We love to celebrate companies that are making a deposit by making a difference. When we  get asked by entrepreneurship grads, “What business should I go into?” Our answer is always, “Find a business that addresses, mitigates, or helps people and companies survive the biggest mega trend of our time, climate change!”

One of the elements that is becoming increasingly scarce and precious is water. Yet we still suffer from leakage, bursts and overuse. What if you could get notified on your phone when there was any unusual use on your water system? What if you could monitor water use with A.I., machine learning and cellular networks? What if your system would automatically shut down if you have a break in the lines?

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur 

Who We Are

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.

The post Entrepreneur – WINT Water Intelligence Tackles Waste While Improving Efficiency appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

In the US today we are starting to see the effects of generations who are unaware of the three branches of government, why they were created, and what they do.

But the recent decisions by the Judicial Department against the excesses of the Executive Department are a much needed cold bucket of water dousing too much hot air and smoke about what is true.

So what is true?

According to Merriam-Webster and others, truth is “in accordance with the facts” and truth is “actuality.” The idea that “truth is not truth” or that there are “alternative facts” ultimately holds no water with the Department of Justice. It is their job to ascertain the facts. And that is exactly what they’re doing.

Their job is to adjudicate the laws and, based on the facts, render a judgment. These facts are not subject to a vote. They exist outside of opinion and politics. They either took place in actuality or they did not.

The judicial department is there for a reason. The founding fathers, concerned about the excesses of King George, didn’t want a repeat in the new nation. They appreciated the power and necessity for a strong executive, but they knew it had to be constrained. They thought the legislature would act as a constraint on the executive. But just in case it didn’t, as is the case currently, they created an independent judiciary that would be guided by facts and the law – sort of a safety net.

The problem with justice is that it moves so slowly. It takes time to get the facts. It takes time to get to the truth. But it does happen eventually, even though much damage can continue to take place before its verdicts are read.

We need to get back to the facts.

Here’s a fact: in California, we saw a 7-mile high “fire tornado,” a 3000-degree pillar of fire spinning at 160+ miles an hour with a footprint the size of three football fields. This happened during the largest wildfire in the state’s history, part of the increasing and undeniable fact of climate change.

Obviously, Mother Nature is not going to take a break as she inches toward a global climate less suitable for human habitation than any we have seen. She’s not going to wait until the final judgment about whether this change is man-made or whether or not we can do something about it.

This is why we can’t sit around waiting for justice to run its course.

This is why the founding fathers had the wisdom to realize that the people needed to speak every two years in the elections for the House of Representatives. They set up another safety net to protect against a runaway executive and that was the power to actually recall the chief executive through articles of impeachment.

But of course, that won’t work unless a majority of the members of the House vote the same way. And that gets it back to the people because that won’t happen unless the people vote for representatives who are willing to use this constitutional check and balance.

We know all this sounds rudimentary to many of our readers. But reading the news these days, we felt obligated to restate the obvious. There is obviously a large group within our country who is not aware of the simple reasons for checks and balances and the three divisions of our government. The recent actions by the Department of Justice are giving them a crash course in high school civics. And Mother Nature is giving us a crash course in reality. Like it or not, climate change is a fact.

Who We Are

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.

The post Civics the Hard Way appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

They contend that their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property are being violated by the government. They also contend that the government’s behavior is violating the public trust doctrine that holds the government responsible for the preservation of certain vital resources for use by the public, including, in this case, a healthy climate system.

Interestingly, the lawsuit was originally filed under the Obama administration. In November of 2016, the lawsuit cleared a major hurdle, thanks to U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who denied motions filed by the government and the fossil fuel industry to dismiss it. She so ordered that it should go to trial.

“Exercising my ‘reasoned judgement,’ I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.” – U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken

This is major! It could disrupt the way environmental advocacy is being conducted globally. Already in the Netherlands, a court hearing a similar plea ordered the Dutch Government to reduce carbon emissions by 25% over a five-year period. Other analogous lawsuits are being brought in South Africa, Austria, and Pakistan.

The issue here is simple. If the government is in a position to promote or discourage the use of fossil fuels through laws, taxes, and permissions, are they liable for negatively effecting your life, liberty, and property? And if they promote the use of fossil fuels, are they violating the public trust?

So, the crux of the issue boils down to whether it can be proven in a court of law, that human activity and burning of fossil fuels in fact causes climate change. Unlike politics, where you can have 99% of the scientists agree that human activity causes climate change, and still say “It’s a debate,” in a court of law, a preponderance of facts still matter.

Speaking of facts, the plaintiffs had to submit a request that the Department of Justice preserve all documents relevant to the lawsuit, including climate change information and information on energy and emissions, and, get this, cease any destruction of these documents! This was right after the new administration’s immediate ploy to remove climate change information from the White House and other federal agency websites.

Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for the plaintiffs and executive director of the advocacy group, Our Children’s Trust, said “Destroying evidence is illegal and we just put these new US Defendants and the Industry Defendants on notice that they are barred from doing so.”

The new administration especially does not want this to get to court where a decision will be based on the facts. That’s why they have filed a motion to stay litigation and appeal the district court’s decision to clear the lawsuit for trial. They know that if this gets to trial and the plaintiffs prevail, like they did in the Netherlands, they could be ordered to reduce emissions whether they wanted to or not.

Unbelievably, the government’s argument against preserving the critical documents that could prove the relationship between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change is that it would put an unnecessary burden on the government just to maintain these files that already exist!

We support the children and young people who are taking this novel and noble action. We put our faith in the court system which must decide on the facts. Let the court end the “debate” and demonstrate its counterbalancing power to help future generations avoid catastrophe. Even a reluctant government would have to execute a court order. Find out more about this landmark lawsuit at Our Children’s Trust.

Who We Are

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.

The post Can the Kids Save the Environment? appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We were recently discussing the latest economic mega trends with a good friend and business associate. When we suggested that climate change was going to be the biggest driver of business demand in the near future, he asked, “How long have you been on this kick?” as if just the recognition of the fact was some kind of a fad or political statement, some kind of a temporary advocacy.

The National Geographic, in their recent series on the subject, entitled The Years of Living Dangerously, explores the parts of the world now experiencing the beginning of the collapse of the ecosystem that sustains them. In the series, each week a well know celebrity hosts the documentary which goes on location to interview scientists and document the changes. Every scientist says the same thing, “I only wish I was more effective in getting the word out sooner!”

One development they investigate that will surely impact the western world in the immediate future is climate migration. Not migrants seeking political asylum, but seeking food! Many of the so called political asylum seekers from central Africa are actually leaving because of extended drought-cause starvation. On the other side of the world, If the Golden Coral Triangle which feeds the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Micronesia collapses, it will directly affect 400,000 people. A huge demand for more food is a mega trend.

The documentary goes on to identify the major culprit, carbon emitters. The carbon acidifies the seas and destroys the reef, one of the building blocks of the marine food chain.  Just like the anti-war protesters of the 60’s and 70’s and just like the Civil Rights activists, this new millennial generation has a cause that unites them: Carbon fees.

They, and most of the scientific community agree that carbon emitters are not paying the true price for burning carbon, giving them an unfair business advantage over alternatives. The reasoning goes, if you have to pay to have your garbage taken away, then shouldn’t carbon emitter have to do the same? The movement is building among the millennials who will ultimately control the vote. Whether you agree or not with the scientists and millennials they are going to persevere.

Up till now the carbon producers have been able to prevent a national carbon fee, but state after state is passing the fee in one form or another. More and more provinces and countries are doing the same. The demand for alternative energy, alternative transportation, and carbon sequestering is on the rise. It’s a mega trend!

More intense world-wide droughts are already a reality. The need for clean drinking water, either recycled or dehydrated is growing rapidly. It’s a mega trend!

United Nations Messenger of Peace, with a Special Focus on Climate, Leonardo DiCaprio hosted another telling documentary, Before the Flood, about the effects of climate change on the immediate and long term future of the planet. If you have any doubt that any of this is happening right now, and not in 20, 50, or 100 years, take a look!

Climate Change and its mitigation is the fundamental driver of the economic mega trends in motion today. These mega trends are pregnant with investment potential and will affect business dramatically. Smart business would be wise to make some thoughtful investments in alternative power production, desalination, hydroponic food production, carbon scrubbers, and carbon credits, just to name a few.

This is not just a “kick”. This is an economic mega trend!  To deny it is not just bad for our health, it’s bad for our economy! Want to clean up the environment? Put a Buck on it!

Who We Are

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.

The post Climate Change Will Change More Than Climate appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

It’s not just the labor that is cheaper; it’s the overall health standards that are less stringent than here in the United States. Our pollution standards are pretty strict and expensive to comply with because we don’t want to have manufacturing negatively affect our health. Some Americans believe that it’s OK to buy products manufactured overseas, where they are subject to lower environmental standards, because we live so far away they can’t possibly affect our health here.  This thinking leaves the door is wide open for questionable overseas manufacturing. But will that door always be open?

Consider what happens when the data begins to be front page news – that our oceans, air and climate are hurting our health as a result of where and how our cheap products are being manufactured. Los Angeles already reports several days a year when they exceed pollution standards, not because of violations in LA but because of pollution that came over the Pacific Ocean from Asia!

Consumer demand for cheap prices is driving this situation today, but sooner or later the true cost of “cheap” manufacturing will be too expensive to support or ignore. We already know it’s unsustainable, which is why we have such relatively high standards in our own country.

Soon “cheap” manufacturing will be unattractive to the consumer. In these days of increasing transparency, consumer groups, health advocates and environmental groups will be exposing the true costs of cheap manufacturing.

New entrepreneurs have to make a choice. Do you want to be part of the past, where you bet that no one would ever refuse to buy your product, no matter where or how it was made, as long as the price was cheap? Or do you want to be part of the future where you realize that world health will eventually trump price and give your environmentally- friendly manufactured products an edge in an increasingly educated and sensitive market?

Millennials who are inheriting this planet are beginning to realize how their decisions today will influence their future. Change is already happening. They know that the quality of their lives will be dependent on factors like pollution standards, water reclamation standards, and protection of the oxygen-producing rainforests. They know they are voting with their purchases every day – and that vote is more profound than anything they can get done at the polls.

Thanks to the proliferation of information, mass changes in attitude will occur at an ever-accelerating rate. Buyers are becoming very concerned about manufacturing processes and their implications to world health. This will be further accelerated by super storms, super droughts, famines, and pestilence. The choices buyers make will become more a matter of survival.

The world of business has cleaned up its act before. We saw the end of widespread use of lead, asbestos, and ozone-destroying additives once it became clear they were hurting our health.

Now is the time for all new entrepreneurs to reject the way things have been done in the past and market clean and healthy products. Beat the rush. Be a leader. Give the emerging consumers what they really want – a sustainable world to live in.

Who We Are

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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