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I firmly believe many people stall in their careers because they don’t understand business.
Someone asked how I sharpened my business acumen without ever taking any formal business classes.
The answer is: annual reports.
for people with no to low business knowledge 
Someone asked how I sharpened my business acumen without ever taking any formal business classes.
The answer is: annual reports.
for people with no to low business knowledge
Background: I was a PR major in school, and one of my @UGAGrady PR courses focused on investor relations.
Public corporations are required by law to share financial and earnings data with the public regularly.
Investor relations is “the communication of data and insight between a corporation and the investment community.”
Investor relations is “the communication of data and insight between a corporation and the investment community.”
Investor relations professionals have a large task — convince the public to continue (or start) investing in the corporation.
People and institutions invest in corporations who they believe will grow.
The purpose of the annual report is to report the corporation’s growth and how the corporation intends to grow (e.g. vision, strategies, and remedies for internal and external risk factors).
The purpose of the annual report is to report the corporation’s growth and how the corporation intends to grow (e.g. vision, strategies, and remedies for internal and external risk factors).
Arguably, everything a non-finance professional “needs” to know about a business (sans recent news) is in the annual report.
WHERE TO START
1. Think of companies in your industry (or adjacent industries) and search “annual report + (company name).”
Remember, all public corporations are required to report this information.
1. Think of companies in your industry (or adjacent industries) and search “annual report + (company name).”
Remember, all public corporations are required to report this information.
2. Make a habit of reading these reports (especially ones in your industry) regularly.
Look up EVERY SINGLE TERM that you don’t understand (e.g., DAUs, churn, market size).
Look up EVERY SINGLE TERM that you don’t understand (e.g., DAUs, churn, market size).
Although I don’t recommend getting bogged down in actual numbers, it’s critical to understand basic finance/accounting terms and concepts like revenue, profit, net income, net loss, etc.
This is a helpful resource for elevating your finance terminology. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071824367/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_FW78GY45G94CDXY6ZRRX
3. Focus on understanding the opportunities and threats facing the business.
E.g. Twitter has notoriously had stagnant user growth and is competing with advertising powerhouses like FB/Google for advertiser dollars.
E.g. Twitter has notoriously had stagnant user growth and is competing with advertising powerhouses like FB/Google for advertiser dollars.
How do they plan to attract more users? How do they plan to diversify their revenue beyond traditional advertising?
And one step further: start asking yourself, how would YOU attract more users to Twitter? How would YOU diversify revenue beyond traditional advertising?
And one step further: start asking yourself, how would YOU attract more users to Twitter? How would YOU diversify revenue beyond traditional advertising?
4. Complement your readings by staying on top of industry news.
E.g. If you know Twitter is trying to diversify their revenue, you’ll look at these creator monetization plays (e.g., Super Follows, Revue acquisition) as a direct answer to a threat facing Twitter’s business and not just Twitter adding random features.
This is how you elevate your business acumen without ever stepping foot in a business class or business school.
