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Building Business Acumen Learning How Your Company Really Works Course Overview This one or two-day interactive workshop is based on the book, What the CEO Wants You to Know, by Ram Charan. The following is a review of the book by Fortune magazine. “Once in a great while, a business book comes along whose startling usefulness springs from its simplicity — not, please, to be confused with simple-mindedness. In What the CEO Wants You to Know: How Your Company Really Works, consultant Ram Charan contends that all businesses, from a street vendor’s stand to General Electric, operate on the same principles; that anyone can understand these principles without a high-priced business degree; and that your boss really, really wishes you would act as if these principles mattered, because they do. Think you’ve already got a pretty good grip on what’s going on at your shop? Great! Answer these questions: - What are your company’s sales?
- Is the company growing, or is growth flat or declining?
- What is your company’s profit margin? Is it growing, flat, or declining?
- How does your margin compare with those of your competitors? With other industries?
- What is your inventory velocity? Your asset velocity?
- What is your return on assets?
- Is your cash generation increasing or decreasing?
- Taking all of the foregoing into account, is your company gaining or losing against the competition?
Had a little trouble there, did you? Not to worry. In public companies, you can get the lowdown fairly easily. And in private ones, Charan notes, ‘management is often willing to share the information but believes people...are not interested.’ Here’s a chance to prove them wrong.” (Anne Fisher, Fortune Magazine) This course helps eliminate the mystery behind the numbers. It helps one become an informed and strategic user of business and financial data. This program equips you with all of the concepts needed to understand and predict the financial implications of your business decisions. Leaders will be more effective by better understanding and communicating company strategy and results. Program Content 1. The Universal Language of Business - The five essential elements of a business:
- Cash: How do we generate it, how is it used and why is it so critical?
- Margin: How do you make Gross and Net Margin meaningful to everyone?
- Velocity: What are the important efficiency measures and why?
- Growth: Do your employees know how and why you’re growing?
- Customers: They need a simple reason to buy from you. Do you know it?
- How these elements contribute to the success of a company
2. Every Business is the Same Inside - Sub-components and measures associated with each of the five principal business elements
- How to use an annual report to differentiate business conditions in various companies
3. Understanding Your Company’s Total Business - Applying the five elements to understand the performance and success of your company
- How each department of your company impacts cash, margin, velocity, growth, and customers
- Identifying ways to impact cash, margin, velocity, growth, and customers in your current role
4. External Acumen - External factors that impact business performance
- Ways to increase awareness of the external factors
- Key measures used by investors to evaluate the attractiveness of a company
5. Execution - How the company's directives and strategies are designed to improve business performance
- Identifying obstacles to achieving your company's strategies and directives
6. Application – Improving Results in Your Organization - Modifying your personal performance objectives to reflect what has been learned in the course
- Making specific recommendations for improvement in your group or company
- Sources of additional information related to course content for more in-depth understanding
Learning Objectives– Participants will: 1) Understand a basic business model that they can use to assess their company performance. 2) Make more money for the company by making better decisions that impact top and bottom line 3) Better understand company strategy and company financials to more effectively engage in discussions of this nature. 4) Become a better leader by more effectively communicating strategy, direction and results of the organization. 5) Align their performance objectives with the needs of the organization. Who Should Attend? - All managers and leaders who work in non-financial areas
- Anyone who needs a better understanding of your company and how it makes money
- Individuals whose backgrounds are in creative, scientific, or technical field
Final Thought “The solution is teaching everyone how the company really makes money, so that all can see how their actions fit in with the big picture. Then they have a clearer sense of what they should be doing when the choices seem very complex.” -- Ram Charan
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