Financial literacy: knowing what you know

Aligning business intuition with financial arithmetic

You've got a brilliant idea. You make an excellent presentation to the board. A director asks: "What discount rate are you using for NPV over five years on this."

You’ve got no idea what he’s talking about. Your confidence slips. So does your momentum. You say you'll get back to him.

A lack of financial literacy won’t necessarily hold you back. There’s plenty of self-made business people with no business education. The issue often arises with success. You were a great salesmen and an even better marketing director but now you are running the whole shop. There are some things you are expected to know.

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What type of leader can you be?

Start by managing what you manage well

High profile leaders get a lot of attention. They are invariably media-savvy and articulate, able to glibly deliver inspiring speeches on big concepts like mission and vision. Sometimes they even just look good. Never mind what they are saying; you just enjoy watching them say it.

In an age when celebrity status has become the key to newsworthiness, is this the model for leadership? It's as if the glamour CEO defines business leadership in the same way a bony cover girl defines the right body shape. It's a narrow definition that won't include most people, be they aspiring executives or standard-size teenagers. It's just one kind of leader. There are plenty of others.

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