Understanding your P&L early in your career is like learning to code early — it changes everything about how you think.
Early in my career, I made the decision to understand the financial side of the business, not just the operational side. Most individual contributors avoid this. That's the mistake.
When you understand how revenue flows, where costs hide, and what drives profitability, you think differently about every decision. You stop being task-focused and start being business-focused. You see connections others miss.
This knowledge compounds over years. By the time you're in leadership, you're not learning financial acumen from scratch. You're building on a foundation of understanding. You make better decisions faster because you see the whole picture.
The people I've worked with who advanced fastest weren't necessarily the smartest. They were the ones who understood the business numerically early and kept learning.