There is a blog that I enjoy following: Sales Productivity Secrets by Martice E. Nicks, Jr.

He had a post on May 25 on Sales Productivity and Hiring the Inexperienced.

In this day and age of downsizing and laying off, Martice makes a great case for hiring for experience when it comes to sales.  The list of skills is staggering.  So, check out the post here.  Great for leaders to know the skills they can get right off the bat by hiring someone who’s been in the trenches for a while.

Most modern leaders share this concern. In a day and age where everything is public or can become public in a matter of minutes, they always want to ask how they can be true to who they are and maintain the respect, dignity and credibility they need to influence the people who are following them.

I want to say that authenticity, in my opninon, is probably one of the most important if not the most important leadership skills our future leaders will be asked to address. Our new workforce known as Generation Y places a very high value on their leaders living authentically, and they can smell a fake a mile away, so not being authentic is what will damage a leader’s credibility in the future.

Many leaders shy away from talking about authenticity, because the word often conjures up images of a leader being weak or soft or touchy-feely or airing their dirty laundry to the public or exposing their problems openly to employees or constituents. They immediately equate authenticity with the image of lying on a therapist’s couch “bearing it all” and a fear of their secrets being exposed. But this is not what authenticity is about.

Being an authentic leader means having a true passion for your life story and being able to inspire people by telling it. It means being proud of your family and never forgetting where you came from and not being ashamed of your roots or your childhood. It means knowing your values and standing by those values, even if it means making a decision which is unpopular. It means being vulnerable, admitting when you make a mistake and apologizing openly to your followers when you slip and fall. It means taking an unconventional path, even when risky. It means leading from that place which honors who you are and not trying to mimic another leader. While a leader can certainly adopt a few best practices from an admired leader, when you try to imitate someone else is when your leadership starts heading south.

Today, as you are reading this blog post, I want to encourage you to revisit those parts of your life, past and family history which you have seemed to have conveniently “left out” of your leadership. Those parts of your life are possibly the most important traits you need to lead your company into the future.

Yes, I know…every pundit, supporter and eager Clinton fan wants to know the answer to this question.

First of all, I concur with Corey’s post from June 6 on Senator Clinton carving her own path. Here, here! I also believe that there is a place for her in our political system. Senator Clinton is sharp, and the area where I believe she has the most passion and knowledge is on the topic of healthcare. While I am not convinced that an Obama/Clinton ticket is a wise move, I do believe that if elected, Senator Obama will be thinking about where and how Clinton can best serve our country. In my opinion, a position such as Secretary of Health would be a great fit (but of course, this is just according to the world of Bea.)

I have watched Clinton speak on a variety of debates and interviews and speeches over the last 16 months, but I have to say that watching her yesterday was a joy for me. I finally felt like I liked her. I don’t know why, but she seemed to be putting her energy and strength behind the democrats…a smart move indeed. And, I do wish her well and believe that she should indeed be in a leadership role for the United States. She’s got spunk and stickability, and we need that!

I was speaking last week with a realtor who was frustrated with some of his Gen Y potential home buyers. I asked him how he was communicating with them. He went into a story about how they have to call him, set up an appointment to come into the office for a “needs assessment”, and they then look at as many houses as they can that fit those “needs.” I asked him about the possibility of using a Blackberry to shoot pics over to them, the thought of eliminating the “needs assessement” meeting, and he seemed to be put out with that idea. Duh! No wonder he’s frustrated.

A great article appeared in the Seattle Times yesterday on this very topic. It discusses Gen Y’s lifestyle, what they want in a home, and so on. The only thing I would add to this is that as a seller, it is important to be able to communicate with Gen Y based on their communication preferences. Text messaging, a Blackberry/i-phone/your digital phone of choice can make this whole process so much easier, would reduce frustration and would probably sell more homes (of course this is just the world according to Bea, so you can decide.) And, just remember…Gen Y’s have already done a great deal of research on homes before they call you, so the whole “come to my office for a meeting” may sound like drudgery and a waste of time. A great first question would be “What homes have you researched that you are interested in?” By taking a twentysomething buyer to that home first, you can probably do a quick needs assessment just by listening and asking questions.