Does Sales Lead Generation Really Require a College Degree?

Street smarts or book smarts—which is better for sales?
We only hired college graduates, or so I thought. So, when the president of my company hired a Sales VP without a degree, I challenged him. He said that Craig, the new VP, had the sales leadership experience we needed, and that a degree, in this case, was irrelevant.
It turns out the president was right. As the manager of a geographically diverse sales team, I reported directly to Craig. I learned more from him about sales lead generation and how to engage clients in a relationship than I’d learned from books and my own sales leadership experience.
When we hear people say someone is “street smart,” we often surmise that they are undereducated, underachievers, and don’t have a very high I.Q. But I learned very quickly that street smarts trump academic smarts in most every business interaction. After all, experience is the best