Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Far too many peopleespecially people with great expertise in one areaare contemptuous of knowledge in other areas or believe that being bright is a substitute for knowledge. First-rate engineers, for instance, tend to take pride in not knowing anything about people. Human resource professionals, by contrast, often pride themselves on their ignorance of elementary accounting. But taking pride in such ignorance is self-defeating.
Peter F. Drucker Austrian-born American writer, management consultant, and professor (19092005)
Effective leaders are credible. And your credibility largely depends on having a thorough understanding of your business. Technical expertise in your functional discipline only gets you partway there. Effective leaders go further and establish credibility by demonstrating a firm grasp of business models, fluency with business terminology, and mastery of basic financial methods and tools. Credible leaders see the big picture but also have a command of specifics. They can describe details of the competitive landscape. Comfortably discuss the technology underpinnings of the business. Concisely state the unique value proposition. Clearly explain how their businesses make money. Without business understanding, you lack the credibility that earns you an invitation to the leadership table. But with business understanding, you have a springboard for sustained career success.
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copyright 19922010 lominger international: a korn/ferry company. all rights reserved.
Skilled
Knows the business and the mission-critical technical and functional Understands various types of business propositions and understands Learns new methods and technologies easily
how businesses operate in general skills needed to do the job
Unskilled
matters
Doesnt understand how businesses operate Relies too much on personal experience Doesnt seek out opportunities to learn about business or technical Rejects new technology until totally proven May appear nave or disinterested where business or technical skills are
required
Overused
May know too much and not be open to the input and ideas of others May depend too much on knowledge and not allow intuition to enter
the analysis May not value those less knowledgeable May miss developing other types of skills like interpersonal and influence skills
How it compares
Skill Level for Most People
Moderate Low High Easier
Developmental Difficulty
Moderate Harder
Very Low
Very High
Easiest
Hardest
3rd out of 21
The skill level for most people in Understanding the Business is very high when compared to other characteristics (ranked 3rd out of 21 characteristics).
Easier
When compared to other characteristics, Understanding the Business is easier to develop.
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copyright 19922010 lominger international: a korn/ferry company. all rights reserved.
Or it could be due to
Poor math skills Inexperience; new to the organization or industry Fear of technology Intellectual laziness Unrealistic expectations about how business understanding is learned Narrow perspective
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copyright 19922010 lominger international: a korn/ferry company. all rights reserved.
financial statements Seek coaching from experts in finance, marketing, and operations Find opportunities to serve on project teams that are analyzing business opportunities and creating business project proposals
Dont
work outside of a core business discipline Miss opportunities to visit with customers and to learn about your competition Limit your business reading to your technical discipline
expertise into mentoring others Consider intangibles and people issues when making business decisions
Dont
To continue learning
g g
Check out additional resources at http://Insight.lominger.com: Take the free online FYI for Insight Self-Awareness Assessment. Read the positive and negative character sketches for Understanding the Business. g See additional books and articles related to Understanding the Business. Pursue deeper self-development. Consult FYI For Your Improvement 5th Edition, available at http://store.lominger.com, to focus on competencies that comprise Understanding the Business: 5. Business Acumen 24. Functional/Technical Skills 61. Technical Learning
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copyright 19922010 lominger international: a korn/ferry company. all rights reserved.