This week took me to 3 different cities in 5 days delivering 4 Business Acumen training sessions live and in-person while also delivering 6 virtual sessions when I wasn’t in front of a classroom. A busy week to say the least!

In meeting with and delivering Business Acumen training to more than 2,000 people, I was sensitive to some of the issues and challenges leaders feel they are facing as they start preparing for 2025. Sifting through my notes and thoughts, one specific skill keeps coming up over and over as something leaders are searching for; “Critical Thinking.”

But it’s not Critical Thinking circa 2019. Everything has changed in business and the way people work – which hopefully means the way they are delivering their company’s value proposition to their customers – and the skill of Critical Thinking as we look forward to the next 5 to 10 years is going to have to be very different.

I took some time to roundtable and explore what thought leaders are thinking Critical Thinking is in 2025 and beyond and I am happy to share some of the thoughts and insights.

Here are 5 things that need to be developed to have better Critical Thinking:

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Most of the readings and insights you will find about “Growth Mindset,” including my own blog on Developing a Growth Mindset in a VUCE Business Environment, are basically “telling” organizations and people what to do.

Which is so counterintuitive because the very essence of the Growth Mindset is built on the principle of taking ownership and self-accountability to find solutions in a positive and constructive way without being told what to do or how to do it.

Based on some of the great feedback I received from my most recent blog on Growth Mindset, I am pleased to share some additional insights and guidance on what individual contributors and leaders can do to actually embrace it and do something about it.

In writing this, I sought out the insights and guidance of leaders I work with whom I consider having strong Growth Mindset skills.

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The last 5 years have seen some of the most chaotic and transformative changes in the way businesses operate since the dawn of commerce.

We’ve had a global pandemic, runaway inflation, devaluation of currencies throughout the world, supply chain meltdowns, geopolitical unrest, natural disasters, unprecedented weather events, and wars and several continents.

As Advantexe prepares for 2025 and beyond, we have been conducting research on what are the critical capabilities needed by organizations and leaders as we set the new normal.

With all of the external changes outside of the organization, we have seen far more disruptive change inside of the organization ranging from the evolution of fulltime remote workforces to job-hoping every 9 months, to the phenomenon of “quiet quitting” where employees stick around in jobs they don’t like just to get a paycheck until they find a new job at higher compensation.

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Ask 10 leaders about their perspectives on the world right now and you will get 20 answers with most of them leaning toward a place that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Over the past few months, Advantexe has noticed a significant increase in requests for business leadership workshops that help develop the skills needed to lead and grow during difficult times. The #1 request in this area is to help build the skills of a culture that has a Growth Mindset.

As we head toward the end of the year, organizations need a Growth Mindset more than ever before. In today’s VUCA world, a Growth Mindset helps foster a culture of adaptability, continuous improvement, and innovation, all of which are crucial to the way your company is going to execute its business strategy in these challenging times.

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We are midway through October and the pressure is on. Most businesses by now have a very good idea about how their Q4 and total year of 2024 is going to end up from a revenue perspective so all that is left is to manage the costs and profit.

Unlike revenues which are driven (mostly) by customers, expenses are typically all controlled internally and can be much more easily managed and manipulated. This is one of the biggest reasons you will see cost-cutting of budgets and people over the next 10 weeks.

As we head into these last few weeks of the year, it’s important to drive revenues, manage expenses, and deliver on promised profit targets. In addition, it is important to keep a close look on the things Wall Street is focused on so you can adapt and evolve to meet expectations.

Based on research and conversations with our executive-level clients, here are the 3 big things Wall Street is looking for in Q4 2024:

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