Every business simulation developed for our clients is designed with a set of learning objectives and outcomes in mind. For the most part, these objectives revolve around helping learners to better understand business acumen topics such as developing and executing business strategies, reading and applying financial statements, enhancing problem-solving and critical thinking abilities, and understanding cross-functional decision-making.

But should improved business acumen skills really be the objective of a simulation? It’s kind of crazy to think about, but should the outcome of a simulation-centric learning journey be something different? Could the true magic of business simulations be a learning environment that helps participants focus on how to be more collaborative and better team members when dealing with individuals with diverse backgrounds and personal goals?

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There is a new phenomenon sweeping the corporate landscape. Companies are reassigning workers to new roles and leaving it up to them to figure out what to do next. It works like this; one day, you get an email that your current job role has been eliminated, but you haven’t been fired. You have a new role, most likely a hybrid role of doing 100% of two other jobs that have been vacant or are important enough to shift resources toward. These changes leave managers and employees confused, angry, and checked out.

Welcome to the concept of “Quiet Cutting.” This concept is an offshoot of the “Quiet Quitting” movement where workers quit their companies and hang around long enough to get paid a good salary while they find a new job which only lasts for 9-12 months until they silent quit again or they are terminated for poor performance.

Quiet cutting effectively allows companies to cut jobs, trim costs, and reorganize without actually laying off workers.

Forbes Magazine has been keeping a running list of all the companies that have been doing restructurings (including layoffs) during the year and it includes IBM, Adobe, BioGen, Salesforce.com, and many others.

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Most retailers and many consumer-packaged goods companies are struggling in the post-pandemic economy and the “new” new normal of consumer spending. Like most things in business, there are many theories and lots of opinions about why.

At Advantexe, we are continually doing research on all things business acumen and business leadership to better serve our clients. As August 2023 comes to a close, there are several important facts about the economy that are undisputed:

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I was very open with our creative team who is responsible for designing and building our new leadership simulations when they told me a client asked us to design, develop, and deliver a new simulation called, “Delivering Effective Presentations.”

I shared with them my perspective that the presentation skills space was a very crowded field and that anybody who has ever given a presentation can claim to be an expert trainer. I challenged them to name a major innovation that has disrupted the industry since PowerPoint replaced the overhead projector and I pressed them about what is new and innovative in giving effective presentations. Based on their answers and the incredibly strong simulation they created, I am publicly acknowledging how little I actually knew about the art and science of giving effective presentations.

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Prior to the major announcement last week that Campbell’s was purchasing Rao’s pasta sauce, the company generated about $580 in top-line revenue which means their revenue-to-value ratio (the relationship between revenue generation and market value was 4.66 which is extremely high for a consumer-packaged food product.

But then again, Rao’s is not just another pasta sauce. Please note that for the sake of this blog post, I call it a pasta sauce and not a “gravy” as that is a different post for another day. Rao’s is considered by the “experts” and consumers as one of the best products in the market and the story from a small restaurant to purchase by Campbell’s is an incredible success story.

In many of Advantexe’s Business Acumen learning journeys, we spend a significant amount of time teaching participants concepts related to the value proposition, the value equation, and the value dashboard and often it’s challenging to understand the concepts without context. Experiencing and learning by doing in a digital business simulation experience is great, but having a real-world case study like Rao’s can add even more insights into the concepts.

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