LEAKED VIDEO: We're Told Training Videos Like This One Drives AOL Patch Sales People Nuts

On Friday, AOL laid-off a few hundred people who worked in its local news division, Patch.

On Saturday, one of those laid-off people sent us an email.

It's subject line: "What axed-patch sales people won't miss."

The email contained a link to a video.

Here's how this tipster described the video:

This video is Jim Lipuma, director of national sales, in one of his many, many videos talking to the sales team as though they were total novices. He sends out the videos and says "Must watch" in he subject line. Then, about midday, a follow- up email with something like: "So far, less than half of the people I sent this to have viewed it. When I say 'Must watch" I mean everyone." Really? Like we have the time to watch your poorly filmed, narcissistic one-shot video of yourself yammering on? And are you really getting paid the big bucks to do THIS? Ack!

The video is about ten minutes long. Until it's inevitably taken down, you can watch it here. If you don't have ten minutes to kill, you can watch our quick edit of it to get a sense of what it's like watching Lipuma talk.

We don't think it's so bad. Lipuma is perhaps a bit long-winded, but he's just trying to teach his people how to do their job well. Managing is hard.

Probably the video shouldn't have been required viewing for all Patch sales people – just junior ones. Certainly Lipuma didn't have to be so nagging about it.

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Our source sent us links to two other videos as well. If you can't get enough of Lipuma, here's one of him talking about Patch's last re-org, back in May. Here's another, where he talks about how the sales team finished February strong.