DEFINITION:
The phrase “business acumen” (also known as “business savviness” and by other terms) refers to the personality trait of habitually pursuing and acquiring broad knowledge about the organization for which an employee works—as well as of the broader industry to which the organization belongs—in addition to the knowledge the employee need to perform their day-to-day tasks.
ETYMOLOGY:
The English noun “business” is attested from thefourteenth century. It is connected to the adjective “busy,” which is a couple of centuries older.
“Busy” derives, via the Middle English bisy, from the Old English bisig, which is akin to the Middle Dutch/Middle Low German besig, meaning “busy.”
The English noun “acumen” is attested from the sixteenth century. It derives from the Classical Latin noun acūmen, acūminis, meaning the “sharp point” of a stick, knife, spear, sword, etc., which is connected to the verb acuo, acuere, meaning “to sharpen to a point.”
DISCUSSION:
Being strong in the virtue of “business acumen” means being willing to go “above and beyond the call of duty” to understand as much as possible about one’s company, what it produces, how its products work, the company’s competitive environment, and similar matters.
“Business acumen” is a very broad concept. For example, it may encompass not just a company’s market conditions, but also its leadership, its financial health, its regulatory environment, and any other matters that may influence a company’s bottom line.
In a nutshell, to be strong in business acumen is to be intensely curious about the total commercial environment in which an individual employee operates.