Astros expectations ... Hollywood’s fresh face ... Power of diversity ... Ready for takeoff.
Edited by Louis Marroquin
WIN … AND WIN SOME MORE
While this is the time of year when hope springs eternal for Major League Baseball teams, Phil Garner is gripped by a more substantial force: high expectations. Other teams might hope to make the playoffs, but the postseason is the overriding goal of the Houston Astros’ manager. Anything less is unacceptable. “Our marching orders are to continue winning. That’s what our owner wants. He’s put a lot on the line to make it happen, and our job is to put it all together and make it happen,” says Garner, who managed the Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers for a total of 11 years before taking over Houston midway through 2004. The Astros have made the playoffs six of the past 10 years and two of the last three under Garner, a member of the Clubs of Kingwood near Houston. His nickname, “Scrap Iron,” which he acquired during an 18-year playing career that ended in 1988, still fits him somewhat as a manager, but a moniker more apropos of his team’s penchant for late-season charges would be “Mr. September.” In 2004, the team concluded the season with a blistering 36-10 record to claim the National League Wild Card berth. After a dismal 15-30 start the following year, the Astros streaked all the way to the franchise’s first World Series appearance, only to be swept by the Chicago White Sox. Last September, a torrid bid to overtake their NL Central rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, fell short on the last day of the season. While Garner is hopeful the wins will come early and often this season, he knows this: It’s not how you start, but how you finish. “There’s no question in my mind that playing well in September is something that winning teams possess,” Garner says. “I’d like for the fans to expect that, but I’d also like the players to expect that.” — Steve Wilson
- Photography by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
CHACE-ING FAME
Chace Crawford credits his golf game with boosting his acting career. “Golf taught me that you really have to work at your craft if you want to do well,” says Crawford, a member of Gleneagles Country Club near Dallas. “You have to be intensely focused and work at it every day.” These days, Crawford spends more time on the movie set than the golf course. After moving to Los Angeles, where he began studying acting, he landed his first role last year in The Covenant, a Sony Pictures horror flick. Crawford plays one of four hunky warlocks unleashing evil at their New England boarding school. The 2006 theatrical release is now available on DVD. “I realize that getting your first role with a big studio film is a huge break,” the 21-year-old says. “I learned so much from that.” Crawford then appeared in the Lifetime television movie Long Lost Son, which aired last December, and next will be seen in Loaded, an edgy independent film in which he plays Jesse Metcalfe’s (Desperate Housewives) younger brother. “It’s happening very rapidly,” he says. “But a big part of acting, I’ve learned, is waiting. You just have to be patient.” — Paula Felps
- Columbia Tristar/The Kobal Collection/Jonathan Wenk
NO EXCUSES
Having spent the better part of a decade in executive searching and consulting, Joe Watson was tired of hearing the same excuses about a disturbing trend. “I’m convinced that the future prosperity of America is threatened by its inability to deal with diversity,” says Watson, a member of the Currituck Club in Corolla, North Carolina. “I saw a lot of clients wanting to make progress in that area, but they were in a quandary about how to do that.” Watson shares his solution in his book, Without Excuses: Unleash the Power of Diversity to Build Your Business. In it, he outlines his formula for implementing diversification strategies. “The biggest thing that’s keeping businesses stuck is the word ‘can’t.’ There’s a suspension of business logic, where people say, ‘We can’t find the right people’ and then they just give up.” Watson’s book outlines creative ways for finding minority workers and encourages new thought processes among leaders. “The reason people fail is because they never make a commitment to making it succeed. Once they get serious and remove all those excuses, they get comfortable with the idea of diversity. And that’s the only way to make it work.” — Paula Felps
- Photography by Keith Lanpher
BAND LEADER
Doc McGhee worked in the construction equipment business when he “stumbled into” a career in music. Three decades later, McGhee is one of rock ’n’ roll’s most respected talent managers. “The music business has been very good to me,” says McGhee, a member of California’s Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club. “It’s been a great ride.” That ride began in the mid-’70s, when he started hanging out with an engineer friend at a Florida recording studio and the friend noticed his knack for the music business. That led to McGhee working with rising bands Styx and the Ohio Players, and by the ’80s he was firmly entrenched in the metal band scene. Under his guidance, acts such as Bon Jovi, Skid Row, and Mötley Crüe went from obscurity to superstardom. He began managing KISS when the legendary band reunited in 1996, and today McGhee’s diverse roster also includes Hootie & the Blowfish, Ted Nugent, and Chris Cagle. Most recently, McGhee was on the VH1 reality show Supergroup, managing five musicians that were put together in a mansion to create a band. “It served its purpose because it gave a good idea of what it takes to put a band together,” he says. “It’s not all flying around the world going to parties. It’s a lot of hard work.” — Paula Felps
- Photography by Thomas Alleman
THE SINGING CPA
Margery Piercey wants young accountants to know that they can find time for their own hobbies and passions — and she should know. Last summer, the former president of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs was chosen to perform the national anthem before a crowd of 35,000 at Boston’s Fenway Park. In attendance were 100 employees from Piercey’s certified public accounting firm, Wolf & Co. “I was admittedly very nervous, but fortunately, it didn’t show in my voice,” says Piercey, a member of the University of Massachusetts Club who has sung and performed since childhood. A big sports fan, Piercey also sang for Young CPA Night at a Boston Celtics game in 2005. After that appearance, her firm’s marketing manager submitted a CD of Piercey’s voice to the Red Sox, which green-lighted her a cappella performance. “I was fortunate enough to have my family down on the field with me while I sang,” she says. “The venue was just so overwhelming.” Piercey usually restricts her singing to local weddings and other occasions, so she has no designs on performing for more sports teams. “I have kind of fulfilled my lifelong mission,” she says. “I’ve had great opportunities, and they’ve been a thrill.” — Janet Mefferd
JUST BREATHE
In the frantic world of daily business, Janet Byars wants you to take time to breathe. Byars, a member of the Dayton Racquet Club in Dayton, Ohio, is co-owner and partner of Innovative Leadership Solutions, which combines physics, psychiatry, and physiology principles to train individuals and groups in organizations. The company uses the latest scientific research to take businesses from a command and control mentality to one of collaboration, based on intention, integrity, and integration. “We don’t tell them how to run their business, we teach them how to set up their structure,” Byars says. Which gets back to the breathing. Innovative Leadership Solutions advocates a more Euro-American, slower-paced, not less productive, work style based on clear and calm thinking. Byars’ first job is to teach clients a hard-focused, heart-centered breathing technique to clear the mind and calm the nervous system. “Your brain doesn’t work without oxygen,” remarks Byars, a licensed professional counselor pursuing her Ph.D. in leadership and organizational change. To be an innovative leader, Byars encourages businesspeople to “start paying attention to their patterns of thinking and acting to see if they line up with their goals.” Often, she says, they don’t. “I help people see their patterns to help them choose again,” Byars says. — Helen Bond
– Photography by Andy Snow
ALL GOLF, ALL THE TIME
Jim Demick likes to joke that his golf game has sunk to “an abhorrent level” from lack of play. The funny thing is Demick works in the golf industry and lives on the fifth hole at Hunter’s Green Country Club in Tampa, Florida. “Not only that,” says Demick, laughing, “I’m either on or around golf courses all the time. I just don’t have enough time to play.” A former scratch player, Demick has his hands full spending time with his wife and two children when he isn’t serving as executive director of the Florida State Golf Association, which has about 800 member clubs and 180,000 individual members. For the association, Demick oversees a staff of 13 and about 400 volunteers, who primarily serve as rules officials at FSGA tournaments, as well as measure and rate courses. Demick also works as a rules official, both in FSGA tournaments and national events. “I may be busier than I would wish,” he says, “but it’s a big state and there’s a lot to be done.” One association service requiring his attention is the FSGA’s burgeoning Florida Junior Tour. Started in 2004, the 22-event tour is for golfers 13 to 18 years old. “We try to make [the tournaments] affordable with an entry fee of $95 for members, so kids can develop their games and face many of the finest juniors in the country,” Demick explains. “It’s great to see them develop into competitive golfers.” — Steve Wilson
– Photography by Christopher Stickney
IN ANY LANGUAGE
At age 13, Hortensia Neely arrived with her family in Miami as political exiles from Cuba. Today, at 58, she’s living the American dream in a global context. Hortensia and her husband, Robert, members of the Skyline Club near Detroit, own and operate Global LT. The Troy, Michigan-based company provides translation services, cultural training, and relocation services for corporations worldwide. “All of our programs are customized, so we teach them what to do and what not to do,” she says. Hortensia initially taught Spanish for another translation company, but branched out on her own in 1979 with a group of Ford Motor Company executives. Now, Global LT has access to several thousand translators, interpreters, and cultural trainers, offering 60 languages in 400 cities across the globe. Forty full-time teachers work at the Troy facility. Robert, a retired GM International executive who married Hortensia in 1989, serves as CEO and oversees the company’s offices from Hong Kong to Mexico. “We found that by having representation in those countries, that’s going to lead to future growth for us,” he says, adding that a U.K. office is next. “To see the company grow is very, very rewarding to me.” With clients such as General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Prudential Financial, Global LT recently was named to the list of the Top 100 Michigan minority-owned businesses by DiversityBusiness.com. — Janet Mefferd
- Photography by Santa Fabio
GOLF FITNESS
Joseph Myers has advice for golfers seeking to improve their games, and it doesn’t involve swing mechanics or equipment. Rather, Myers’ secret to better golf lies in exercise tailored to increase strength and flexibility and bolster balance. “We’ve taken a different approach to improving performance — changing the golfer,” explains Myers, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a member of Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. “We can improve an individual’s golf game by changing their physical fitness.” By “we,” Myers is referring to the staff of the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. As associate director of the lab, Myers (along with his colleagues in the NMRL) is dedicated to enhancing athletic performance while researching the prevention and treatment of sports-related injuries. Through studying golfers of various ages and playing levels, the lab has developed a fitness program (presented at its two centers in the Pittsburgh area) that Myers says boosts performance and decreases the risk of injury to problem areas such as the lower back, shoulder, elbow, and knee. “I always tell people, ‘If you can change just one thing, that would be flexibility,’” Myers says. “Whether you’re 15 or 90, you can improve your flexibility.” — Steve Wilson
- Photography by Michael Ray
DO UNTO OTHERS
As a corporate behavioral specialist, Art Schoeck has some advice for managers and employees who want to improve relations: Forget the Golden Rule. “The Golden Rule is totally wrong,” says Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome, a clearinghouse for assessment tools. “You don’t treat people the way you want to be treated. You have to treat them the way they want to be treated.” Such straightforward advice has helped make Schoeck an award-winning trainer and sought-after speaker for companies such as BellSouth, Hewlett-Packard, and Marriott International. “We help companies analyze their positions, assess their people, and then apply their people the best way,” says Schoeck, a member of One Ninety One Club in Atlanta. In the past 15 years, Schoeck has spoken to nearly 18,000 executives and managers through his workshops, which touch on everything from preferred communication styles to helping companies increase productivity. “The employee and company both have to have a win,” he says. The top corporate mistake Schoeck says he sees is that managers “hire people like themselves.” The former restaurateur also embodies the good advice he tends to offer others. As he puts it: “It’s not just what you’re good at. It’s what you like to do.” — Janet Mefferd
- Photography by Marc Climie
… SHORT TAKES …
Neuse Golf Club manager Michael Severn returns to his North Carolina home $100,000 richer after winning the ESPN National Golf Challenge Club Pro Challenge at Bear’s Best Las Vegas. Severn shot a combined two-day total of 142. Stuart Smith, head golf professional at California’s Granite Bay Golf Club, came in third with a combined score of 148. Ninety golf professionals from across the country, including 21 from ClubCorp properties, participated in the tournament. … Sally Ann Rabin, a member of Arizona’s Anthem Golf & Country Club, appears on the cover and in a yoga feature in a recent issue of Body & Brain magazine. … Wisconsin’s Le Club joins with Prince Sports, donating a portion of net sales from every O3 Citron racquet to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation to support military families. Prince donates a portion of net sales from every O3 Citron to the VFW’s Unmet Needs Program and the National Veterans Service Program. … California’s Turkey Creek Golf Club receives an honorary plaque for its support of the Ride-to-Walk therapeutic horseback-riding program. Ride-to-Walk is a 21-acre facility near the club for children and adults with neurological disabilities. “We are committed to helping with the labor and services for Ride-to-Walk as needed,” says general manager Jeff Wilson. “We are pleased that over the last eight months, we have been able to provide heavy mowing, trimming, riding equipment, labor, and assist with equipment repairs.” … Pianist George Winston follows his sold-out performance at Seattle’s Columbia Tower Club with another sellout at Center Club Costa Mesa’s South Coast Supper Club. … Hall of Famers in our midst: The Michigan Athletes With Disabilities Hall of Fame inducts MJ McColgan, a member of California’s Crow Canyon Country Club and a Michigan native. And Porter Valley Country Club tennis director Ron Hightower, who holds the record for most Razorback wins in a season, adds the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame to his résumé. … Cameras roll at California’s Mission Hills Country Club when former LPGA teaching pro and member Debbie Steinbach-Keller provides a golf novice with a championship-level makeover in a segment of Me vs. Me, a TV series on the Fine Living channel. … In his first time playing in the tournament, Morgan Run member Bill Hoyman reigns victorious at the San Diego Polo Club’s 100th Anniversary Spreckels Cup. … The Pennsylvania Bar Association honors Rivers Club member Michael Paul Malakoff with its 2006 Jeffrey A. Ernico Award. The award is given to individuals whose work has resulted in the significant improvement in legal services for the needy… The Boston Business Journal names UMass Club member Kristen Kuliga, principal of K Sports & Entertainment, to its “40 Under 40” list of outstanding Boston professionals. … Tower Club in Florida allocates 25 cents from every lunch and a la carte dinner entrée to a charitable contribution fund to aid various children’s organizations in the community. Big Brothers Big Sisters receives $6,000 from the 2006 allocations. … The Ladies Night Out fashion show at Massachusetts’ Ipswich Country Club raises $30,000 for the Ronald McDonald House. … Members of Michigan’s Oak Pointe make a fashion statement for its second John Koch Mashie-Niblick Invitational, donning argyle, plus fours, and vintage golf caps, and playing with old-style balls and clubs. …