sat through quarterly all-hands meetings for ten years without fully grasping the numbers. Watching them finally understand what their executives are talking about, how the business works, and how they fit in is the most rewarding part of what we do.

Stephen:

Love it. That's a great note to end on. Kevin, thanks for answering these questions today. We'll include links in the show notes for all the resources mentioned. And thanks to everyone for listening to the Business Acumen Podcast!

Kevin:

Thanks, everybody!