Most organizations say they want to hire people who have “business acumen” but when asked to define it, many people struggle. Like Justice Potter Stewart once said when speaking about pornography “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it”.

To help you recognize this elusive concept more easily, here are some attributes associated with people who have business acumen. People with business acumen:

• Have an in-depth knowledge of the business and market.
• Can consistently identify and select the best course of action when making decisions.
• When making decisions, they evaluate the business drivers of different alternatives and seek to minimize risks to the organization.
• They possess financial savvy and apply analytical thinking to integrate data, and identify key issues, trends and opportunities.
• And finally, they know how to meet customer needs profitably and without sacrificing quality.

Business acumen behaviors are driven by a business acumen mindset. This involves five thinking skills that work together to help people make the best decisions. These are:

• A reflective mindset – thinking about the learning experiences they have had in the past and how you can apply them to the current situation.
• An analytical mindset – gathering the right data, both quantitative and qualitative, and then making sense of it through a process of evaluation, and finally draw the right conclusions from it using good judgment.
• A creative mindset – when they are solving problems they think creatively – use brainstorming and other techniques for new ways to approach the problem.
• A collaborative mindset – they appreciate that many heads are better than one and draw upon the skills and insights of their colleagues and team members to solve problems and implement solutions.
• Finally, an action mindset – they apply agility and perseverance to get the job done.

Some of these skills and talents can be taught (e.g., reflection, analysis), but some are innate (e.g. agility, perseverance). Employees with business acumen are likely to add significant value to any organization. Consider evaluating business acumen competencies before hiring or promoting an employee using personality and cognitive skills assessments from a reputable consulting firm specializing in this area. By doing so you may be demonstrating your own business acumen skills as a hiring manager or HR professional.

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The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore ~ Dale Carnegie