When building the Barefoot Wine brand, we encountered numerous unexpected challenges in compliance, distribution, and personnel management.
Over time, we developed principles to improve our problem-solving approach, transforming our anxiety into a constructive process. Here are the principles:
1. Take Inventory: Assess all available resources, including property, money, people, customers, suppliers, and personal knowledge. Leverage these assets creatively to tackle challenges.
2. Get Out of the Box: Adopt a broad perspective. Examine how others in different fields have solved similar problems. Redefine the problem from various angles to find the best solution.
3. Who Else Benefits? Identify who else gains from your solution and who suffers if the problem remains. These stakeholders can become strategic allies in solving the problem.
4. Look at Your Other Problems: Consider all problems together to find interconnected solutions. Often, solving multiple issues simultaneously can lead to innovative breakthroughs.
5. Know the Need: Involve all stakeholders in the problem-solving process. Their insights and creativity can lead to effective solutions, fostering respect and collaboration.
These principles helped us and can assist you in tackling your business challenges!
Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.
Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.
They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.
Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.
To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.
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