Digital | The Barefoot Spirit

Is Extrapolation an Endangered Talent?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 07:00:50 +0000

One of the top skills we look for in a new hire is the ability to extrapolate (“to infer (an unknown) from something that is known” -Dictionary.com). Can the applicant take a principle learned from one example and apply it to a new situation?

During the interview process, we often ask, “In your previous job, can you give us an example of a problem you solved by applying a principle you discovered in another situation?” Most folks answer with a question, “Like what?” or, “Can you give me an example?” And therein lies the problem.

When people in the boomer generation were growing up, our parents would inevitably say, “Why don’t you kids go outside and play?” We had no video games, no computers, and no electronic toys. Except for bikes, we had very few manufactured toys. We made our own toys, and, in most cases, we made up our own games.

We had to extrapolate. We were forced to be imaginative. We were forced to be resourceful. We were hands on and creative. If anything, our parents were worried that we were watching too much T.V.

We were forced to learn principles first, then apply them to examples. You couldn’t build a toy or make up a game without knowing, or looking for, the principles that made the toy work or the game possible.

But then, the electronic babysitter came along with games and cookie-cutter challenges which the kids quickly mastered. Multiple choice and cut and paste quickly replaced start from scratch, build your own toy, and create your own games. But in the process, something very important was lost: critical thinking.

With the information age came a fixation on all things digital. Basically, imagination took a big hit, resourcefulness took a big hit, and so did extrapolation. Suddenly all your options were clearly described and laid out in front of you. You just had to choose between them.

Kids raised with this multiple choice, copy-and-paste approach could now learn examples without having to know, or even look for, the principles behind them. The problem is that later on in life, they turned into the “like what?” bird, saying “like what” to every request, even when the same principle was at work in two seemingly unrelated situations. Like what became the lazy, knee-jerk, and go-to response that required the least amount of thinking and responsibility.

Too bad business isn’t all prescribed choices. If it was, this dumbed down way of looking at things would work. But situations occur daily that require the application of previously learned principles in totally new situations. Extrapolation is essential for the type of imaginative problem solving that gives you the advantage in the market place.

Why hire a person who can only copy and paste? Why spend unending hours providing examples until they get it? And even then, they only get the example you described.

This is why so many employers are looking for people who will make the training process a breeze and quickly prove that they can create imaginative solutions on the fly – people who willingly and competently take responsibility for jobs where all the answers are not clearly spelled out.

So, if you are a parent, consider what that screen is doing to your kids’ future. If you are one of those kids, take a break and go out and play! If you were raised by computers, look for the principle behind the scenes. Seek it out before you just copy and paste!

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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Sell the Positive Emotion Your Product or Service Can Bring

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:00:31 +0000

In this digital age, when so much is sold on line, we are in a race to the bottom pricewise. All we want to know is, “Where can I get it for less?” Once manufactures get swept up in that game, the features and benefits of their products seem to get reduced to a set of bullet points with the price as the main attraction. Are they missing something? We think so.

If it is true that people buy with their hearts and justify with their brains, then shouldn’t we address their heart felt positive emotions first? The modern simplification of the selling process has created an opportunity for an old-fashioned, but classic, approach to sales, “How will they feel when they buy your product or service?”

Is it freedom, confidence, strength, or security? Is it health, wealth, power or satisfaction? Or is it frugality, popularity, fun, or admiration? What is the positive emotion you are offering your customers? Once you can define those feelings, you have the key to their first decision – the one that comes from the heart. This can be stronger than the features, benefits, and yes, even the price!

When we started in the wine business, it was staid and standoffish, isolated and insulated. We were outsiders and didn’t think about it as the “wine” business. Because of all the controls and compliance associated with beverage alcohol, we thought about it as the “beverage alcohol business” which was broader and included various types of beverage alcohol. It included spirits and beer as well as wine.

So, we looked at the way these three types of beverage alcohol products were being presented in their marketing materials. We saw that wine was all about how the grapes were grown and how the wine was made. When we looked at spirits, we noticed it was geared to a predominately male audience, with how it’s made, and, at the time, generally portraying females.

But then we looked at beer. It was, “Just want to be your Bud!”, “It’s Miller time!”, and “The Silver Bullet!”. Not much about how it’s made, but more about how to have fun with the product. “Have fun,” we thought. Our wine sales slogan became “Get Barefoot and Have a Great Time!”

We sold the feeling of having fun in an industry that was all about how it was made. Fun was not on the agenda in those days. By selling the feeling we wanted our customers to enjoy, we had an advantage in the marketplace that wasn’t realized by the industry for nearly a decade.

Today, it’s time once again to realize that, after all, people make buying decisions with their hearts. The more we can access those feelings the greater our advantage in the marketplace. This is not to say that you don’t also have to have superior features, benefits and competitive pricing, but it is to say that all things being equal, feelings win! And lately, we’ve gotten away from selling feelings first.

So, your take home assignment for the New Year and beyond is to convert your products’ features and benefits into the positive feelings your customers will have when using them. Get that feeling up front in your catch phrase, marketing and merchandising materials. Get your endorsers to say how owning and using your product or service made them feel. When you successfully communicate the feeling, your products become more appealing!

You will be delighted to have the advantage this classic idea will give you in the New Year! See? It’s working already!

Who We Are

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

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Fake News Is Easily Spread on Social Media

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:00:13 +0000

In these days of rapid change, it’s out with the old and in with the new. In our love affair with all things digital, we have become vulnerable to undocumented and downright false stories. It’s interesting how it creeped up on us. Yes, we all have become susceptible to fake news.

Some folks actually brag, “I don’t get my news from newspapers anymore. That’s so eighties!” We also hear, “I’m two to three days ahead of the news.” We recently had a house guest who considers himself a “digital native,” unlike us who are “digital transplants.” When he came in to breakfast, he glanced at the newspapers we were reading and asked, “How do you use those?”

We told him we use newspapers to discover stories we weren’t looking for that broaden our experience and education – hard to do in a digital feed with personal settings limited to only what you are interested in. We use newspapers to get news from sources that put their professional journalistic reputation on the line. And we use newspapers to vet out yesterday’s sensationally trending stories for accuracy.

Fake news has found a willing host in this post-truth world. It doesn’t have to be vetted, it just has to be trending. If it appeals to your world view or if it’s entertaining, shocking, or challenges the establishment, it doesn’t have to be accurate before it is shared. Facts are taking a back seat to being current. It’s more important to be part of the trending news than to be part of the accurate news. And by sharing it on social you can be part of “the latest!” The more it gets shared, the more “credibility” it has. As Dan Rather says, “And the truth has no chance of catching up with it.”

Now we can chose the type of news we want to see and the way we want to see it. Have we opened ourselves up to false news that merely appears to be like the news we have chosen to read? Is our desire for entertainment and validation greater than our respect for the truth? The producers and disseminators of fake news think so.

Stanford University released a study last month that reported that students in grades 7-12 found it difficult determining the credibility of stories on social media. Over 80% could not distinguish between actual news and advertisements designed to look like actual news. This is our future! Being a digital native obviously comes with some potentially damaging vulnerabilities. It is fast, it is popular, and it is wrong. What makes this OK to pass onto others?

So how do you protect yourself and not add gas the flames of a false fire? Here’s a few mitigating questions to ask before you hit that “share” button:

Reputation. Is anyone’s reputation at stake as the source of the story? Who loses credibility if it’s wrong?
Source. Is this coming from an established and reputable news feed, or is this coming exclusively from social media?
Pandering. Am I being pandered to because I want to read a story like this and the source knows I will share it before it’s vetted? Am I being used?
Sensational. Is this story so sensational that it’s entertaining even if it’s not true? If so, does that make it OK to pass along?
Aging. How long has the story been out? Be skeptical about fast breaking “news.” It may be too early to be confirmed as correct.

Getting your news on line comes with some serious vulnerabilities and personal responsibilities. Those “old” newspapers that are no longer stylish have editors and journalists who could lose their reputations printing false stories. Now, you are the editor!

Who We Are

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

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A College Degree Can Give You an Entrepreneurial Edge

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Mon, 28 May 2012 03:08:20 +0000

This year’s grads face serious employment challenges, but there’s probably never been a greater opportunity to create your own job. According to Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, the job prospects look rather dim due to the economic down turn. He cites some trends that may throw into question the very value of a college degree itself: heavy competition for jobs, a significant decrease in earnings, outsourcing, and student loan debt.

While traditional employment prospects are certainly less accessible and less rewarding, college grads faced with these challenges might consider a different strategy altogether – starting their own business.

Here are some reasons why today’s college grads have an advantage as entrepreneurs:

1. Less to lose. If it’s going to take a year or two to find a job, if it’s going to pay peanuts anyway, and if the chances are it can be outsourced and leave you unemployed, then the prospects of self-employment suddenly don’t look risky by comparison.

2. Information Explosion. There has never been more information available on how to start and run a business. In addition, with your college education, you have learned how to learn, how to research and how to access that information. Your college experience has taught you to seek out the advice of experienced experts, a key to business success.

3. Essentials. If you had any liberal arts classes, you learned how to communicate with people, and respect history, culture and psychology, all essential for entrepreneurial success. If you had any business classes, you will be able to at least understand the basic principles of commerce and provide value to your customers.

4. Youth. Most of you grads are relatively young and can handle the long haul it takes to develop a successful business. Get started soon and have a greater advantage over folks who wait or who are forced to become entrepreneurs. You have more time to learn from your mistakes, perfect your processes, and build your brand.

5. Cheaper Costs. Ironically, labor is relatively inexpensive. Rent is down. Interest rates are down. Suppliers and service companies need strategic allies and are more likely to offer beneficial terms. Unemployed and retired experts are available to give you advice.

6. Increased Demand. More than ever, the country is looking for new ideas to help invent our way back to prosperity. “Find a need and fill it” has never been more necessary. We need to save our environment, find clean energy, feed more people, improve education, and solve our clean water problems – just to name a few.

7. Opportunities Abound. Technological advances are begging for applications. We have only scratched the surface of what we can do with what we already have discovered. From digital to genomes, from materials to biotech, and from optics to communication, the world is your oyster. Check out “Abundance” by Peter Diamandis http://www.abundancethebook.com/.

Yes, times are tough, but remember that the last downturn spawned many of the top companies of today. Many of them were started in a garage. As you approach today’s challenges, your college education will give you a big advantage.

A degree is not a vaccination, anyway. Can’t find a job? Maybe its time to say hello to your garage.

Who We Are

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

The post A College Degree Can Give You an Entrepreneurial Edge appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.