The Inspiring Work of Kim Lear
I was introduced to Kim Lear back in the summer of 2018. She was one of the keynote speakers at Raymond James Summer Development Conference (SDC). I love going to SDC…it is where the culture of Raymond James shines the brightest. This annual event brings hundreds of Raymond James advisors and their families together. Advisors attend three days of meetings during which we hear directly from our senior leadership as well as some insightful industry strategists/economists along with fascinating motivational speakers. We also get the opportunity to connect with home office representatives who support our businesses, and participate in some great networking/idea sharing among our peers on various “Top Advisor” panels. I often say, somewhat in jest, that almost everything we do from a process standpoint in our Weiss Wealth Strategies practice has been “sampled” from other RJ advisors around the country…that statement continues to ring true as we continue to evolve our business.
Kim Lear studies generations…she digs deep into how different generations behave, change and why they do so. I was fascinated with what she shared. She does her work by conducting many in-depth interviews with people of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds to reach her conclusions. I remember her talking about my generation (Gen-X) being skeptical due to the influence of the spaceship Challenger exploding back in 1986 and being independent due to us being the first generation of “latchkey” kids who were often home for a portion of the day without parental supervision. She also reasoned that Millennials have a propensity of influencing and/or being influenced (growing up with social media) while also being very collaborative and quite risk-averse, having watched their parents suffer through the financial crisis of 2007-2008 in their formative years.
I signed up to be an interviewee (she does compensate her subjects with a token gift card…I was simply more curious about her research than interested in the gift card) and have received her monthly newsletter ever since. I describe Kim as someone who “puts pep in my inbox” when I see her name. She keeps me more “in touch” with younger adults and affirms my awareness of the needs, wants and concerns of many in my age group or older. Her newsletter always contains some interesting linked articles to read. Her most recent email shared a very topical article about how employers are handling “back to office” protocols as more areas of the economy continue to reopen. I shared that one with several professionals I know who all agreed that it was very worthwhile reading (all of us had been discussing some of the same issues).
You can read more about Kim and her company, Inlay Insights HERE. At the bottom of the page is a place to fill in your email address and subscribe to her newsletter…I strongly recommend!
–Gary Weiss, June 2021
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