After suffering many personal tragedies, she managed to amass a sizable fortune and dedicated it to education. She built Bradley University as her gift of light to the world. Originally dedicated to the study of clock making, it morphed over the years into engineering and then into the liberal arts.

In 2007, Joanne Glasser became the first woman president of Bradley University since it was built. She saw the need for a stand-alone school of entrepreneurship and recruited one of the top pioneers of entrepreneurship education, Gerry Hills. Gerry had developed an impressive program at the University of Illinois. He also was the founder for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (C.E.O.), created to encourage college students to start their own businesses. The C.E.O. has over 4000 members in 240 chapters in 43 states.

Joanne did not just want a stand-alone school of entrepreneurship, even though it was an innovative and relatively new concept. She and Gerry also wanted to see it collaboratively integrated with the other disciplines already in existence at Bradley. To that end, she created a committee made up of the deans of all the various schools and charged them with developing a program and sharing ideas with colleagues across the university to benefit all students. Joanne went on to raise 150 million dollars to renovate the campus and build the Turner School of Entrepreneurship in 2010, which was the first of its kind in the nation to offer entrepreneurship education to all majors.

We believe that true entrepreneurship can most successfully be taught by applying a strong background in sales and what we call business navigation. These skills require a solid foundation in the liberal arts and in the guiding principles necessary for success. The integrated program at Bradley not only offers a degree in Entrepreneurship, but also a minor in Entrepreneurship for those studying other disciplines, and even a shorter Entrepreneurship Certificate program.

This enlightened and flexible approach makes business education accessible to students who seek self-employment as well as to those who just want to better understand how business is conducted in the real world. This will give all Bradley grads a big leg-up in the work force as employers are increasingly looking for employees with some background in entrepreneurship. As they learn more about independent enterprise, students feel more confident about starting their own businesses, no matter their major.

Joanne Glasser and Gerry Hills’ dream has come true! The Turner School of Entrepreneurship is the model for the future of entrepreneurship education. Cheryl Sandberg has decried the “glass ceiling” for woman in the corporate world, but Bonnie has pointed out that there is no glass ceiling in the world of entrepreneurship. In fact when one practices out-of-the-box thinking, there is no ceiling at all.

How fitting that the vision of two women, Lydia Moss Bradley and Joanne Glasser, spanning over a century would create this great opportunity for men and woman to improve their chances at financial success.

Last week we were honored with the 2014 Distinguished Entrepreneur Speakers Award at Bradley University. Throughout the day we spoke to a number of students in various classrooms, culminating in a talk to a full auditorium of 350 students from all disciplines. At Bradley, in all subjects of study, students have the opportunity to learn how to run a business themselves. In today’s uncertain world, we look forward to seeing more universities teaching their students in this all-inclusive manner.

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 A Unique Approach to Entrepreneurship – Bradley University appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

This prompted New York Mayor, Bill de Blasio to say he was skipping the parade this year. In Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh, the son of Irish immigrants, says he’ll do the same unless the Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade organizers let a gay military veterans group march along with the rest.

What are the organizers thinking? We hope they will change their tune before St. Patty’s Day. As modern Americans of Irish decent, this is downright embarrassing for us. What kind of a message does the conspicuous absence of such a large portion of our citizens send to our youth? We ALL have friends, relatives, customers, suppliers, service providers, or constituents in the LGBT community.

Parades are opportunities for diverse groups to say, “Hey, you know us, we are part of your family, we’re part of your community, we serve you, and we are proud of who we are!” This type of public exposure acknowledges their contributions to our society and thereby discourages marginalization and intolerance. To specifically disallow members of the LGBT community from identifying themselves as such is like trying to say the Irish community does not have, or even condone, its LBGT members.

Of the gay veterans group being prevented from participation in the Boston parade, Mayor Walsh says, “It’s 2014 – it’s far beyond the time where we should be even having this discussion because they’re veterans who fought for this country, just like any other veteran.” It can’t get much clearer than that.

Although the LGBT community is considered mainstream by most folks who have been reading the news, the community still faces ongoing challenges from ultra-conservative groups who continue to try to marginalize them. This type of behavior from the organizers of the New York and Boston St Patrick’s Day parade doesn’t help. Why not be on the right side of history by allowing these folks who have suffered discrimination for so long to identify themselves – and thereby reduce the perpetuation of ignorance and fear in the next generation? The choice is clear. The organizers can be part of the future or part of the past. They can be heroes to the Irish LGBT community or pariahs that can give the Irish community, and the cities in which the parades are hosted, a black eye. At least these mayors recognized the political, social and financial implications to their towns.

The last time we looked, the rainbow flag had a prominent green stripe in it! And isn’t the proverbial pot o’gold at the end of that rainbow? So, happy St. Patrick’s Day to all our friends, be they Irish or not, be they LGBT or straight!

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 St. Patrick’s Day should Celebrate ALL Irish appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.