Business Acumen - What is it and How Do I Get It?
By Silvia Johnson

During my 9 year career as in house HR, the term "business acumen" was typically applied to HR in the following ways: "Our HR department needs more business acumen" or "HR has a lack of business acumen". Inevitably, these statements would come from the company's business leaders and would therefore ruffle the feathers of the HR leadership team. As a result, there would be "business acumen" teachable moments in our HR all hands and often times "business acumen" would land as an HR strategic priority. Continue Reading...

How Commercial Lenders Went Wrong With Small Business Financing
By Stephen Bush

Small business owners will be more likely to avoid serious future business finance problems with working capital management and commercial real estate loans by exploring what went wrong with business financing and commercial lending. This is not a hypothetical issue for most commercial borrowers, particularly if they need help with determining practical small business financing choices that are available to them. The bankers and banks responsible for the recent financial meltdown seem to be saying that even if anything actually went wrong, everything is fine now in the world of commercial lending. Nothing could be further from the truth. Commercial lenders made serious mistakes, and according to a popular phrase, if business lenders and business owners forget these mistakes, they are doomed to repeat them in the future. Continue Reading...