Business Acumen & The People Side of Business

It's not just that we "want a seat at the table" - we want to influence the conversation that take place and the business decisions that get made.  Much has been written about the need for HR practitioners to demonstrate business acumen.  This has caused a proliferation of "Finance for Non-Finance Professionals" classes.  The challenge, of course, is that learning the basics is just the first step.

The work acumen is defined as sharpness of mind: the ability to make quick accurate intelligent judgments about people or situations.   "Make" - "Quick" - "Accurate" - "Intelligent" - "Judgements" - "People" - Situations." 

When I read that definition, it reminds me again that really good HR people are really good business people.  They aren't leaders who simply added "how to read a P&L" to their skill set (although that is important).  They are the leaders who understand how changing the talent mix, changing incentive plans, changing a culture (the list goes on) impacts the P&L.  And based on "what they know", they do, in fact, "make quick accurate intelligent judgements/decisions/recommendation abut people and situations/options."

I'd love to hear what you think.....