If you are a functional business leader planning and executing your strategy for 2022, things are extremely different than they were just a year ago. As we start this new year, businesses are faced with unprecedented continuous disruptions that are forcing the best companies to be more resilient, focused, and skilled than ever. The COVID pandemic which looks like it will last for years, supply chain issues, inflation, geopolitical issues, and continued globalization are some of the big issues forcing leaders to think differently.

By now, everyone had been working on and building their resilience. The new normal of working has given organizations the opportunity to focus on ways that previously were simply unimaginable. But interestingly enough, skill development, especially in the area of Business Acumen, hasn’t kept up at the same pace.

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Welcome to part two of our Top 5 Business Acumen Predictions for 2022. In part one we reviewed three topics that will affect business and your employees in the upcoming year, global supply chain, global demand, and the VUCAD world. The second part of the post will now focus on two critical topics that your company needs to be prepared for, politics and the political agenda and what the workplace may look like post-pandemic.

4) Politics and the Political Agenda will Impact Business Decision Making

In the United States, the failure of the ruling Democrats to pass two foundational legislative imperatives will spill over into the new year and stay with us through the 2022 mid-year elections. Navigating these waters and predicting outcomes is difficult and the uncertainty will impact business decision making. My predictions are:

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... and What Skills will be Needed for Success - (Part One) 

It’s here. Welcome to 2022 and Happy New year! Hopefully, you have been using your business acumen skills for the past six months to prepare and plan for what is certainly going to be a challenging year ahead. Every year is different and presents business leaders with incredible opportunities for success, and at the same time opportunities to fail. If there is one thing we know, the best way to mitigate risks is to have a well-trained organization that understands how your business works.

To help get your year off to a great start, here is a two-part post where we review our top 5 Business Acumen predictions and discuss the skills needed to overcome business challenges and take advantage of business opportunities.

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As one year ends and another is about to begin, it is human nature to reflect back before we look ahead. The year just ended was unlike anything any of us have ever experienced and valuable lessons come out of disrupted, challenging times. During the year, I wrote more than 75 different blogs based on real-world practical experiences emanating from delivering more than 1,200 hours of business acumen and leadership training to some of the best companies and leaders around the world. I took a few hours to look back and think about the key leadership lessons from this historic year and process what they mean to us as business leaders moving forward.

Work is an Action, Not a Location

One of the most popular blogs I shared back in July was called, “Stop Insulting Your Employees by Welcoming them Back to Work.” I can share now that one of our dear clients, the President & CEO of a top 5 Pharmaceutical company, shared it with all his leaders imploring them not to discount the efforts employees made figuring out the new normal of working remotely. By the end of 2021, most successful leaders realized that “work” is not a location, it is an action that has measurable outputs. An earlier blog that was also very popular back in April called, “3 Leadership Implications of not Working in an Office Every Day” shared perspectives that helped drive changed skills that when used were very effective:

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One of the biggest challenges facing sales professionals and customer account teams around the world is the conversation about raising prices due to the global supply chain crisis and increases in raw material costs.

During the past few months, I have delivered several major Strategic Business Selling™ sales training programs to sales teams within several industries including specialty chemicals, high-tech, specialty materials, consumer products, and coatings and paints.

Throughout these engagements, the moods have been dampened as a result of the pending price issues and I have been asked to help by sharing best practices and tools that can help develop the skills to have that incredibly hard conversation with customers. It is my pleasure to share with readers of this blog the full content of an approach that can help direct and support having the raising price conversation.

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