The Business Acumen Podcast helps leaders, teams, and sellers understand how business really works.
Most professionals are good at their role but don’t fully understand how their work connects to company performance. That gap leads to misalignment, missed opportunities, and slower growth.
We simplify complex business and financial concepts, break down industries, and show how to apply business acumen in real situations, especially in sales and leadership.
Listen to think like a business leader, make better decisions, and gain a clear edge in your career.
Hosted by Acumen Learning, a firm that has taught business acumen to 34 of the Fortune 50.
The Care Equation: Understanding the Business of Healthcare with Ben Cook & Kenny Snarr
Healthcare is one of the largest and most complex industries in the world. From health insurers and hospital systems to pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and distributors, every part of the healthcare ecosystem operates with different economics, incentives, and financial pressures. Yet all are ultimately connected by a common goal: improving patient outcomes. For our latest industry report, The Care Equation, Acumen Learning analyzed earnings calls from 10 major health...
8 Oct 2026
What 10 Oil & Gas Earnings Calls Reveal About the Future of Energy
The oil and gas industry is entering a particularly dynamic period. Geopolitical uncertainty, energy security, constrained refining capacity, growing power demand, AI, and new technologies are changing how companies across the industry think about growth, investment, and returns. For our latest industry report, The Molecule Moment, Acumen Learning analyzed the earnings calls of 10 major oil and gas companies across the value chain - from upstream and midstream to downstream and oilfield ser...
15 Sept 2026
How to Sell Using Business Acumen: An ExxonMobil Case Study with Brent Barclay
Understanding your customer’s business is one of the most important things you can do before an executive sales conversation. In Business Acumen for Sales Success, we introduce a practical framework that helps sales professionals move beyond product-focused conversations and become trusted business advisors: Understand the BusinessAnalyze the Five DriversUnderstand the BuyerAlign Your Value PropositionFocus on Business OutcomesBecome a Trusted AdvisorIn this episode, Stephen H. Covey and Bre...
25 Aug 2026
How to Sell Using Business Acumen: An NXP Case Study with Brent Barclay
Understanding your customer’s business is one of the most important things you can do before an executive sales conversation. In Business Acumen for Sales Success, we introduce a practical framework that helps sales professionals move beyond product-focused conversations and become trusted business advisors. That framework includes six steps: Understand the BusinessAnalyze the Five DriversUnderstand the BuyerAlign Your Value PropositionFocus on Business OutcomesBecome a Trusted AdvisorIn th...
4 Aug 2026
Business Acumen FAQ: Kevin Cope Answers the Questions We Hear Most
Over the past two decades, Acumen Learning has trained thousands of professionals around the world, including teams at 34 of the Fortune 50. Along the way, we’ve noticed the same questions come up again and again. In this special FAQ episode, Stephen H. Covey puts Acumen Learning Founder and CEO Kevin Cope in the hot seat to answer the most common questions about business acumen, why it matters, how to develop it, how it applies to sales, and what organizations should consider when investing...
14 Jul 2026
The Silicon Supercycle: What 10 Semiconductor Earnings Calls Reveal About AI with Brent Barclay
Artificial intelligence is dominating headlines. But behind every AI breakthrough is a massive infrastructure buildout that most people never see. Acumen Learning recently analyzed earnings calls from ten of the world’s largest semiconductor companies to better understand how executive teams are preparing for the next phase of AI. Rather than focusing on individual companies, this episode explores the broader business trends shaping the industry and what leaders across every industry can le...
7 Jul 2026
How to Sell Using Business Acumen: A Chevron Case Study with Brent Barclay
Understanding your customer’s business is one of the most important things you can do before an executive sales conversation. In Business Acumen for Sales Success, we introduce a practical framework that helps sales professionals move beyond product-focused conversations and become trusted business advisors: Understand the BusinessAnalyze the Five DriversUnderstand the BuyerAlign Your Value PropositionFocus on Business OutcomesBecome a Trusted AdvisorIn this episode, Stephen H. Covey and Bre...
23 Jun 2026
How to Listen to an Earnings Call (And Why It Can Accelerate Your Career) with Brent Barclay
Most employees never listen to their company’s earnings calls. Many assume they’re only for investors, analysts, or finance professionals. But what if earnings calls are actually one of the best ways to understand strategy, build business acumen, and accelerate your career? In this episode, Brent Barclay, COO of Acumen Learning, explains why earnings calls are one of the most underutilized learning tools in business. He shares a simple framework for understanding what executives are commun...
12 May 2026
Why Most Sales Conversations Fail at the Executive Level with Kevin Cope & Ben Cook
Most salespeople understand their product. Far fewer understand the business realities their customers are dealing with. In this episode, Kevin Cope and Ben Cook discuss their new book, Business Acumen for Sales Success, and the patterns they’ve seen after working with sales organizations for more than two decades. The problem usually isn’t effort or product knowledge. It’s that too many sales conversations fail to connect to what executives actually care about. In this conversation, the...
21 Apr 2026
How to Apply Business Acumen in Sales and Leadership with Ben Cook
Understanding business acumen is one thing. Applying it in real conversations, decisions, and leadership situations is what actually drives results. In this episode, Ben Cook, President of Acumen Learning, breaks down how to use the five business drivers in day-to-day work across sales, leadership, and team alignment. Most professionals understand their role, but struggle to connect it to what the business is actually trying to achieve. That’s where this framework becomes practical. In th...
7 Apr 2026
The 5 Business Drivers Explained Simply with Kevin Cope
Business is often more complex than it needs to be. In this episode, Kevin Cope breaks down a simple framework that helps you understand how any business actually works. The five business drivers. Cash. Profit. Assets. Growth. People. These are the core elements every company is managing, whether people realize it or not. Most employees hear financial updates, strategy discussions, or earnings calls and struggle to connect the dots. This framework changes that. In this conversation, Kevi...
7 Apr 2026
The Business Acumen Gap That Led to Acumen Learning with Stephen M.R. Covey & Kevin Cope
Why do so many capable teams struggle to make good business decisions? In this episode, Stephen M.R. Covey and Kevin Cope share the story behind the founding of Acumen Learning and the problem they couldn’t ignore. Even inside a highly successful organization, they saw a disconnect. People were talented and motivated, but they didn’t fully understand how the business made money. That gap created misalignment, poor decisions, and real financial strain. What followed was a shift in thinking ...
7 Apr 2026
Who This Podcast Is For
Most professionals are good at their job but don’t fully understand how their work connects to company performance. That gap leads to misalignment, missed opportunities, and slower growth.  In this short introduction, Stephen H Covey explains what this podcast is about, who it’s for, and what you can expect. This podcast is built for: Leaders who want better alignment and decision-makingSales professionals who need to understand their customers’ businessTeams that want to connect th...
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
15 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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