Tom Meisenheimer
President, Meisey’s Marketing Consultants
Education: B.A. in philosophy/English at St. Francis Seminary; M.S. in business management at Cardinal Stritch University; graduate work in theology, St. Francis Seminary; and vocational rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Family: Wife, Patricia; sons Mike and Matt.
Professional history: Fundraiser and marketer at two hospitals, a university, West Bend Little League and two agencies that work with people with developmental disabilities. Previously owned a retail sporting goods business and worked as a national sales manager for a Fortune 500 company.
If you do any business in the West Bend area, you will most assuredly run in to Tom Meisenheimer at some point. Meisenheimer is a one-man business networking machine. He serves as a consultant in fund development and external relations at The Threshold Inc., he’s the chairman of the Germantown, Menomonee Falls, Sussex Business to Business Network, he’s a board member of the West Bend Noon Rotary Club and he’s involved in several other organizations. He is a master at bringing people with diverse agendas to agree on a common mission.
“My son, Matt, and his teammate, Matt Schilter, played middle infield for the 2007 West Bend West State High School Champion baseball team. Their team called them the M & M duo. They were regarded as the best middle infield in the state. Their double plays were pure poetry. What made them even more spectacular was that neither of them reached 5′ 7” in height or weighed more than 150 pounds. They didn’t fit the consensus that you had to be big to be good. But their hearts were huge.
“What they had was respect. Respect for themselves, their ability, the ability of their teammates, their coaches and their opponents. And they were humble young men.
“To me, respect is the key to success in any business. If you build a staff with true respect for themselves and their fellow workers, consensus will develop quicker than you can imagine.
“A method that has worked very well for me when it is done with a group who has true respect and sincere openness to others, is the nominal group technique. The method prohibits any one person from dominating. It leads to great discussion, gives everyone an equal chance for input, brings about a consensus that the entire team can buy into, ultimately leading to goals accomplished with camaraderie. I have often seen it make work great fun! Build a team of respectful people. Try the nominal group process. Consensus will flow like the poetry of a perfect double play. And you’ll love coming to work each day.”
