Last week, I provided a quick analysis on the surprise jobs report. In the blog, I shared a perspective that the continued expected decreasing inflation rate would eventually convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner than expected In our opinion, a cut in interest rates would stimulate the economy and be good for business.

A week ago, it seemed an absolute certainty that the inflation rate would continue to decrease, the job market would continue to be white hot, and everyone was buckling up for an uncertain economic future. But seemingly out of nowhere, the Bureau of Labor Statistics sent out a December surprise: seasonally adjusted inflation rose 0.3% for the month and 3.4% for the year. That is a significant number for one month especially when that month is December and the last month of the year.

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Business Acumen comes in many shapes and sizes and depending on your function in the organization will inform you of the way you execute the strategy of your business. Customer Service is one of the most important functions within a business and is especially critical in a consumer business like hospitality.

As someone who has dedicated their career to providing business acumen skills to organizations in need of them, I am constantly amazed at the lack of them in organizations and functions where you’d think they are paramount.

What got me thinking about this is an ongoing dialogue I have been having with the service team at the hotel I am staying at this week.

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I have been asked several times today about our reaction – from a Business Acumen perspective – to the surprising jobs report that came out this morning so I figured I would write a quick blog for your weekend reading.

If you didn’t see it, the United States economy added more than 216,000 jobs in December 2023, which is a very strong showing that exceeded many forecasts and emphasized that the labor market remains smoking white hot.

If you are following these job reports, this is not the first time everyone has been surprised. It feels like for the past 6 months at least every client we work with – from pharmaceuticals to industrial chemicals – has been gearing up for a recession that is never going to come. Unless there is a recession driven by a self-fulfilling prophecy of cuts and more cuts, which quite honestly is going to put those companies at an extreme disadvantage, we have nothing to worry about and as a matter of opinion, better prompt decision-makers to make more investments in people and the business.

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As we come to the end of 2023, the Advantexe team is taking a few moments to reflect and think about the year from a business acumen perspective. The followinginfographic highlights some of the amazing accomplishments that our team completed in collaborating with over 10,000 learners globally to help build a better awareness of the systems of business and help them develop the business skills needed to drive performance.

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Here it comes. It’s time to sit down with your manager to go over your annual review. Hopefully, your organization has adopted a more progressive methodology of performance reviews such as quarterly reviews, weekly one-on-ones, and a culture of in-the-moment feedback so that the dialogue contained in the year-end review is not a big surprise.

Regardless of the approach your company takes, receiving feedback is always uncomfortable and stressful. Not exactly what anyone needs right now as you are trying to wrap up the year on a positive note and get ready to hit the ground running in 2024.

Last week during an intense leadership development program, we focused on developing the skills of giving Coaching and feedback. We used a digital business leadership simulation to provide participants with the chance to practice and learn by doing. Toward the end of the session, one of our participants who was very pleased with the session asked about skills related to receiving feedback, especially this time of year. We spent some really good time talking about practical best practices so I wanted to share with the readers of this blog the interesting work we came up with.

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