principles | The Barefoot Spirit

THE NEXT STEP IN BUSINESS AUDIO? ASK THE CROWD!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 15:59:03 +0000

STORY AS COMMUNICATION, FROM CAVEMAN TO WALKMAN

When humans listen to a story something amazing happens. each individual in a crowd reaches into their own personal memories to create and complete the scenes in which the action takes place. In other words, they source the props from their own mental inventory. When this happens, they tag the story to be more easily recalled. why? Because they had something to do with its telling. They were interacting by embellishing the scenes with their imagination, they were involved in a process of co-creation.

Pre-literate indigenous people would hand down their history and the principles they had learned about survival, the environment, medicine, and even virtues through story. Fast forward 8,000 years, we are rediscovering the power of story to convey principles. We, the audience, hear the story and draw out the take-aways, principles, and lessons. Through using our imagination to complete the scenes, and even identify with the characters, we can recall and use the lessons in our own businesses and life! This is a type of experiential learning.

PRESCRIPTIVE TEXT

Without story, business books, especially, can seem one dimensional, prescriptive, and even patronizing. The principles are all laid out for you in a logical construct-like outline. “Here are the 3 things to do, the 5 things never to do, and the 15 things your customer wants from you.” Even if the points are made using examples, the mind glazes over by the end of chapter two. And the retention and application of the principles being shared is questionable.

With the renaissance of story, we are reconnecting with what our ancient ancestors instinctively knew all along: if you want your listeners to remember and use the message, wrap a convincing story around it with compelling characters overcoming challenges using the principles you wish to convey.

To read the complete article, please visit Crowd Sourcing Week

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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5 Ways to Make the New Year HAPPY !

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 18:00:47 +0000

For the next few weeks, you’ll hear a lot of folks wishing you a Happy New Year! And you, like us, will no doubt wish them the same. Everyone wants something better for themselves and others, and hopes that a fresh start is possible in the coming year. So, this is the time of year when people feel obligated to make resolutions, create goals, and plan out the year ahead.

But instead of all those pronouncements, perhaps what we really need is to return to a few classic principles. Perhaps we can rediscover some daily practices that will actually help achieve that often wished for, and sometimes elusive, truly Happy New Year. Here’s 5 time-tested principles to help make the New Year…HAPPY!

Civility – Practice Dignity

Value good manners and dignity. Practice respect for others, especially for those with whom you disagree. Shun and refused to participate in language that dehumanizes others. Don’t contribute to conversations that lead to hateful suppositions. Don’t view degrading remarks as amusing but as a threat to the very fabric of cooperation and compromise. Take the highroad and encourage others to join you.

Don’t be a sucker for simplistic views that lead to division and support for demagoguery. Realize that there are no simple answers. Look for and listen to the multiple facets of every challenge. It’s not “just the one thing!” Promote high school civics and the humanities.

Resourcefulness – Do More with Less

Be less wasteful of everything from money, to water, to food, to fuel. Think about the most efficient way to conserve and better utilize the precious resources that we have. Look for more efficient ways to get to work and use less energy. Try to borrow as little as possible, get by with less, and save as much as you can. Are you really hungry? Or is it just time to eat?

Look for ways to solve problems and make a difference with what you have. Stop restricting yourself by excusing your inactivity by stating what you need. Find new solutions with what’s at hand. Look for and use your hidden resources. Recognize what you have and be grateful for your many blessings.

Empathy – Show Respect for Others

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. What do they want, and more importantly, why? Empathy is the backbone of cooperation and cooperation is the backbone of peace. By truly understanding the other parties needs you will be empowered to discover and suggest an arrangement compatible to both sides. As Ivan Misner, the founder of IBN, the world’s largest business network puts it, “Take off the bib and put on the apron!”

Condoning or ignoring any form of group marginalization is ultimately self-defeating because it gives permission for that type of behavior to be perpetrated against your own group. What really makes America great is diversity. Let’s embrace and celebrate what each culture has to add to our future as a nation.

Sustainability – Vote with Your Purchases

We all grew up with books and movies that pitted man against nature. We admired the heroes that overcame the forces of nature and “tamed” her. The idea was that nature was there for the taking. The atmosphere, the land, the plant life, the animals and the oceans could all absorb an infinite amount of harvesting and man-made pollution – forever! That notion was promoted by producers who provided us with products whose very manufacture and use assumed that same fallacy.

In less than a century, that type of thinking has resulted in detrimental climate change, micro-plastics in our food supply, and threats to our own health and welfare. Even if we can’t compete with the powerful lobbies that have rolled back environmental protections, we can vote with our purchases for sustainable products. And we are thrilled that according to Nielsen, our “votes” are beginning to influence the producers!

Healthy Living – Take Care of Yourself!

Know when it’s time to put the phone down, walk outside, stand up straight, look up, take a deep breath, go for a walk, and appreciate nature. Just 3 walks per week significantly improve the mental processes. So it will improve your work as well as your memory.

Take public transportation, bike, or walk to work whenever possible. Shop local and visit your farmers’ market. You’ll get to socialize in real time with real people. It’s more fun than shopping online. And the food is better for you, your community, and your environment.

Develop an interest in doing something that inadvertently puts you in a natural environment, like photography, hiking, jogging, birding, climbing, or gardening. Anything, really, to get outside, exercise your body, clear your mind, and get your eyes off the screen.

Here’s to a truly HAPPY New Year!

Cheers!

M&B

Who We Are

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

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Is a Knowledge-Hungry Crowd Finally Ready for Wisdom?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 17:00:29 +0000

Is your email flooded with marketers pandering to your thirst for quick knowledge to “solve” the immediate problem at hand. Is your news feed is packed with ads promising six digits in six months, and all from your phone! “Just follow this process,” they say, “and you too will be a success!”

With the overflow of information at your fingertips, it’s easy to get the idea that whatever you want to know is instantly accessible. “There’s an app for that,” has now evolved into “There’s a cut-and-paste process for that.” But is process knowledge enough by itself? Just access, copy and apply, and all your needs will be fulfilled. Right?

By the time you figure out that the quick fix doesn’t achieve your desired results, the damage has been done. You are out both the fees you paid and the time you invested. You realize that the knowledge you attained was inadequate for the outcome you had envisioned.

Because you have been inadvertently “trained” by the very searching and training process itself, to copy examples, it is easy to miss out on the principles behind those examples. When you learned that process, did you really understand the commonality of principles that can be applied to other situations? “Who cares if there’s an overriding principle,” you might say, “I’ll just cut and paste a new example when I need it, and never have to learn the principal behind it.”

To learn and appreciate those overriding principles, lessons should start with a good solid foundation in the basics. But this may take more time than you were willing to invest. You may have to learn some things that apparently don’t immediately apply to the problem at hand. This would take time, too. So, you skip all that in favor of applying the process without the principles. You have knowledge without wisdom. You got the “how” without the “why.”

But the digital marketer, the preacher, and the politician are glad you’re impatient and want quick, simple answers. It’s easier to sell you a process than a philosophy. It’s easier to sell you a sensational headline than a history book. And it’s easier to blame and marginalize minorities when you’re looking for simple answers. Basically, you’re easier to manipulate if you let today’s over-simplified approach to knowledge dumb you down.

With all this knowledge, so readily available, why does the “crowd” continue to make so many mistakes? The crowd is knowledge hungry, but as history unfolds, we are seeing demonstrations of how easily the crowd can be, and has been, manipulated. The crowd can be easily spooked. Its weakness is impatience.

Sourcing the crowd for navigational assistance is one thing, but sourcing the crowd for instant decisions that impact our social behavior is quite another.

Simply put, is the crowd wise enough to rule directly? Will they be manipulated by ads that play into their suspicions? Will they elect one demigod after another in search of a quick fix without ever learning why the government has checks and balances? Will they allow the environment to degrade while they are transfixed by the latest trending story?

Without patience, healthy skepticism, and a thirst for principle over process, the crowd is limited to reporting status. True, this is very helpful. But before the crowd can be relied upon for guidance, it must embrace strategy over tactics, principles over examples, and history over headlines.

We’ve never before had so much knowledge at our disposal. The fact is, we are all quite new at this. How many disasters will it take for the crowd to gain the long-term wisdom it needs, and then use that knowledge wisely and not be corrupted by its ease of access? True wisdom takes time. Will we give it the time it deserves?

If this all sounds like an ad for classical education, it is! Until the crowd understands the basics, the big picture, and the implications of its own periodic stampedes, it will be relegated to telling you where the next road hazard is, or the room for rent.

Who We Are

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

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Prepare for the Unexpected!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 17:00:29 +0000

“How do you handle the unknown?” This is the #1 question we hear from students. They come from over 50 schools of entrepreneurship in the US and elsewhere who have heard us speak about what it is like to start a business and become a successful entrepreneur. Many of these students are considering taking the big leap into entrepreneurship. They are naturally anxious about the uncertainties, risks, and challenges of life without a paycheck. They want to know how we overcame the fear of the unknown.

Is there some formula, procedure, or process you can just cut and paste that will protect you? Is there a failsafe way to survive the dangers of entrepreneurship? Is there just “the one thing” you need to know? In spite of the daily hype, pandering, and outrageous claims to the contrary, the answer is a flat “No!”

After we monetized our equity in the Barefoot Wine brand, we were encouraged by colleagues to write about how we did it; specifically, how we handled the unknown. The answer, in retrospect, was a set of guiding principles; some we had previously learned and applied from day one; some we learned by asking questions of others; and some we learned the hard way. There is no “just one thing!” It is a multifaceted approach to doing business we call “the Barefoot Spirit.”

A big part of the Barefoot Spirit is the Guiding Principles for Success, GPS for short. These are critical and learnable standards, attitudes and soft skills that we used to minimize risk, prepare for the unknown, improve the quality of our decisions, and reduce our need for capital.

With the information revolution and the advance of technology, we saw a whole new generation with a whole new approach to business. We saw new platforms, and new products and services. We saw the disruption of so many old ways of doing things that in the process, we may have inadvertently thrown out some classic business principles. A big mistake!

With an accelerating failure rate, loss of investor capital, and increasing inability for startups to achieve positive cashflow, it’s finally time to bring back those classic principles. When it comes to the past, take the best and leave the rest. The best of the past is a big part of the Barefoot Spirit.

When you start a business, prepare yourself for the adventure! Just like a seasoned sea captain, you wouldn’t dare go out to sea without being prepared for the unknown. You need radar, sonar, weather satellites, charts, a GPS and a sextant to back it up.

Being the captain of your “entrepreneur-ship” is no different. It doesn’t really matter how good your idea is if you run out of capital, lose your people, or lose your buyers. Just like the sea captain, you need a set of guiding principles and standards to hold your decisions up against to make better ones. You need to know how to gain the confidence of your investors, employees, vendors, and buyers.

We have identified 20 Guiding Principles for Success that, if applied, will mitigate your risks, and better prepare you for the unknown. They worked for us and they can work for you. Interested? Stay tuned as we explore them in the coming months. Like our audiences, you too may be saying, “I can’t wait to get back to my business and try the GPS out!”

Who We Are

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

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Is Discovery Becoming a Lost Art?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 17:00:32 +0000

We met a student who said he couldn’t see the purpose in discovering solutions for himself with all the information technology he had at his fingertips. If the answer was there, why waste the time to go through the discovery process?

In these days of Googling and You Tubing, it’s easier than ever to find the answers. The speed of the internet certainly panders to our penchant for impatience. We want instant answers – and we get them fast. So, what could be wrong with that?

No longer do we have to stumble and bumble until we finally have the answer. No longer do we have to go through trial and error, research, or any reasoning process. We just get it on line. But did we miss something important by shortcutting the discovery process? Did we miss the principles behind the answer? Did we miss an opportunity to challenge our brains to learn a new principle?

Apparently, we have gotten to a point where we actually don’t want to learn the very principles that can equip us to discover the answers in our own way. In the name of efficiency, we become more dependent on these instant answer resources, and we are losing our ability to solve problems on our own. The internet – the source of all answers – has made us lazy.

Before these resources, folks had to use principles, experience, and trial and error to discover the answers and solutions. In that process of discovery, they learned how to apply principles in a variety of ways. One of those ways might solve the problem and yield the answer. But the process didn’t end there. Now the individual understood the principle behind the answer and could apply that principle to other challenges. They didn’t need an example for everything.

The temptation today for many students is to drop out of formal education and just try to learn everything they need on line. It may be everything they think they need, but is that really everything? We think not. We think they need to learn principles and apply those principles to discover answers and solutions for themselves. This is called problem solving, and it stimulates our brains to be more creative and question the results we find. This is a wider framework which can help solve problems as they occur. If this sounds like an ad for a classical education, it is!

Learning and applying principles to discover solutions gives us appreciation for this invaluable process. It also gives us a fundamental understanding that behind every answer, solution, or process there is a set of principles. We can then look for those principles, and add them to our problem-solving tool box to apply to the next applicable situation.

Sure, you can Google the answer and You Tube the process, but if you don’t look for and understand the underlying principles, you are destined to develop a “copy-and-paste” mentality. Your critical thinking facilities will atrophy and you will become dependent on technology for all your answers.

When you discover solutions on your own, you learn from your mistakes and successes. You force your brain to look at the situation from differ perspectives. You stimulate your intellect! So, students, stay in school, and learn the principles that will enable you to discover solutions for yourself! Don’t be a copycat. Be an independent thinker and come up with new ideas! Discover for yourself the joys of noodling out a solution to your challenge using creative thinking instead of limiting your ideas to what others have already said and done. Be resourceful, and realize that your greatest resource is the power of your own brain.

Who We Are

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

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The Process Without the Philosophy Behind It is a Recipe for Trouble

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 17:00:57 +0000

We often hear, “Just tell me the one thing!” Or, “I just want the step-by-step process!” But when you don’t know why and just “cut and paste” you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Sooner or later you will make a bad decision unless you grasp the overriding reason for the process.

If you can’t extrapolate the principles behind the processes, you will not recognize the disguised variations.

For instance, the principles behind paying bills is not to just to satisfy the invoices. The principles are to develop a good credit rating, improve relationships with your creditors, and stay in business. In our experience, we found 15% of the invoices were wrong! Still, we know of several bookkeepers who blindly paid invoices because they thought the process is their job, and all there is to their job!

We surmise that they too were rushing to complete the nitty gritty process of bill paying without understanding the reason behind it. Keep this in mind when training or learning.

Look at the big picture first, and then break it down from there. If you are learning, ask, “Why are we doing this?” If the answer doesn’t take you back to a clear understanding of how your business makes money, ask again until you get it. Don’t be quick to say “got it” when you don’t. It’s not enough to know the process if you don’t know the reason behind the process.

Today we can learn all kinds of processes without having a clue why or what the big picture is. You Tube is full of overly short lessons on how to do stuff, but they assume you know the why. You may also think you know the why. But if you want a rock-solid education that won’t show its limitation when you have to make that decision that wasn’t in the procedures, you’d better get the reason down cold first.

We always look for employees who can extrapolate. Without this skill, they can drive you crazy with ‘’Like what, like what?” as they demand more and more examples. In fact, if they make a mistake, they will tell you that you did not give that particular example. But it’s the principle behind the example that is the real lesson. If you want your people to really “get it,” you must spend the time to make sure they see the correlation between the examples.

The definition of extrapolation is: to use known facts as the starting point from which to draw inferences or conclusions about something unknown. Here are three ways to identify and improve extrapolation learners:

At the Interview. Ask them the reasons behind the processes they were responsible for on their last job. Listen for over simplifications, and reasons that don’t tie into the big picture. Ask them how and why they solved a new problem based on their understanding of the reason for a process they were taught.
During The Training. After they have a gotten a process down, give them a situation you haven’t discussed and see if they can noodle it out on their own. If they can, you have successfully communicated the “Why.”
On the Job. Watch for misconceptions or shortsighted assumptions about the “Whys” in their work and in their queries. Listen for questions that show they don’t understand the big picture. Spend the time to show them how they can make better choices if they understand the “Why.”

It is a big picture world out there, so remove the blinders you put on your people when you just give them “the one thing” and “the step-by-step process.”

Who We Are

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

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Entrepreneurs Must Decide Between Volume or Margin

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:16:17 +0000

Our friends Larry and Laura Martin of Food and Wine Trails are a creative and energetic entrepreneurial couple who have inspired us for years. When the airlines decided to sell seats direct on the internet, they were faced with reinventing their travel agency business. Reliance on the old model of brokering tickets was no longer sustainable.

So they looked at the travel industry from a different angle. What they discovered was the increasing popularity of food and wine especially with the cruising boomers. They really identified and pioneered this market with their unique, high quality European wine and food “Epicurean Tours,” resulting in Larry being chosen by Conde Nast as World’s Top Wine Travel Specialist for three years in a row.

During our Halloween dinner with this well-traveled and cultured entrepreneurial couple, the conversation got around to our favorite subject – entrepreneurship, its challenges and its principles. They often give us great sound bites that sum up complex business relationships in just a few well-chosen words. This evening Larry said, “It’s volume or it’s margin.” Then he added,” Distribution makes the difference.”

It sounds so simple; decide if your product or service is going to be at a velocity price point (volume sales) or if you are willing to forego distribution for margin (higher profit on fewer sales). But it gets complicated. Most small businesses are looking for higher margin because they know they can’t afford the investment in time, energy and capital to achieve a positive cash flow at lower price points.

Other businesses have a model that doesn’t require distribution, then charge enough to see a profit at a low volume of sales. Still others evolve at medium prices but soon reach their capacity and are unable to expand.

The only way to enter the market when we started our business was at the velocity price point. That is the price at which the greatest volume is sold. Little did we know that we would have to sell over 200,000 cases per year just to break even! Back then folks would say, “Why doesn’t America have a good $5 bottle of wine?” The answer was that it simply didn’t pencil out, especially for an undercapitalized startup.

Now that we have had that painful experience, we counsel our clients, “Make up your mind; is it going to be high margins or large distribution?” Most want to produce and sell a competitively priced product, but they generally underestimate the cost of sales, including the costs of distribution. Unless they are starting with a big investment, or unless they are willing to spend years cash flowing the cost of expansion like we did, they are naturally limited to a smaller market at a higher price.

The obvious problem with the higher margin model is that unless you sell it to a bigger player who wants a high margin business and has the capacity to expand it, you run the risk of being underpriced by a bigger player.

The problem with the higher volume distribution model is the years you have to work at it before you see any real margin. The good news here is that by establishing a market for your product you may be able to attract an acquirer who can scale your business up quickly because they have a distribution infrastructure already in place that can “bolt on” your low margin, velocity price point business.

This is the beauty of the “road side fruit stand” approach. Folks drive up, buy your products and drive home with them. And that’s the end of the distribution program. But it may be hard to sell the fruit stand! So what’s it going to be? Are ya goin’ for margin, or are ya goin’ for volume?

Who We Are

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

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