Contributed by: Ross Lenhart
Senior Vice President, Stein Communications

Southern Seen, Meditations on Past and Present
By Dr. Larry T. McGehee, Vice President and Professor of Religion, Wofford College

Wofford College and its students have been fortunate indeed to have Dr. Larry T. McGehee strolling around its beautiful tree-lined campus since 1982. My first recollections of Larry were in the mid-nineties when both of us were Davidson parents. We talked at several parents’ weekends, and I can recall sitting several seats over from him at commencement when both his daughter and my son graduated from Davidson in 1997. I looked for him during those times, because Larry is the type of person who would always provide me with something of interest, some valuable nugget for me to take away and catalog in the back of my memory. Oftentimes, he imparted such wisdom with a twinkle cloaked with a dash of humor that even made it all the more worthwhile. When Wofford became a Stein client and I would visit the campus often, I would naturally look for Larry. I do not remember ever passing through the Wofford gate without bumping into Larry somewhere or sometime. Once, after a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Atlanta, there he was, standing in the admissions parking lot as if he were waiting for me — but it was by pure coincidence and I was privileged. Several years ago I found out, not unsurprisingly, that Larry had a newspaper column called “Southern Seen” published in approximately one hundred newspapers around the country. The column was also on the Wofford web site, which allowed me to tune in — it was like eating popcorn — I couldn’t stop. Then one day last year, Brand Stille, Director of Admission, informed me that Larry had published a book available in the Wofford bookstore. I had to have it. Brand got it autographed for me and sent it on.

Southern Seen covers many subjects, but at its core, it is really about education. The book through Larry’s lifelong travels is about one generation educating another to the culture, the ideas, the beauty of nature, the humor, the total American experience not just Southern, the art, and the strong ties, which makes his own family relationship strong. This is accomplished not through dogma sometimes termed as “family values,” but through the discussion of real ideas, a letter to his daughter, the encouragement of reading and of books, and respect for one another no matter what the age. I am intrigued by the lack of geographical sectionalism displayed in this work in spite of its title, Southern Seen. It is obvious that Larry McGehee is a man who understands the total American experience, has transcended sectionalism, but who, as a typical Southerner, can write with soul and strong emotion. His insight into the prejudices of the great geographical national divide is worth contemplating. Southern Seen covers places and people, some of whom I have known coincidentally in my own career. His love for his own alma mater, Transylvania, is evident and strong. Everything from proms to athletics to historical personalities to everyday people emerges to keep the pages turning. As a person who traveled with my wife and boys up the East Coast often stopping and touring places like Williamsburg and Gettysburg, I loved Larry’s descriptions of his own family treks with his wife and daughters giving me insight into our everyday vernacular, phrases like “three sheets to the wind,” or “hickory dickory dock.” His natural historical and cultural curiosity is so contagious.

Yes, Southern Seen is really about education. I have always been convinced that those particularly in college admissions, advancement, or alumni relations must have a strong understanding and curiosity about the people of America — who they are, where they are going, and where they have been. It is obvious to me that Larry McGehee has that breath of insight, that wisdom, that curiosity, and the wherewithal and wonderful ability to put it down.

Yes, I will continue to drive through the gate at Wofford and look for Larry, because if I happen to bump into him — and I will — there will be always something of wisdom, of value — freely given with a twist of humor with a twinkle. Who could ask for more?

Contributed by: Ross Lenhart
Senior Vice President, Stein Communications

My son, Clay, the computer guy, called and said, “Dad, you gotta read this book — it’s you.” Now that sparks my interest. His employer, the principal of a successful internet company, had suggested this book would be an effective tool for his employees. I am a reader — mainly non-fiction, love history — especially biography, and occasionally a good novel, but I am not one for diving into business “how-to” books. But since “it’s me” and Clay recommended it, I better take a look. I bought it, turned the first page of Never Eat Alone and, frankly, I couldn’t put it down.

Have you ever read something and, from your own experience, you keep saying to yourself, “This guy has hit the mark”? After 35 years in and around college admission and college marketing, Never Eat Alone made me realize that my work has been based solidly on relationships — the wonderful value of relationships — guidance counselors, faculties, prospective students, alumni, maintenance folks, coaches, competitors, hotel clerks, travel agents, board presidents, plane companions, writers, art directors, receptionists, and on and on. People who fill my memory and who forever will have my gratitude.

Keith Ferrazzi is a successful businessman, and now, in my mind, a wonderful wordsmith. He obviously is not “a high roller,” never to be caught on a reality show. He is more pure than that. He tells a tale of relationships and how success is about working with people, not against them. “Business is a human enterprise, driven and determined by people.” So is education. What makes this book perfect for the academy is Ferrazzi’s obvious gift of merging business with integrity. No Enron here. No compromising principle. Keith Ferrazzi is a self-made hard-nosed Western Pennsylvania guy who probably grew up loving gold and black, the Pirates and Steelers. He talked himself into the Kiski School on a scholarship on the way to a Yale undergraduate degree and a Harvard MBA, and made a lifelong friend of his Kiski Headmaster, Jack Pidgeon. I knew Jack myself when I would visit Kiski as a Director of Admissions from Marietta College many years ago. Jack would host a reception in his home for visitors in the evenings. Jack is a wonderful man who made an impression on me as well. Ferrazzi took away a valuable lesson from Jack and Kiski — “the currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.” — and “relationships are solidified by trust.” In my mind, this ethic is what makes this book special and makes Ferrazzi special. The lesson learned is that profit will only come if trust and integrity precede it.

Keith Ferrazzi makes his point through wonderful examples ranging from Paul Revere to Eleanor Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton to Katharine Graham, plus his own vast experiences. There are fascinating and well-told tales from his triumphs. A man of action, these experiences didn’t just happen, he made them happen. “Relationships are more like muscles — the more you work them, the stronger they become.” How to use the internet in your relationships, how to broadcast your brand, how to expand your circle — it’s all there and it is valuable stuff for you, the dedicated college, university, and school professionals who are in it not for the money, but for the process of education. You will find and understand and appreciate the obvious altruism in the pages of this book.

One last thought. I have never met Keith Ferrazzi. Recently, I felt that he might help me with a project that I was pursuing. I emailed a question to him. An answer came back from him with personal advice within eight hours. Jack Pidgeon built an entire institution at Kiski on his asking people not “How can you help me? but “How can I help you?” As a schoolboy at Kiski, Keith Ferrazzi learned his lessons well.

Thanks, Clay; call anytime with a suggestion of a good book.