The camera was rolling. "What is Life All About, Dad?"
That was the question the author asked his 90-year-old father. There was no hesitation in his father's response-eleven words delivered with emotion and a lifetime of real-world experience. The answer to that question would forever change the author's life.
Raising Barns is the memoir of a farmer boy who achieved business success in the city. It begins on a central Wisconsin dairy farm and ends with a career working with Fortune 500 companies. You could say that the author was a slightly above average boy who achieved his share of good fortune by sidestepping most of the cow pies in life's path. Anyone who grew up in rural America in the 50s and 60s knows that farm-style family life taught work ethic, common sense, small town values, and hundreds of lessons learned that would shape a career.
Some lessons learned in Raising Barns
- Why silos can teach courage
- Five things all corporate clients demand
- How threshing crews redefined teamwork
- Why conviction means being willing to risk it all
- Why milk cows don't especially like progress
- Why time away from work is a gift, not a right
- How the seagulls that glide over a plowed field understand planning
- Why loyalty is sometimes blind
- How a simple sparrow can demonstrate wisdom
- How technology giveth-and taketh away
- Why yesterday's rural party lines and today's social networks are very much alike
- Why families that work together, work
- How straw barns can teach lessons in motivation
- What happens when commerce and compassion cross paths
- How junkyards solve problems
- The thirteen traits that real leaders exhibit
- How there are still ways to glean lessons from our ancestors by learning a new way of listening
- How a simple farm couple, Mary and Lyle Krebs, lived their lives. The processes they used to raise their barns of family, community, commerce, and faith could provide valuable lessons to some of the most powerful people in the world, if only they would listen
Here's what Kirkus Reviews says about Raising Barns:
"A dairy-farmer-turned-successful-entrepreneur writes to his descendants about lessons learned in life and business. Krebs has a deep appreciation for the teachings of his ancestors. Time-tested on harsh Wisconsin farms, these dictums guided him from the barn to the boardroom, their wisdom never wavering whether the project at hand was a stroll through a junkyard or the leadership of a corporate team. Filled with inimitable advice on teamwork, problem solving and loyalty, Krebs' book ably relates how working on a threshing crew or as part of a barn raising informs a successful voyage in all facets of life...The simple, self-effacing text and the lessons gleaned from his relatives and from his career as a communications entrepreneur amount to a love letter to his family, past and present...Wisdom that spans time and place, from an author perfectly suited to dispense it."
Other readers said:
"Heartwarming and entertaining"
"A tribute to the family farm"
"Inspiring story"
"Enough common sense to last a lifetime"
The farm kids who grew up in rural America share a common bond. Many of the things that they learned may not have seemed like lessons at the time they happened. They were just day-to-day incidents that leaned against their brains, waiting to tip in. Then years later, something happened and the neurons fired. This book is mostly about those times when different eras collide in moments of truth. It may be that certain lessons can never be learned until the time is right. Or maybe they are destined to help us in a time of need. Either way, growing up on a farm was an incubator for life lessons like no other.
Check out the "Look Inside" feature in th
About the Author: Garry Krebs spent most of his early years helping his parents in the daily rituals that kept all farmers busy. It was a unique perspective on the world-where there was a closeness to the land and an appreciation for accomplishing tasks with determination and hard work. His hometown of Berlin, Wisconsin, is typical of all small Midwestern towns, featuring a main street dotted with small stores. It was a backdrop that promoted tightly-knit families and country common sense, eventually leading to a career in corporate communication. Back in high school, there was this one particular Saturday night behind the wheel of a borrowed Corvette. Warm breeze in the face, four people poured into a space designed for two, loud mufflers...you get the picture. That night ignited a passion for classic car restoration that has resulted in raising his barn...a dream garage. He hasn't quite completely recreated that Saturday night, but he vows to keep trying. He and his wife Marie (who also likes classic cars, and Florida condos--not necessarily in that order) live in Lakeville, Minnesota, near an extended family that includes two sons and four active grandchildren.
