What Is Business Acumen? And How to Develop It

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Business acumen is a collection of skills developed throughout your career. Strong business acumen is essential for anyone working in or running a business. Explore strategies for developing business acumen skills over time.

[Featured Image] After learning what is business acumen, a business person addresses their team in a meeting room with greater confidence and success.

Key takeaways

Business acumen describes the specific skills and knowledge that you use to excel in the workplace and navigate business decisions. 

  • Strong business acumen is a valuable trait for you to possess, regardless of your role. 

  • Business acumen is something you can develop over time through experience and pursuing learning opportunities.

  • You can develop business acumen by obtaining skills like financial acumen, problem-solving, and leadership abilities.

Learn more about the value of business acumen. Ready to start learning skills that you can use to make better business decisions? Earning a Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate can help you develop in-demand skills like data visualization, business analytics, statistical reporting, and more.

What is business acumen?

Business acumen is an in-depth understanding of how a business works, including its functions, strategies, operations, and how it fits into a wider marketplace. This kind of knowledge means you can make logical, business-related decisions and take on different roles within a business. Business acumen, much like business operations themselves, is extremely multifaceted. Rather than a single skill, business acumen is a set of skills, honed through knowledge and experience, that, together, allow you to perform well in a business environment. Business acumen skills might include strategic thinking, communication and influence, analytical capabilities, leadership, and financial knowledge. 

Developing business acumen happens over time through learning and experience. You can learn skills relevant to your business acumen through degree programs, business courses, or professional business experiences. 

Is business acumen a soft skill?

Business acumen is a combination of soft skills, or workplace skills, as well as technical skills that you rely on to navigate business situations. This can include a skillset that includes soft skills like strong leadership and time management skills, in conjunction with technical skills such as analytical and research skills.

Why business acumen is important

Understanding how a business works is essential to contributing effectively to it. Knowing and engaging with a business's mission, goals, and operations, and sharpening your understanding of the market and business strategies, can give you a deeper understanding of your role and how it fits into a larger business model. For example, creating marketing material is a skill, but doing so with a clear sense of the purpose of marketing, the target customer, and a wider knowledge of the marketplace shows business acumen. 

Companies look for employees who can demonstrate business acumen, especially when hiring for leadership positions. Companies need employees with good business acumen to drive the business forward, and for employees, business acumen often leads to career advancement. By developing your business acumen, you may find that your professional opportunities increase. 

Careers that require business acumen

Business acumen can be a powerful asset in any role. However, business acumen skills are essential for some roles, such as leadership positions in a company where strategy and business development play a big part. These include top-level positions such as C-level executives, managers, financial officers, and leadership teams. 

Read more: What Does a Business Development Manager Do?

How to develop business acumen

You can develop your business acumen through experience, academic learning, and observation. You can hone important skills as you study coursework, take part-time jobs, and launch your career. Business acumen is something you will continue to develop throughout your professional life. 

Focus on learning.

You can improve business acumen through learning, which comes in many forms. Take on any opportunity you can that can help you learn about business and keep you updated with relevant trends. Books, podcasts, videos, and online content about business are a great place to start. 

Learning about the business you work for can also benefit you. Understanding the company's mission, goals, business model, history, and place in the market may help you better understand and manage business decisions. 

When learning, stay open to all opportunities. Business acumen is cultivating a skill set, so focus on learning various workplace skills to contribute to your overall business acumen. 

Find a mentor.

Observing and spending time with someone more experienced than you in your field is a great way to learn. When it comes to understanding business, you can learn a lot from the people around you who are already succeeding. Finding a mentor or joining a mentoring program allows you to benefit from the guidance of someone who knows business practices well. This might be someone you work with or someone outside of your organization whom you admire. 

Gain a variety of work experience.

One of the most effective ways to learn is by doing. You might gain experience through college internships, employment, shadowing, or entrepreneurial activities. Learning on the job allows you to put your skills into practice as you deepen your understanding of business operations. 

When it comes to learning business acumen through experience, variety is key. By engaging in experiences in different businesses, industries, and positions, you can pick up a spectrum of skills and knowledge and see things from various perspectives. Cross-training across different departments is a great way to get to know every angle of a business.

Talk to customers.

Understanding what customers want, why they engage or don’t engage with a business, and exactly who your target customers are is essential. Strategies, operations, and marketing all depend on this. Talking to customers may greatly improve your business acumen.

Take a course.

Education is a worthwhile place to start to develop your business acumen, and continuing education can drive professional development for those already succeeding in business. University or college degrees in business often aim to build business acumen for career success and include relevant coursework. 

However, a degree is not the only way to learn business acumen. A range of online and short courses are available, and many businesses offer in-house training through workshops and other development programs.

When looking for courses, look beyond those specifically focused on business acumen and find coursework that concentrates on the workplace skills that contribute to business acumen, such as leadership skills, communication, problem-solving, marketing, and financial acumen. 

Explore our free business acumen resources

Looking to grow your business acumen? Check out some of our free resources, like our LinkedIn newsletter, Career Chat, to stay in the know with the latest developments.

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