Ireland | The Barefoot Spirit

Ireland Stands to Gain by Brexit

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 17:00:33 +0000

Whatever you think about the UK’s decision to leave the EU, American businesses must find a new gateway to Europe. For American’s, our ‘mother’ country has always been our foot in the door to Europe. If you could prove yourself in the UK, the door was open to the EU. Trademarks from the EU were respected in the UK and vice versa. That door may have just been closed. So now what?

Look no further than the only official English-speaking country in the EU, on the Euro, and closer to us: Ireland! Before the recession, Ireland was favored by US business for its low cost, highly skilled workforce, and business-friendly policies. Now it can add, “Gateway to Europe” with its unrestricted flow of goods and people to the mainland.

Interestingly, Northern Ireland, which voted to stay in the EU, will be more likely to stay in rather than barricading off its common borders with The Irish Republic which have become critical to families, trade, tourism, and their overall economy. Staying in the EU may likely mean exiting the UK and joining the Irish Republic. A larger EU member like a united Ireland can’t help but be attractive to American business hoping to trade in Europe.

We spoke at the World Conference on Entrepreneurship in Dublin a couple years back and were most impressed with their American-style cultural support for entrepreneurs. The willingness of the government, the business community, and academic institutions to help new ventures succeed is most attractive to new and established businesses alike.

Still pulling themselves out of recession, the Irish know that entrepreneurship is their key to prosperity. As a relatively small country, they know the world is their market… Oh! And did we say they absolutely love Americans?

Talk about winning by default! It reminds us of the way Quebec lost major business to Ontario when they tried to separate from Canada. The UK may have just handed Ireland a big break and a huge opportunity.

Whether we like it or not, we are all connected to a global market where uniform standards and business practices support commerce, and ultimately, our very standard of living. Voting to decouple from that interdependence may seem emotionally attractive at the time, but the days following that decision will educate those voters about what they sacrificed.

Whatever the UK voters thought they were saving by leaving the EU, they have disrupted the flow of trade and ultimately wiped out those “savings” many times over. Oblivious to consequences and uneducated about the benefits of EU membership, they were bowled over by a populist movement that promised huge savings that probably can’t be delivered any time in the near future.

Once the press becomes more entertainment than educational, the door is open for populist movements to persuade emotional and naïve voters who simply don’t know any better. This is quite a wake-up call for the US and other democracies, should they take notice. Unwarranted, but popular, quick-fix claims can now win the vote and reverse the efficiencies of scale common markets can deliver.

Meanwhile, Ireland has been waiting for a break like Brexit! Keep a close eye on their next moves. What is a great opportunity for Ireland may well be a great opportunity for US business as well.

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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Ireland’s Killarney National Park is a Nature Lover’s Paradise

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 18:30:15 +0000

We’ve always been hikers and love to discover the true natural environment wherever we travel. We can’t wait get away from the cities and man-made “improvements” and venture off into the real world – on foot!

Perhaps that is why we have always been conservationists at heart and why we have a special love for groups that are trying to save what’s left of the natural world. When we built the Barefoot brand, we chose to support conservation groups nationally and internationally from the Surfrider Foundation to the Sierra Club, from the League to Save Tahoe to the Mono Lake Committee, and from state park foundations to local conservation groups. So, when we were asked to keynote the 2014 World Conference on Entrepreneurship in Ireland, we decided to stay and enjoy some touring and hiking in Ireland’s natural landscape.

In the late 1890s, Michael’s Irish grandmother left her native County Kerry in Ireland for America, never to return. She always told him that if he was ever in Ireland to go straight to County Kerry in South West Ireland. She raved about its peaceful natural beauty. So we ventured down to Kerry after the conference and visited Dingle on the West Coast (a real gem) and then off to Killarney National Park in the Killarney Lake District in the center of the County.

With Ireland’s highest mountains, it is a wonderland of unsurpassed beauty. About 20,000 years ago huge glaciers carved out pristine valleys and left a chain of beautiful lakes. Here and there along the shore you’ll spot a Viking fortress or a 15^th century castle. But beyond the few evidences of our history is a timeless beauty. We saw mountainsides covered with wild purple-blossomed rhododendrons, powerful waterfalls cascading down granite cliffs covered with ferns, and the oldest remaining oak forests in Europe.

The park is big enough (28,000 acres) that you can easily leave behind the abstract, man-made world that we live in. Here is a place where the magic of nature still exists. Today we took the 7-mile hike through the Gap of Dunloe. The trail head is at the end of the highest lake reachable by boat (a beautiful two-hour ride across three of the main lakes). As we began our ascent, we saw the glacial basin expanding out below us with its sparkling blue lakes dotting a carpet of dense green forests. The air is brisk and clean with the fragrance of the ever-present wild flowers. The sky is forever changing from clouds to bright blue with beams of golden sunlight lighting up different sections of the rock faces, meadows, and lakes.

You almost have to pinch yourself to make sure you are not dreaming. But you’re not… this is the real world, not the cities where we spend most of our time. Living in a man-made world it’s easy to forget that places like this actually exist. That’s why we make it a point to go out and discover them as often as we can. We want to remind ourselves why we are committed to preserving our global natural heritage.

Its places like Killarney National Park in Ireland that can make a believer out of the most cynical urbanite and give young people reasons to say what we heard a young Asian tourist exclaim on the trail, “I’m glad I chose to do this today! It makes me happy!” We hope you all have a chance to visit one of our many natural heritage spots this summer and discover what it can do for you!

Who We Are

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

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At What Age Should Entrepreneurial Thinking Be Taught?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 17:36:25 +0000

Should we be teaching the mindset necessary for successful entrepreneurship beginning much earlier than college? By postponing the consideration of self-employment until after high school are educational institutions actually discouraging their students from entrepreneurial thinking?

Earlier this week we were honored to be keynote speakers at the 2014 International Council on Small Business – World Conference on Entrepreneurship. Each year the conference brings together the best minds in entrepreneurial thinking and education from around the world.

With the collective recognition that entrepreneurship is the key to world financial health and prosperity, in over a five-day period close to a thousand academic and business leaders addressed a series of cutting-edge topics designed to increase the number of successful entrepreneurs worldwide. They gathered this year in Dublin, Ireland to share best practices and innovative approaches to teaching entrepreneurship.

During one of the sessions we particularly enjoyed, the question was asked, “At what age should students begin learning techniques for entrepreneurial thinking?” The four-person panel was made up of two professors and two successful entrepreneurs from four countries including Jordan, Pakistan, UK, and Ireland. All agreed that entrepreneurial education should begin much earlier than at college level. In fact, they suggested that the mindset could be taught as early as ages 8 through 13.

So what is the entrepreneurial mindset they are advocating? It’s not necessarily promoting entrepreneurship itself as much as it is promoting the kind of thinking necessary to choose it as an alternative form of employment. This choice requires both a level of confidence and risk tolerance. It requires a level of resourcefulness and innovation that enables the entrepreneur to mitigate risk, and to recognize and seize opportunities. By encouraging creativity and problem solving in grammar school, our youth will be better prepared to make decisions about their choices in the future.

Interestingly, the United States was held up repeatedly as a great model that encourages young students to consider self-employment as a valid alternative to becoming an employee. The international group credited that advantage in part to the proliferation of pro-entrepreneurial media in the US. From the television show Shark Tank to magazines such as Inc., Entrepreneur, and Fast Company, entrepreneurs are elevated to rock star status. They are looked up to for overcoming adversity and achieving success with innovative and disrupting approaches to new goods and services.

The panelists suggested that in the absence of that type of entrepreneurial culture, most students would never consider entrepreneurship as a valid alternative unless it was introduced to them in grade school. They went so far as to say that in most countries, younger students were being groomed by default as employees exclusively. Ironically most employers would rather hire employees with entrepreneurial thinking, employees that understood the business process, and employees who had empathy for the plight of their employer as a risk taker.

We agree with the panelists and believe that creative thinking, resourcefulness, and problem-solving techniques should be taught in grammar school. We think that understanding the business process at an early age can open young eyes to the possibilities all around them and give them the ability to recognize an opportunity when it presents itself – and the confidence to pursue it. Additionally, these skills are essentials for a superior employee. There’s no down side to broaching the subject of entrepreneurship early and often. We wish the attendees of 2014 ICSB World Conference on Entrepreneurship the fortitude to make this goal a reality worldwide.

Who We Are

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

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The Pat Kenny Show

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 17:10:39 +0000

Michael was interviewed on The Pat Kenny show while in Dublin, Ireland. To listen to the interview, please follow the links below.

The Pat Kenny Show Part 1 (Interview starts at 54:56)

The Pat Kenny Show Part 2 (Rest of the interview goes until 04:43)

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How the Irish Got Barefoot

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:53:28 +0000

Over one hundred years ago Michael’s grandfather, John Francis Houlihan, left his hometown of Limerick, Ireland, heading for the port city of Cork where he boarded a cattle steamer bound for America. The only passage he could afford was above deck, so in order to stay warm he had to huddle near the smokestack. It was there that he met and fell in love with Nelly Donohue from Donegal. When they finally arrived at Ellis Island they were incarcerated by United States Customs in separate dormitories, where they remained until they could document gainful employment for themselves inside the United States.

John Francis, being a horseman by trade, was able to secure a job cleaning the recently constructed Sutro Stables in San Francisco, California. That’s where the newly created San Francisco Police Department, which replaced the Vigilante Committee, kept their horses and those of the mayor and other public officials. Then, after two more months of correspondence he was finally able to secure a job for Nelly as a washerwoman and cook in a rooming house on Fell Street in San Francisco across from acres of sand dunes that would later become Golden Gate Park.

Nelly and John were married in the 1890s shortly after they moved to San Francisco. They both worked very hard to save enough to make a down payment on a flat in the then Irish ghetto of San Francisco known as the Mission District. Nelly did laundry and John was promoted from cleaning stables to Head Stable Keeper. In 1906 a terrific earthquake hit San Francisco and broke the underground gas mains, causing many huge fires, including one that destroyed Sutro Stables. John Francis, being a resourceful Irishman, only had time to save a few horses from the flames, so he chose to save the mayor’s prized Percherons. The mayor was so grateful that he asked John what he could do to show his appreciation, to which he replied, “I want to be the police officer who walks the beat in my own neighborhood,” and that’s what he did until he retired in 1941. During those years he watched the ghetto change, from Irish who had lifted themselves up by their own bootstraps into civil service jobs, to Italians who were refugees from WWI.

John Francis knew everyone in the Mission, so when Prohibition came to America, John was quick to make peace with the Italian families who brought their family tradition of winemaking with them from the Old Country. He saw the Great Depression and both world wars. He spoke with a thick brogue ‘til the day he died at the ripe old age of 98, surrounded by his wife Nelly, his only son John Charles and his four grandchildren, John, Michael, Mary Ellen, and William.

John Francis and Nelly used their savings to give their only child, John Charles, the best education possible. He graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law and married Emily L’Heureux, third generation Californian. John Charles went on to have a brilliant legal career and was instrumental in the development of containerized shipping. He helped build the Port of Oakland, which was one of the first container ports in the world. Shipping containers revolutionized world commerce by cutting losses and insurance costs to a fraction of what they had been when cargo was loaded and unloaded by hand. They go from factory, to truck, to ship, to rail, sealed and safe. John Charles traveled throughout the world promoting the idea of containerized shipping ports, and today these containers are a part of our lives.

One of John Charles’ sons, Michael, got into the wine business with Bonnie Harvey in 1986. They were put off by the snobbery and the pretension of the wine business and wanted to create a product that had a more friendly and approachable image. They named their winery “Barefoot Cellars” in memory of the way grapes were originally crushed, barefoot, by those Italian families in their bathtubs in the Mission District. Plus, in California, being barefoot was a sign of fun and freedom. It meant you had the day off, the weather was fine, and you were relaxed and happy at the beach, enjoying life. Barefoot Wines became very popular in California especially with the young at heart.

By 2005, Barefoot Wines were being sold across the U.S. and in 28 foreign countries. When the wines finally made it to Ireland, they came in through the same port Michael’s grandfather left as a young man, and in the same shipping containers Michael’s father, John Charles, helped to promote.

… And That’s How the Irish Got Barefoot! Cheers!

Who We Are

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

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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

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

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