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How To Get a Raise by Extrapolating

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 04:46:03 +0000

Extrapolation is the ability to understand the principle behind an example and apply it to new circumstances. In fact, your ability to do so is a direct measure of your ability to fully understand the principle, not just copy the example.

In our fast-paced world with instant answers at the tip of our fingers, it’s easier to get an “answer” quickly and then move on with rest of your work. But if you think “work” is simply cut and paste, staying busy, and putting in your hours, think again. Are the answers so easily accessible you have forgotten how to extrapolate? Don’t become an automaton! The real work is reasoning, questioning, and looking for the root truth behind the examples that you are given so you don’t continue to require them for every situation.

We work with many young people in the colleges and in the work force. The question we often get is, “How can I move ahead in my career?” We think these young folks are very bright and capable, but they have grown up with a technology that can easily become a crutch as it panders to our inherent desire to want to do things in the easiest way possible without acquiring core understandings. It also panders to our desire to want everything in short bites, tweets, texts and the favorite, “just tell me the one thing…” Like, “Just tell me the one thing that makes the airplane fly.” OK, “It’s lift! Now, go build a plane!”

If you want a raise or a promotion you will have to prove to your boss that you got it, really got it; that you are not just cookie-cutting, not just copying-and-pasting, but actually applying what you have learned to a new situation. That’s the only way you will ever gain more responsibility, stature and compensation. And, by the way, respect.

Once your boss learns that he or she can trust and depend on you, you have proven your true value. Your boss needs the peace of mind that only comes when your decisions consistently demonstrate that you know what you are doing, and more importantly, why you are doing it.

Don’t look at work as putting in your “time.” It’s not just time you’re putting in, it’s decisions. When you just want the answers with no interest in the reasons and the principles behind them, you’re not learning, you’re copying. Don’t let the technology make you so lazy that you stop using your reasoning ability. Keep asking “why” till you understand the principle. Don’t look at the example that you are given to answer your “like what?” question as a one-off or isolated application, but as part of a bigger picture.

If you want that raise or promotion, get the bigger picture. The higher your viewpoint of the organization, what it’s doing and why, the greater your opportunities for advancement. Bosses want to delegate, especially in a growing organization. In fact, companies can’t grow without it. But the folks at the top who do the delegation have to feel confident that you understand the business as well as they do, so when they give you that power, you will make decisions the same way they do, or even better!

The real work is learning the reasons behind decisions and examples, learning the principles behind those reasons, extrapolating those principles to different conditions, and using those principles to make right decisions. Only then can you earn a promotion!

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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Communicate the Reasons not just the Processes

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:00:31 +0000

As we celebrate Presidents’ Day, we honor our country’s two greatest leaders, George Washington who had to form a union, and Abraham Lincoln who had to hold it together. Both succeeded because they educated the people about the reasons for action. They both had to sell their cause.

The takeaway for leaders, whether they are politicians, managers, or business owners, is simple. To truly engage your people, educate them beyond what you want them to do and how you want them to do it. Give them appreciation for why you want them to perform in a certain way.

When we were building the Barefoot Wine brand, we found that our people were more engaged when they knew why they were doing a specific job, not just how to do it. We would explain our company’s mission statement, and how each staff member’s performance was essential to achieve the goals of the company.

We would invest hours with our new people explaining the cause and effect that connected their job to the customers’ purchasing decision. We would give them a “money map” showing them how the customers’ money went to buy our product, how it traveled through the retail and distribution companies we dealt with, and eventually ended up in their paycheck. We would detail the reasons why their job directly affected the provision of goods and services necessary for the customer to make a purchase. We would give them the reasons why every team member in our company had to perform excellently to keep our customers coming back. We explained each business associate’s loyalty requirements, from distributers to retailers, from store clerks to consumers, and how our people satisfied all of them.

Some said that kind of training was a waste of time, that new people don’t need that level of detail. They argue that the sooner the new hire starts producing, the better. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it assumes that the processes are already the best they can possibly be, and that there can be no further improvements in customer service or efficiency. It also assumes that expensive mistakes won’t happen due to misconceptions about purpose.

We found, however, that people tend to “make up” reasons when they don’t know the real ones. If they didn’t get it, we would go over it again – and again. When they asked a seemingly simply question about their job, we would listen closely for any misconceptions they held. We wouldn’t just give them the answer so they could thoughtlessly “cut and paste” to quickly get on with their job. We would take the time to sit them down and start from the beginning about the reasons until they connected the dots.

The time we invested in this type of education really paid off. We often heard, “Well, if that’s what we are trying to do, then why don’t we …” and they would streamline our procedures or make them more effective. Sometimes they would even come up with completely new ways of doing things.

Presidents and leaders at every level are only as successful as their ability to engage their people. If your people truly understand why they are being asked to perform, you’ll drastically reduce costly misconceptions and you’ll achieve your company’s goals in surprisingly more efficient ways. Your people will be happier and more engaged because they understand why their performance is essential to the company’s success and that their teammates are relying on them.

Productive people start with good leaders. Happy Presidents’ Day everybody!

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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Gender Neutral Language – Let’s Break a Few Rules!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 17:23:29 +0000

Progressive writers and speakers have been striving for “gender neutrality” for some time now, so as to not favor one or the other. Sounds simple enough until you get into the onerous choices that are available in “proper” English. For instance, when you say “Hi!” to a group of men and women, do you say, “Hi guys” (generally referring to men), “Hi people” (sounds like boot camp), “Hi men and women” (too heavy), “Hi ladies and gentlemen” (too formal for causal greetings), or just avoid the issue altogether with, “Hi folks”?

When building the Barefoot Wine brand, we learned that people will shorten words to the least number of syllables to express a concept, a brand, or an idea. It’s not that they’re lazy; it’s just more efficient. That’s why Coca-Cola, with four syllables, is shortened to “Coke,” and Budweiser, with three syllables is shortened to “Bud.” So part of the challenge is coming up with gender-neutral terms that are only one syllable. The one-syllable gender-specific singular pronouns, “he” and “she” and “his” and “hers,” are especially awkward when referring to a singular noun that could be either gender.

Historically, it was typical to use the pronoun “he” when referring to a singular noun that could be either male or female. For example, “The buyer was confused when he read the proposal.” The exclusive use of “he” inadvertently condoned a certain level of discrimination, but it was one syllable and the alternatives where multi-syllable and tedious conjunctions.

Today’s writers and speakers, aspiring to be politically correct, try to solve this issue with “…when he or she read the proposal,” but that terminology is three syllables and somewhat awkward. Others try to alternate the gender specific pronouns and use “…when she read the proposal,” and then on the next paragraph or example, go back to “he,” and so on. Still others are using a combination, resulting in (s)he or s/he. (This cannot be used verbally, and is somewhat perplexing when read.)

The same thing happens with the gender-specific possessive pronouns “his” and “her. Proper English dictates that you use “his or her,” however, once again, you are up to three syllables and becoming arduous.

So how do we refer to a singular male or female noun describing a person with a one-syllable, gender-neutral pronoun? Let’s break the rules a little bit, shall we? The pronouns we like to use are “they” and “their.” For instance, “The buyer was confused when they read the proposal and had to review their notes.” Isn’t this better than, “The buyer was confused when he or she read the proposal and had to review his or her notes”?

OK, so this is technically incorrect grammar, since “they” and “their” are plural, and refer to a singular noun. The only existing, one-syllable, non-onerous, gender-neutral pronouns in our language that refer to a non-gender-specific noun describing a person are “they” and “their.” Some grammatical purists will choose a work-around that changes the singular-subject noun to plural so they can use the plural non-gender-specific pronouns (“they” and “their”) correctly. However, in many cases that can change the meaning of the sentence.

Ironically, most people don’t find the incorrect grammar as objectionable as the awkward conjunctions, “he or she,” “his or her,” or the alternating gender-specific pronouns. Isn’t it about time for the vernacular to evolve to accommodate the important social issue of gender equality?

We were recently honored to be chosen as keynote speakers by an organization looking for a gender-neutral, man-and-woman team. We hope the organizer will give us their approval when they hear us speak!

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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