Good leadership has many components, including soft skills like people management and coaching. One critical component that sets the foundation for leadership in any business, including distribution, is financial acumen. Financial acumen involves having financial knowledge and discipline that empowers you to understand, manage and interpret numbers.

And because accounting and finance are the universal language of business, it is effortless to see how command of numbers is foundational.

Having confidence in accounting and finance means knowing how to speak the language, make managerial decisions, and understand the implications of the numbers so you can interpret them for yourself. Having such a command automatically sets you apart from your peers, gets you noticed faster and likely lands you in a different room.

Know the Numbers, Gain an Edge

The goal that distribution education programs need to set for their students is to understand the financial discussions happening at the table with the C-Suite and have a command of the subject. Emerging leaders need to perform their own analysis and read the financial statements with confidence.

With this command and confidence, they will get the attention other peers will not, and their skills will set them apart. They can take what they have learned, enter a room of people with deep financial backgrounds, have the confidence to contribute, and ask intelligent questions from a financial perspective.

Managerial accounting and financial language of business knowledge can be applied in any industry, not just distribution. Moreover, it is fundamental knowledge for a range of experience levels. No matter what your responsibilities or goals are in a business, you must understand the numbers to become a well-rounded leader.

How Distribution Education Sharpens Financial Skills

In our curriculum, we teach experience with Excel spreadsheets so students can develop a deeper understanding of how the numbers interrelate and behave as they manipulate a spreadsheet. One of the best ways for students to learn the fundamentals of accounting and finance is through repetition. Every module has a spreadsheet template to help instill familiarity and confidence with the tool. With such confidence, they can perform their analysis to confirm or deny information they are getting from elsewhere in the company.

An example of a course that increases command of financial knowledge is the MID Distribution Profitability Analysis course. Finance is the common language for business worldwide. My co-instructor and I are enthusiastic about imparting this knowledge. If we had this knowledge at an earlier point in our careers, we would have excelled at a faster pace. In my class, what students learn gives them the freedom and power most people don’t have: the freedom to understand the numbers and make better and different decisions, the confidence of knowing what decisions to make based on facts, and the power to have command over the business.

We also teach word economy — the practice of using fewer words to say more. We have exercises and modules that require writing to express financial outcomes, with strict parameters to encourage students to use concise language. Finance professionals want the brass tax about what the numbers are telling us.

The course is rigorous for most students. I would rather you fail here and learn here than learn the hard way in the board room.

Acquiring an Industry-Specific Degree on the Path to Leadership

The MID program is the leading master’s program for industrial distribution. The knowledge imparted is a mile deep in the world of distribution, whereas an MBA is a mile wide but only an inch deep in business knowledge. In the MID program, students gain a deep understanding of all fundamental business topics and the science of distribution and distribution profitability. When students emerge from this program, they are light years ahead in the distribution world.

I have carried what I learned as a graduate of the Industrial Distribution program with me throughout my career, across industries and my adult life.

The best student testimonial is when one of my students tells me that they received a promotion or were able to take advantage of a job opportunity because of the knowledge they discovered and learned in my class.