Most members walk in the front door of a club to join. Roy Spence, however, made the decision to become a member of Aspen Glen Club in Carbondale, Colorado, while he was floating down the Roaring Fork River with his friend, Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour. Spence had not fly-fished before that outing a half dozen years ago, but he quickly became hooked on the sport and subsequently purchased two lots and built a home on the river. He can now fish from his backyard.

Still, fly-fishing hasn’t edged into the Spence Top-Three List: spending time with his family, gardening, and making hot sauce. The country club staple of golf, for the moment, remains on a Yet-To-Do List. But Spence avows he’ll get to it, inspired by his 90-year-old dad and namesake, who has played in the same foursome for 45 years in the family’s hometown of Brownwood, Texas.

Away from Aspen Glen and leisure pursuits, Spence is president of Idea City, better known as the headquarters of the Austin, Texas-based GSD&M. The advertising and branding agency, which Spence helped found in 1971 with five fellow graduates of the University of Texas, is expected to surpass $1.3 billion in billings for 2003. Last fall, the firm, which is now part of Omnicom Group Inc., was hired to promote the U.S. Olympic team in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece. Longtime clients include Southwest Airlines Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Brinker International Inc., Fannie Mae, the PGA Tour, and others. The agency also created the warning to litterbugs: Don’t Mess With Texas.

Spence lives at warp speed, with passion and intensity. His can-do enthusiasm for playing hard and working hard seemingly expands the everyday person’s 24-hour day. In fact, he meshes work and play into one cosmic concept of living.

A typical day? No such thing. Spence and a partner are franchisees of several Krispy Kreme Doughnuts stores in Austin and south Texas, so 4 a.m. oftentimes finds him handing out doughnuts at a grand opening. With another partner, he has pursued real estate development. And for his father’s birthday in November, he marshaled efforts to obtain 10,000 signatures on what he hopes Guinness World Records will declare the biggest birthday card in the history of the world. His name even is mentioned in Texas political circles as a possible gubernatorial candidate.

When Spence was roasted by the Dallas Advertising League in 2002, he was lauded in a letter from his staff that noted: "He never burns a bridge. Always burns the candle at both ends. And has proven time and again that a spark can start a fire."

Private Clubs editor in chief Patricia Baldwin recently convinced Spence to sit still long enough for a quick update. Here are excerpts from that conversation.

When referring to the work of GSD&M, the advertising trade press uses the term "branding platform." Is that the term you use?
It’s a term that’s used in the industry. For us, our branding idea is called "purpose-based branding." One of my great friends now is Jim Collins, who wrote two best-selling books, Built to Last and Good to Great. I was on a Southwest Airlines plane when I saw a review of Built to Last in USA Today. I got on the phone and called Jim. I said, "You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but I need you to come see us."

From that came our core values, the core purpose of our company. We became great friends and we talked many times during the [writing of the] Good to Great book that came later. And somehow, we have attracted companies that have a purpose beyond making money. In the process, they make more money. Southwest Airlines isn’t in the airline business. We put them in the freedom business. At Fannie Mae, we’re in the American dream business.

And GSD&M is in what business?
We’re in the visionary idea business.

The agency was just hired to promote the U.S. Olympic team. That is reportedly not a big money account. So how do you measure that success for you?
The Olympic team in America doesn’t get any financing from the government. It’s private. So we just wanted to help this team market its values, its purpose. It will not be a big moneymaker, but making a difference is just as important. So, it’s a big win, and I tell you, I’ve gotten more phone calls from all across the country. It’s a big win because people just like the brand name. We sort of have this — this is not a syrupy thing — but we think that we need to use some of our God-given talents to do a lot of pro bono stuff, things like the Olympics and the Komen Race for the Cure.

You and your partners formed the agency in 1971. What are your thoughts when you reflect on those "good ol’ days"?
You know, we think that history is kind of boring, but heritage is the fabric of your past. We celebrate the fabric of the past a lot. I’ll say this: If we knew then what we know today, we wouldn’t have gotten into this business.

So, sometimes ignorance is bliss?
Naïveté was our biggest strength. They always said, "Oh, Roy, you’re always breaking the rules." What they didn’t understand is that I didn’t break the rules — I didn’t know what they were. So we created, or as I say, we jumped off the building and built the wings on the way down.

But that also is the thrill of our business. It’s that daring to do things that haven’t been done before. It’s creating things that weren’t there before. The values of our past and our heritage are the anchors of our future. We’ve always believed in freedom and responsibility. Very few dress codes, very few office hours. We believe in curiosity. We believe in integrity. We believe in community. We believe in winning. Those are the anchors of our organization. Community is probably number one. In the definition of that, we’re all in this together. So we raced to the future, and we carried a heritage as our anchor.

I know that long-term relationships are important to you and that you still keep in touch with Gordon Wood, your high school football coach in Brownwood. How did he influence you?
Coach Wood taught me three great things playing football. He said, "Roy, you’re never as good as your team. Don’t ever forget that." Second, he taught me that whenever you do good things, to give the credit to somebody else, and whenever you fail, to take the blame. Third, he always told me to be on time. So I was laughing with him the other day and I said, "Two out of three ain’t bad."

Are you typically late?
Always.

I know your dad was also a big influence. How about your mother?
My mom, who passed away about five years ago, was a teacher. She taught me, too. In the seventh grade, I wrote a paper on [Ralph Waldo] Emerson, whom I loved, and I got a "C." I had 28 misspelled words. The whole paper was two pages and everything was red. I was crushed. The next year, I had another teacher, and we were studying Emerson again. So I went to my mom and I said, "I made a ‘C’ on this thing." She said, "Roy, go write the paper, do a different version, but don’t be afraid." So I wrote it. I had 29 misspelled words, and I got an "A." The teacher said, "You can’t spell, but you can write." I went home and I looked at mom and she said, "You know what that means? Don’t try to be good in spelling. Forget about it. Do what you love. Be great at what you’re good at." I tell our associates here, "Hire a speller." If you’re a doer, partner with a dreamer. There are only dreamers and doers and no in-betweeners. The advice I give everybody is: "You spend 90 percent of your life at work, you better love what you do."

That’s a nice segue, and it seems appropriate, sitting in Austin, Texas, to talk about salsa making. So, what about this salsa making of yours?
I make a hot sauce called Royito’s. In Spanish, that’s "little Roy." That’s what my daddy calls me — Royito — because he grew up in Eagle Pass [Texas], speaking Spanish before English. So Royito’s Hot Sauce is going to be a little name, big bang. Something like that. I’ve got my label, and I’m going to produce it.

And the timing to get the product to retail?
I would love to have it out by the first of the year [2004].

OK, let’s move beyond salsa. There are rumors that some folks would like you to move down the street into the Governor’s Mansion. Have you thought about "what’s next"?
Well, yeah, a lot. Because one of our core values is restlessness.

Let me talk about politics for a minute. I think it’s the business of freedom and I think it’s pretty rugged. I think it’s sometimes nasty and awful, but I do think it’s the business of freedom. My mom and dad taught me that. I like the idea that one side should not dominate another side and that everyone should have the right to express their views and that no one has the corner on the smarts and there’s always got to be a better way. Once I figure out how to run this business — I’ve only been doing it 33 years — I might run for something else.

And just how long might it take you to figure out how to run this business?
As Sam Walton always used to tell me, it’s not about a destination. His wife tells a great story about one of his store managers coming to him when he was dying — he had bone cancer. Sam was in the hospital. I think it was his first or second manager down and Sam says in a whisper, "How are sales?"

How are sales?
So, I’ll never get a grip on this company, but we have awesome people, and it’s a very big business. It’s a very unstable, dynamic, eclectic business because everyone has an opinion on what we do. We’ve got to plan a transition. When I read Built to Last, that’s why I called Jim. Four partners still together after 33 years. So the transition is mandatory for us. We’re going to leave the place better than we found it. We’re going to make sure it’s destined to be great. We have to put the second tier in place. And we’re working very diligently. It’s harder, by the way, to build something to last than to build it.

Is the family a consideration when you think about politics?
Absolutely. I think that’s the tragedy in politics now. I think that there’s been so much on both sides. There seems to be this idea that power is the purpose of politics and I’ve never believed that. I believe that making a difference is the purpose of politics. I’m not naïve at all. You have to understand how the power works, and you’ve got to be driven by whatever you’re driven by. But I’m not driven by power; I’m driven by those values that my parents raised me with. You always try to make sure that you leave the place better than you found it. It is hard on families. I think hope beats fear, but hope is a scarce commodity right now. The consultants want you to run a fear campaign.

Do you have a message that you would like to get across to our readers?
I think the message to the business community is that the miracle of America was the invention of the middle class. We invented the middle class after World War II. You show me a strong middle class; I’ll show you a strong democracy. The middle class is what has been the economic machine of this country. The business community has got to understand that businesses don’t have any money, consumers have money. I’ve learned this — successful companies understand the customer is the boss. If you understand that, we’ve got to make sure Latinos are educated or else we’re going to have a shrinking middle class. This is not a social issue I’m talking about. I want the business community to realize that the economic destiny of America lies solely on the strength of the middle class. That’s why we’ve got to support education and literacy. That’s why we’ve got to make sure there is no child left behind. And that’s why we’ve got to make sure that teachers are respected. This is not a political message.

You sound like a politician.
It’s not politics; it’s business. But you know what, it can be both. That’s the message. Sam Walton said the customer is the boss, and if the customer is the boss, you better know who that customer is.

ROY M. SPENCE JR.
Club: Aspen Glen Club, Carbondale, Colorado.
Occupation: Co-founder and president, GSD&M, Austin, Texas.
Family: Wife, Mary Couri Spence. Daughters, Courtney, 23, and Ashley, 19. Son, Shay, 13.
Date and place of birth: Oct. 10, 1948, Brownwood, Texas.
Education: Bachelor of Arts, the University of Texas at Austin.
Activities: UT’s Commission of 125; the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council, the KLRU board of directors; the First Tee Austin board of directors; the Wal-Mart Literacy Council; the Austin Idea Network Advisory Board; the Texas Exes Marketing Committee. He has served as chair of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Advance Team.
Honors: Outstanding Alumnus Award from Austin Area Texas Exes; Adman of the Year Award from Austin Advertising Federation; Clio Award for television spot "Hot Line," 1984 presidential campaign; recognized by Texas Monthly as "Adman of the Century"; recognized by Esquire in "Faces of the Century"; GSD&M named Southwest Agency of the Year seven times.
Mentors: His parents; Herb Kelleher (founder, Southwest Airlines); Sam Walton (founder, Wal-Mart Stores); Norm Brinker (founder, Brinker International); and Red McCombs (San Antonio auto dealer and businessman).
Favorite quote: "Stay humble, stay hungry." (Hakeem Olajuwon)
Advice to a 20-year-old: "Please go do something you love."