What can innovators learn from country music icon Dolly Parton? For the uninitiated, Parton comes from a poorer-than-poor home in East Tennessee. Today, she is 63 and is a huge brand. She has made 80 albums, had 25 number-one singles, published over 3,000 of her own songs, made great movies (Nine to Five; Steel Magnolias), and has her own record label. She owns a highly profitable entertainment theme park called Dollywood, in the Great Smoky Mountains foothills. Her net worth is estimated at $250 m. She has a children’s book coming out soon, and a line of clothing and accessories.  

I think we can learn one small thing, and one big thing, from Dolly Parton. 

The small thing: It seems to me that because the South tends to be less advanced, in business and education, we tend to stereotype and downgrade those with a southern accent. Dolly has made powerful use of this. With her Tennessee twang, she told CBS 60-Minutes interviewer Mike Wallace that “people (in business deals) think I’m dumb, and I let them, and then before they know it I walk off with their money”.  

The big thing: Be real. Use your own life as your innovative material. Here are  the words to Dolly’s latest hit,  Backwoods Barbie. (She filmed the video clip in Los Angeles, at Fredricks of Hollywood, which makes outrageous lingerie). Every one is true. Dolly has had numerous plastic-surgery operations. She admits it and jokes about it. But, she sings, “I’m just a backwoods Barbie in a push-up bra and heels. I might look artificial, but where it counts I’m real.”

Dolly   

Backwoods Barbie

I grew up poor and ragged, just a simple country girl.
I wanted to be pretty more than anything in the world,
like Barbie or the models in the Fredricks’ catalog.
From rags to wishes in my dreams I could have it all.
I’m just a backwoods Barbie, too much makeup, too much hair.
Don’t be fooled by thinkin’ that the goods are not all there.
Don’t let these false eyelashes lead you to believe that
I’m as shallow as I look ’cause I run true and deep.

I’ve always been misunderstood because of how I look.
Don’t judge me by the cover ’cause I’m a real good book.
So read into it what you will, but see me as I am.
The way I look is just a country girl’s idea of glam.

I’m just a backwoods Barbie in a push-up bra and heels.
I might look artificial, but where it counts I’m real.
And I’m all dolled up and hopin’ for a chance to prove my worth,
And even backwoods Barbie’s get their feelings hurt.

I’m just a backwoods Barbie, too much makeup, too much hair.
Don’t be fooled by thinkin’ that the goods are not all there.
Yes, I can see where I could be misjudged upon first glance;
But even backwoods Barbie’s deserve a second chance.
I’m just a backwoods Barbie just asking for a chance,
just a backwoods Barbie.