What do Wine and Non-Profit Language Schools have in Common?

I went to Vinitaly for the first time this year for a consulting job. I got back last night. What an experience.

It made me think a lot about the wine business and what it has in common with what we are doing at the Italian American Association (I know this seems like a stretch, just give me a second to develop the thought).

A couple of years ago, after a project working with Michelin-starred chefs in Dubai (of all places), I came back to my role at the Association with a renewed sense of purpose. Hanging out with people at the highest levels of Food & Bev can do that to you. They have such a different approach to the things we do every day (eat & drink) that you can't help but be inspired by them.

They are artists, poets, philosophers. They talk to the food, they hear the voices of the grapes, in short, they are two steps away from Wacko. But that is what makes them so special. They hear the voices and they Honor them. We get to high-five the angels through their good works.

You would be crazy not to want to apply that to whatever the heck it is you do in life.

So I decided it was high time we concentrated on the Experience we were offering our students and members, and their families, too. I was set on creating a Michelin-starred language school.

Step one. New toilet seats. You can't have a Michelin-level school without new toilet seats. That was a no-brainer.

Done. Then came the intangibles.

We had to focus on creating a top-notch quality environment for our teachers and volunteers. Our mindset changed. We wanted to create a Professional Environment our people would be proud to work in. It turned out to be easier than anticipated. It quickly became a sort of group decision. We had to all agree on it for it to work, actually. We started to see that we were part of something Bigger than ourselves-- something that hadn't been done yet in Trieste.

Our internal team of teachers are Libero Professionisti with a VAT number. You can say what you want, but for those of us who have done it, we know that when you open up your own (albeit small) business, you are defining yourself as a professional. That, and you come face-to-face with the reality that you have to be great at what you do if you want to survive and eventually thrive. That gave us an even greater impetus to succeed.

Choosing the best teachers is important. Keeping them, even more so. Quality and consistency are the value we offer our students. We started to collaborate more, have teachers co-teach, develop materials together, go on the road to present at teaching conferences here and abroad. We concentrated on learning, and giving the best of the best and not worrying about what money was coming in. Leave the fixation on profit to the for-profit schools. We wanted no part of that.

Fast forward a couple of years. Vinitaly. I am working with producers of Verdicchio di Matelica in the Marche region. I am talking to the President of their Consortium of Producers. It was like talking to one of my colleagues. It's like, this guy totally Gets It. 

1. Identify with your product. I am my wine (Association). 
2. Quality =  Respect. 
3. If you have a quality product, the money will follow. 

Over the last five years we have increased our number of students by 400% without sacrificing the quality of what we do. In fact, most of them come back year after year. The money was not our focus and yet it came anyway.

Could it be that our Association has more in common with producers of fine wines, than with other language schools?

Hallelujah everyone!!

Amen.