Reading task

Read the text Innovation, Finance and People on page 1 of the exercises document. As you read, highlight the 24 key business terms hidden in it:

• 8 finance terms
• 8 people-management terms
• 8 innovation terms

When we all have our highlights, I’ll show you a reference table with the 24 terms laid out in three columns. You’ll then pick two terms from each column and work with them.

Reference table: 24 key terms

Your task (15 minutes)

From the table, pick two terms from each column — six terms in total.

For each of your six terms:

1. Write a short definition in your own words (10–25 words). Not a copy from the reading — phrase it as you’d explain it to a colleague.
2. Write one sentence using the term in a realistic business context. Concrete company, industry, or scenario; a specific number, percentage, or name where it fits naturally.

Work in pairs. You have 15 minutes.

Balance sheet

Revenue

Profit margin

Cash flow

Working capital

Capital markets

Equity

Liabilities

Retention

Churn

Onboarding

Burnout

Upskilling

Reskilling

Talent pipeline

Performance review

R&D (Research and Development)

Prototype

Pivot

Intellectual property

Time-to-market

First-mover advantage

Disruption

Scalability

Reported speech at work: three shifts and one choice

• Business writing rarely quotes verbatim — minutes, briefings, press summaries all use indirect speech.
• Three things shift when you report what someone said:
  • Tenses move “one step back” (are increasing → were increasing)
  • Pronouns shift to third person (I → he/she; our → their)
  • Time expressions change (today → that day; next week → the following week)
• Your reporting verb is never neutral:

Your task (12 minutes)

You have eight scenarios on the exercise sheet. Each gives you a quoted statement and the kind of document you are writing.

• Pick any four.
• For each, write:
  1. the reported version (mind the tense shift, pronouns, time expressions);
  2. your chosen reporting verb — and one word or phrase on why;
  3. one alternative reporting verb you considered and rejected — and why.

Scenario 1

You are summarising the Q3 analyst call in a written report. The CFO told investors: “Acme has been investing heavily in its new product line.”

Scenario 2

A competitor’s press release made a forward-looking statement you need to paraphrase in an internal briefing: “We will see a significant impact on revenue in the next quarter.”

Scenario 3

You are writing minutes for the board meeting. The CFO opened their presentation by setting context: “The CFO was explaining their debt management strategy.”

Scenario 4

An equity analyst made a forecast in a research note you are citing: “By this time next year, they might have entered two new markets.”

Scenario 5

You are paraphrasing the market commentary section of a brokerage report: “Analysts had predicted a drop in share price, but it rebounded quickly.”

Scenario 6

In a press release you are paraphrasing for an internal email, the CEO justified the acquisition: “The acquisition was a strategic move to expand their technology portfolio.”

Scenario 7

You are summarising the CFO’s closing remarks from a results call in a written briefing for senior management: “If sales projections hold, they should exceed last year’s profit.”

Scenario 8

You are minuting a discussion of market rumours during an investor-relations meeting: “There were rumours they were considering a stock split.”

Authentic-writing task (5 minutes)

Switch to the exercise sheet. Using three different reporting verbs, report this exchange as 3–4 sentences of formal minutes:

CEO: “I’ve been reviewing our Q3 results, and I’m concerned about our cash flow.”

CFO: “We need to cut discretionary spending next month.”

Head of HR: “That might affect our onboarding programme for the new hires.”

Voice at a glance

• “We have our software upgraded by the IT department.”
• “We have our marketing materials designed by an external agency.”

Your task (15 minutes)

The exercise sheet has 16 sentences: eight active, six passive, and two for have something done.

• Pick any five — ideally a mix of directions.
• For each, write:
  1. the transformed sentence;
  2. one line on whether the transformation is an improvement in register — and why or why not.

Then the authentic-writing task on the next slide.

Authentic-writing task (10 minutes)

Write three consecutive sentences of an internal email announcing a departmental restructuring, in which you:

1. use the passive voice to communicate the institutional decision;
2. use the active voice to commit the company to a specific action for affected staff;
3. use the have something done structure to describe a piece of delegated support work (e.g. outplacement, training arranged with a provider).

One paragraph, ~60 words.

Item 1 (active → passive)

“The board rejected our budget proposal.”

Item 2 (active → passive)

“HR will implement the new wellbeing programme next quarter.”

Item 3 (active → passive)

“You have consistently missed your sales targets.”

Item 4 (active → passive)

“The IT team created an excellent disaster recovery plan.”

Item 5 (active → passive)

“I require all department heads to submit monthly reports.”

Item 6 (active → passive)

“The CEO announced a major restructuring plan yesterday.”

Item 7 (active → passive)

“Your team exceeded all performance objectives this year.”

Item 8 (active → passive)

“The manager should conduct exit interviews in person.”

Item 9 (passive → active)

“Training opportunities will be provided to all staff members.”

Item 10 (passive → active)

“Mistakes were made in the financial forecast.”

Item 11 (passive → active)

“It has been decided that the office relocation will be postponed.”

Item 12 (passive → active)

“Complaints have been received about the new shift system.”

Item 13 (passive → active)

“A new performance review system is being implemented across all departments.”

Item 14 (passive → active)

“Sensitive information must not be shared with unauthorised parties.”

Item 15 (have something done)

“The IT department upgrades our software.”

Item 16 (have something done)

“The external agency designs our marketing materials.”

Case study instructions

Each group will be assigned one case. Read your case and prepare:

1. The decision you would recommend, using at least four terms from the 24-term vocabulary set.
2. The key risks of that decision.
3. Two sentences for the communication:

• one reported-speech sentence for the minutes;
• one passive-voice sentence for the company-wide announcement.

You have 8 minutes to prepare, then each group presents (2–3 min each).

Case 0: Worked example — the case

A Gdańsk e-commerce retailer of premium home furniture has grown fast on paid social advertising, but customer acquisition costs have doubled in eighteen months and working capital is tightening. The Head of Marketing wants to triple the paid-ads budget for the Christmas quarter. The CFO wants to freeze ad spend and instead invest in a customer-loyalty platform built in-house by the small R&D team. The Head of People warns that either path will stretch a team already showing early signs of burnout after two consecutive peak seasons. The CEO must choose by the end of the month.

Case 0: Worked example — sample answer

Decision: Hold the paid-ads budget flat and redirect the proposed increase into an in-house loyalty platform. Repeat-purchase economics offer much better scalability than ever-rising ad costs, the R&D team already has a usable prototype of the loyalty engine, and protecting working capital through a leaner Christmas quarter matters more than a short-term revenue spike.

Key risks: Christmas revenue falls short of forecast; pushing a new platform while managing burnout risks losing a key engineer and spiking churn.

• Minutes: The CFO argued that the paid-advertising budget should be held flat and that the freed capital should be redirected into the in-house loyalty platform.
• Announcement: The paid-advertising budget has been frozen for the coming quarter, and development of an in-house customer-loyalty platform will be prioritised.

Case 1: Should we pivot? — sample answer

Decision: Commit to the B2B pivot over a structured 90-day window, not a full relaunch. The existing prototype is already validated by inbound B2C requests, and the B2B model offers far better scalability per sales euro than chasing more B2C users against negative cash flow.

Key risks: losing one or two senior engineers (manageable churn) and a six-month revenue gap before the first B2B contracts close.

• Minutes: The CTO argued that the company should pivot to a B2B wellness platform within ninety days, noting that the existing prototype had already been validated by customer demand.
• Announcement: A strategic pivot to the B2B corporate-wellness market has been approved by the board, and all engineering resources will be reallocated accordingly.

Case 2: First-mover or fast follower? — sample answer

Decision: Run a two-client pilot now, but delay the full commercial launch by 12 weeks. A controlled pilot protects most of the first-mover advantage while R&D finishes hardening the prototype, and it gives the legal team time to secure the intellectual property before the competitor publishes anything.

Key risks: the competitor shortens their time-to-market; one pilot client leaks technical detail before patents are granted.

• Minutes: The Head of R&D proposed that a limited pilot should be launched with two clients while the final stability issues were being resolved.
• Announcement: A controlled pilot programme is being launched with two selected clients, and a full commercial release will follow once the prototype has been fully stabilised.

Case 3: Raising capital vs. protecting equity — sample answer

Decision: A blended structure — a €20m bond issue on the capital markets plus a smaller €10m equity round. The stable profit margin easily services the added liabilities on the balance sheet, while a minority equity partner brings the network effects needed to convert scalability into real European market share.

Key risks: rising interest rates make the debt more expensive than modelled; equity investors push for an exit on a different timeline from the founders.

• Minutes: The CFO recommended that a €20m bond issue should be combined with a smaller equity round, adding that the company’s stable margins could comfortably support the additional debt.
• Announcement: Financing for the European expansion has been secured through a combination of a €20m bond issue and a targeted equity round.

Case 4: Managing burnout in a high-pressure team — sample answer

Decision: Slip the release by four weeks and use that time to rebuild the performance review cycle and a proper internal talent pipeline. Further churn among senior engineers would cost more than the delay; protecting retention of the remaining team matters more than hitting the original date, and replacing three seniors into a burnout-prone culture would simply repeat the pattern.

Key risks: the delay damages client trust on the delivery roadmap; some affected engineers interpret the reset as too little, too late.

• Minutes: The Head of People insisted that hiring should be frozen for four weeks so that the performance-review process could be rebuilt before any further engineers were onboarded.
• Announcement: The next product release has been rescheduled by four weeks, and a revised performance-review framework will be introduced across the engineering division.

Case 5: Upskill, reskill, or replace? — sample answer

Decision: Upskill the first 60 employees and reskill the second 80 in-house, and offer the final 60 an 18-month outplacement package rather than abrupt redundancy. A quiet, staged transition protects retention in the two groups the bank wants to keep, avoids the spike in churn that visible mass layoffs would trigger, and feeds the talent pipeline with candidates who already know the bank.

Key risks: the reskilling programme under-delivers and costs more than external hires would have; affected staff still perceive the outplacement as managed redundancy.

• Minutes: The Head of HR argued that eighty employees should be reskilled into compliance and analytics roles rather than being replaced with external hires.
• Announcement: A three-year programme of upskilling and reskilling has been launched, and support will be provided to every employee affected by the transition.

Case 6: Protecting IP against disruption — sample answer

Decision: Accelerate the next-generation product to a 12-month time-to-market (not 10), partly financed by a short-term credit line so the acceleration does not fully consume working capital. Litigation alone will not stop the disruption from a low-price competitor; the most effective defence is a new product whose R&D and intellectual property are a generation ahead.

Key risks: the credit line tightens cash flow if current-product sales fall faster than forecast; hired contractors produce code or designs that weaken the IP position.

• Minutes: The Head of R&D proposed that time-to-market for the next-generation sensor should be shortened to twelve months, adding that a short-term credit line would be required to preserve working capital.
• Announcement: The next-generation sensor platform has been brought forward, and additional engineering capacity will be retained to support the accelerated development schedule.