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by Bea Fields, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach , author of Millennial Leaders , Edge: A Leadership Storyand President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc.

As we move into future, we are going to be experiencing both changes and opportunities in the business world that are going to challenge us in ways we have never experienced in the past.

As business, community and political leaders, we are going to be called to step up to the plate and embrace our employees, constituents and customers as our most valuable assets, because more than ever before, they are going to hold the secret to our success. I know that we hear this every day, yet many people honestly don’t know how to build a sustainable company through people.

In this article, I share five of the most important skills leaders and teams will need to embrace in order to thrive in tomorrow’s world.

1. Radical Innovation

Is your business or organization really designed for innovation? Are you sure? Every day I speak to leaders who swear that their businesses are designed for innovation, but in my opinion, this is usually not the case. Why? Because they are stifling open debate, shooting the messenger and making it unsafe for people to voice their opinions.

If your business or company is truly an innovative one, your doors will be open for debate, and your culture will be designed to make it psychologically safe for both employees and customers to voice not only their suggestions, dreams and goals but their concerns, complaints and frustrations. A recent article in Harvard Business Review: The Customer-Centered Innovation Map is a must read for any business that wants to thrive in the future. The article comes from the perspective that when a customer buys a product or service from your company, they are actually hiring you to get a job done. This “job to be done” could be to make more money, look more beautiful, live a more healthy life, move into a dream home, become more credible or build a better relationship.

At each step of the process of the job getting done, both your employees and customers are going to experience both successes and struggle points (and some people will struggle more than others.) By carefully mapping the job a customer is trying to get done, you can find golden opportunities to innovate as you help the customer through your process. Along the way, you will want to ask questions such as “How can we do this much more efficiently?” and “What struggles and inconveniences are our customers experiencing?” and “How are trends affecting the way the job gets done?” and “What causes execution to go off track?” As you move through the life cycle of working with a client, looking at each and every compliment, complaint and challenge can open the door for your company to provide a new product, offering or level of customer service that will set you apart from your competition.

2. Intellectual Horsepower

It is going to become more and more difficult in the future to stay ahead of your competition if your team is not the best and the brightest in your industry. Intellectual horsepower includes not only IQ (many people believe that an IQ of 130 is needed today to be a top player) but includes transferable skills, the ability to understand and break a complex situation into logical steps and being super sharp, agile and a quick study. Intellectual horsepower also includes being able to embrace paradox and ambiguity and being adept at functioning effectively in the midst of opposing ideas or forces.

If you go back and consider the above topic about mapping the job the customer needs to get done, you will be able to identify the skill deficits in your organization. Each time a customer voices a success, ask yourself “Who worked with this client, and what skills were at play to make this customer experience outstanding?”

On the same note, if a customer’s job is not getting done, it’s time to step back and ask “What skills are missing from this process that we need in place?” From there, you can provide your team with the training and development needed to create outstanding customer experiences. Once you have trained your employees, if you have someone on your team who just doesn’t “get it”, then it’s time to replace that player with someone who can “get it” and get it quickly.

3. Employee Development

There are two scenarios that I often see in the work I do as a leadership coach:

1. The company relies on the heroism of a few employees to keep customers happy or

2. Customers constantly run to the owner of the company, who seems to be the only person who can clean up a mess

Both of these scenarios probably mean that your company is failing, that your service is lousy and it’s time for some rigorous employee development, and I don’t mean putting your team in a training room hoping they will get what they need in order to do a great job. As a leader, your job is to build a true learning organization, one which provides your employees with ongoing customized training and coaching so that they can step in and run your company at a moment’s notice. This process begins with a very thorough examination of what’s really going on in your company (this is time for you to become your biggest critic), making a list of every asset and shortcoming and each employee’s key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Your next steps will be to design and implement a customized program which includes an on-the-job training and development program for each employee in the company.

After six months (12 months max) of on-the-job training, if someone in your company cannot be trained to move up, then as harsh as it may sound, that person will more than likely become obsolete in the next few years. As technology advances and our global economy become more and more competitive, it is going to be critical to have a rock solid employee development system in place, and that development program should be designed so that an employee can advance in your company. If an employee cannot develop the skills needed to move up in your company, that position will become a financial and productivity strain on your company. Simply because you are not addressing training and development does not mean that your competitors aren’t, and those that do will have one leg up in the future. It’s that simple.

4. Strategic Agility

In today’s world, your customers may know what they want, but in most cases, they don’t have a clue what’s possible and what creative offerings you can bring to the table.

One of the reasons Apple is so successful is because Steve Jobs has an uncanny ability to know what customers need and want before they request it. None of us knew that we wanted a white ear bud and 10,000 songs in a tiny device that could easily slip in a shirt pocket or the palm of a hand, but boy did we ever eat it up!

By fine tuning your strategic thinking, you will be able to anticipate future consequences and trends, create competitive breakthroughs and paint a vision of what your company will look like tomorrow (which always infuses a sense of inspiration and optimism into a company).

One of the best ways to strengthen strategic agility is to move your team from working on details to a place of curiosity and imagination. By asking some radical questions such as “What would a doctor, actress or astronaut tell us we need to do in the future?” or “How would we change our business if we moved the headquarters to China?”, you will find that your perspective will broaden and your focus will sharpen.

5. Technological Savvy

I know, I know. Everyone is so tired of talking technology. But there are some amazing things happening out there right now. Many cutting-edge companies are using Facebook to build networks, the tool Second Life for training purposes, and games like Warcraft, EverQuest and Lineage are being used to strengthen strategic thinking, the quest for speed and to stimulate discussion about the world of business and finance.

I believe that Generation Y holds the key to your ability to build a tech savvy organization, so don’t discount what they can bring to your company. They are our future, and it’s time to start welcoming them and allowing them to teach us what they know so that we can leverage their knowledge for our future success. Generation Y will provide you with a terrific opportunity to deliberately develop out your company’s capabilities, so embrace them, learn from them, develop them and lead them. You will set the tone for generations to come that you respect young, eager, creative minds.

by Bea Fields, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach , author of Millennial Leaders and President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc.

Loreal has done an incredible thing…they have me now buying their products and services.

I recall seeing a jar of Loreal night cream on my grandmother’s night stand. So…I have always thought of Loreal as a cosmetics company designed for the more mature woman.

Boy…was I wrong.

In 2007, Loreal made a very smart move. They launched the Loreal Brandstorm Competition. In order to apply to be a contestant, you have to be a college student, and you are required to apply in teams of 3. The campaign attracted over 17,000 college students from over 170 campuses. The program is designed to give emerging business leaders the opportunity to live as a Loreal Brand Manager, spending days designing marketing strategies and advertising campaigns for Loreal.

Loreal knows something that all savvy business owners know…that to stay alive, you HAVE to be willing to reach a younger market. So….they did it, and guess what? I have made the switch! I started using Loreal cosmetics in December of 2007, and I had been using a very expensive, top of the line brand. And guess what…I LOVE Loreal products. They are great on my skin, they smell great and they are affordable.

Of course, Loreal is also getting students involved all over the internet. They are visible on Facebook and MySpace, and they are using their flash website to draw folks in.

So…maybe it’s time to look at this competition approach to your marketing. It’s certainly working for Loreal and for FOX (American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance are 2 of the top ranked shows in the world right now).

Also…just check out Loreal’s website…this aint your grandmother’s company any longer!

by Bea Fields, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach , author of Millennial Leaders and President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc.

They’re called Generation Y, Millennials, Echo Boomers, and Connecteds. By whatever name, this generation of youth born after 1977 represents more than 70 million consumers in the United States. They earn a total annual income of about $211 billion, spend approximately $172 billion per year** and considerably influence many adult consumer buying choices, so no longer are they the youth that will be seen but not heard — and marketing professionals need to take notice!

Generation Y cannot be reached through traditional marketing channels. Direct mail, print ads, and television advertising bounce off these powerful consumers like bullets on Superman’s chest. They are impermeable to the marketing messages that appealed to their parents and grandparents. Generation Y represents a massive group of influencers — the largest, and the most cutting edge generation in our history. They cut their teeth on technology, grew up with the knowledge they could do anything (because their parents and teachers told them so!), and the desire to make a difference in their world.

So how do you break through this marketing barrier when they can choose their own music without listening to a commercial radio station, can block outsiders from their social circle — which revolves around cell phones and online networks like Facebook and MySpace — and only refer to newspapers when they need packing material to move on to their next venue?

In my work with emerging leaders, I’ve discovered many ways in which marketers have totally missed the mark with Generation Y consumers by not acknowledging their motivators. So let me clue you in to the ways in which you can effectively connect with this growing market of savvy spenders.

1) Respect them as consumers: Members of Generation Y are tech savvy and highly intelligent. Don’t talk “at” or “down to” them.

2) Get to know them. Before they will do business with you, Generation Yers want to know that you care enough to find out what makes them tick. But don’t rely on the old method of marketing surveys. Get out there and talk to them. Find out how they spend their free time, the music they listen to, and what they eat, wear, read, watch, and drive. You might just be surprised by what you learn!

3) Look cool and hip: As Steve Jobs said about his Apple iBook: “I wanted to make the computer look so cool and so attractive that Generation Y would want to lick the screen.” Generation Y will buy based on a sleek, beautiful, cool-looking package. To see what’s working, visit http://Apple.com.

4) Be socially responsible: Generation Y is incredibly conscious about social causes including the environment, animal rights, and world hunger. They want to know that your company is aligned with a cause that creates an emotional connection with them.

5) Be real: Young consumers can spot a phony from a mile away. Don’t try to talk the talk if you don’t speak the language. Be honest and open. Drop the old sales-speak and be sincere when marketing your products and services.

6) Join their networks: Generation Y will not come looking for you. If you want to attract Generation Y, go where they hang out: social networking sites. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and Second Life are the hot sites for Generation Y and cost nothing to join. Invest time in reading what they are writing about and getting engaged in an online conversation, and your return will be the knowledge of how to market to them.

7) Take it to the streets: Today’s youth love experiences. Promotional stunts, product sampling, and rollouts in a strategically placed venue attract the young urban buyer. They thrive on word of mouth marketing, and street marketing is one of the best ways to create buzz for the young consumer. Today’s smart marketers use street teams and event marketing to reach Generation Y.

8 ) Give them a chance to win: Generation Y is wild about winning a contest or receiving a gift, especially if it’s meaningful to them, like an iPod, a trip to a national snowboarding competition, or tickets to a hot concert. And you’ll always be able to reel them in with great java and food. But one caveat: Generation Yers travel in groups so be sure the gift or prize includes enough spending power for them to bring along their friends.

9) Go viral: YouTube turned the Internet from an information highway into an entertainment complex without walls. Video (vodcast) and audio (podcasts) bits uploaded to your site can spread across the Internet as Generation Yers share their favorites with their friends, who pass it along to their circle, and so on.

10) Text them: I hear many older generation leaders saying, “I don’t text message. I don’t even use e-mail.” If you can’t connect with their preferred method of communication (texting over email), forget about reaching Generation Y. Learn how to integrate mobile technology in your marketing efforts to get into their networks and be seen. Look at how popular shows like American Idol use texting to vote for their favorite performers, because the producers recognize that their audience is primarily is Generation Y!

Generation Y is not difficult or complicated. They are truly unique. And these young people are going to be your customers, if only you learn how to reach out to them.

** Harris Interactive 2003 Youth PulseSM Survey, www.harrisinteractive.com