Business Acumen There Are Many Different Things

Business Acumen

There are many different things that I have done in my career that relate to business acumen. One of these came fairly recently, in July of 2004, when I was asked to plan and execute a dedication ceremony that involved the opening of a Veterans Conference Room in Washington, DC. The auditorium at the VA Headquarters was renovated for this purpose. I was given three months to pull this together and create a program and ceremony that was worthy of this event. In addition to planning this ceremony, the day-to-day activities of myself and my staff had to go on, and there were other notable events that were going on at the same time, such as awards ceremonies, the observance of Veteran's Day, and VA holiday activities. These were all coordinated and planned during the same time that I was working to create the ceremony for the conference room.

When I was asked to do this, I pulled together a team and created a vision. The event included the reception of the guest of honor and a program designed specifically for the event. The guest of honor was nearing 80 years of age, so I arranged for an escort from his Jackson, Mississippi home, a flight to Washington, and a room at a prestigious hotel within easy walking distance of the ceremony. I also made sure that I met with each individual that was going to participate in the event and recognized their dedication and accomplishments in order to foster strong and important business relationships. This was important to me, and it also helped these individuals to be more receptive to working with me and doing what was needed to ensure that the ceremony went well. In addition to this, I wrote the script for the program and coordinated the content for the speeches.

The goal for the ceremony was to be able to accommodate 300 guests. Invitations through various forms were sent out to 2000 total guests who were all stakeholders of the event and the guest of honor. Five areas of the guest of honor's life were also focused on by the video team, including his work in the business community, his military service, his White House service, his work with the Montgomery GI Bill, and the impact that he had on making the VA a cabinet level agency.

In order to foster good relations with the guest of honor, I personally flew to Jackson, Mississippi and met with him and his associates. The project was discussed at that time and the goals and possible needs were also addressed so that everyone involved with the project was prepared for what was going to happen and was ready for any issues that might come up. The meeting was very successful, and also fostered a relationship with Mississippi State University (MSU) which allowed them to provide me with some virtually priceless documents that were displayed by the department at the ceremony and which will also remain in display cases in the conference room forever.