"Leading with heart: The McKamies of Kansas City"
By Dawna Grigsby
Examiner.com December 22, 2011
"Follow me" may be what people expect to hear from the leaders of Focus Seminars of Kansas City but they won’t hear that sentiment in the way it’s often been used. Using phrases like "Do what I’m doing" is a popular way to teach leadership but Wayne and Pam McKamie don’t ask participants to copy how they lead. They have been creating leaders in Kansas City since 1990 using a unique approach. They teach others how to get out of their own way and lead from the best that’s within them. Leadership isn’t like putting on a great suit owned by someone else to feel different or better. Wayne’s suit fits him but it is best for others to have something tailored to fit how they lead. Finding your own leadership style at Focus means feeling what makes you courageous, authentic and valuable. Wayne and Pam strive to help people get in touch with their own strength; it’s an individualized experience.Personal greatness at Focus is achieved through a series of well-planned steps. The first few steps involve finding what keeps a person from being the leader in his/her own life (at work and/or home). Wherever you’ve fallen behind is the place you may stay stuck, sometimes for years. The next few steps allow participants to start throwing away the garbage that keeps them stuck. The final steps involve rewarding and supporting the newly acquired or recovered personal authenticity, strength, value and motivation.
Wayne, Pam and a team of Focus graduates devote over one hundred hours into a workshop process six times per year. They have over 10,000 Focus graduates and the number one marketing tool has been word of mouth, not because it’s cost effective but because the graduates want loved ones to get the personal and professional tools too. This family owned small business venture has been rewarding and challenging. Both Wayne and Pam are professional counselors, working with clients, as well as being parents and active church members while sustaining the Focus workshops.
Read the rest of the article here: "Leading with Heart: The McKamies of Kansas City": http://www.examiner.com/
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KC Star Article by Steve Penn
Meet KC's answer to Dr. Phil
Oprah discovered Dr. Phil. I have found counselor Wayne---Phil's former partner. Wayne McKamie Jr. is a local psychologist and self-help guru. And unlike Phil McGraw, McKamie isn't seen on TV and doesn't have a book deal. McKamie practices the same theories and methods that have made McGraw a household name and a millionaire. And McKamie does it right here in Kansas City.
Almost everyone has heard of McGraw, Oprah's straight-talking expert on life strategies and relationships. He helps people make tough choices in their lives by injecting them with a dose of reality. McKamie and McGraw were once partners at the same clinic in Wichita Falls, Texas. Years ago the two psychologists worked at the clinic of McGraw's father in Wichita Falls.
McKamie hooked up with McGraw after college. McKamie earned a bachelor degree from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., in 1975, and in 1976 he earned a master's degree in clinical psychology from Central State University of Oklahoma. McKamie went to work in Wichita Falls, and one day on a tennis court there he met McGraw's father, a well-known psychologist in town. "It wasn't long after that I met Phil playing tennis," McKamie said. "We all met on the tennis court."
After McGraw joined his father's clinic, McKamie soon came aboard. One day someone recommended the two men attend a seminar on experiential learning. Afterward the two psychologists became fascinated with the subject. "Experiential learning wasn't something that was taught in academic circles," McKamie said. "Phil and I were just amazed at how people could make emotional, even physical changes, by spending time looking at themselves." After the seminar both men examined the methods they'd seen and then began to perfect their own form of therapy.
Eventually, McGraw and McKamie went their separate ways. But McKamie never forgot what he learned while working with McGraw. Today, McKamie, licensed in Missouri as a professional counselor and social worker, runs his private practice out of an office next to St. Joseph Health Center. McKamie is also founder and president of Focus Seminars of Kansas City, a company he started in 1990.
You've probably never heard of Focus Seminars. McKamie doesn't advertise. He's not trying to compete with McGraw. "Phil's success is awesome," McKamie said. "Now the nation gets to know that if you want to make change, there are turnkey tools that can help make a difference." That sounds a lot like McGraw minus the hard edge. McKamie describes McGraw as a former jock, whose tough guy persona comes through on television. "Phil just tells it like it is," McKamie said.
Focus Seminars is no picnic, either. The sessions often get emotional. "The biggest confrontations are the ones participants have with themselves," McKamie said. "It's not a hand-holding deal. When a man or woman gets up and talks about what's important to them, there's emotion."
McKamie believes Oprah deserves credit for recognizing the merits of McGraw's work and then publicizing it. So I'm like Oprah today. McKamie is the Dr. Phil of Kansas City, minus the star status.
To reach Steve Penn, call (816) 234-4417 or send email to spenn@kcstar.com
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The Blue Valley Sun
"Miracle Time", by Steve Rose, ChairmanDecember 9, 2002
This is the season when we focus on miracles and gifts. So, I am offering to readers a bit of both, in one package. It's called "Focus." It is something of a miracle, and for many of you, it would be a fine present to either give or receive, although the program's cost is not inexpensive. The dilemma is how to explain what it is, without violating my promise not to divulge details about the program, and, at the same time, to tease you enough to spark some interest without coming across like a cheese ball. All I can do is try.
Focus Seminars (it is not at all like a traditional seminar, because there is no training, no lectures, and no videos) is -- well -- it's an amazing experience that can have a profound impact on your life. And that is no exaggeration. I just completed the program, which was founded 18 years ago by a Leawood resident, Wayne McKamie, who got his start with television personality Dr. Phil. (I am not a big Dr. Phil fan, but this reference may give Wayne instant credibility with some of you.) Allow me to provide my own personal reference in my own words.
My wife and I enlisted in Focus at the suggestion of a good friend, who had just completed the program herself and thought it was tremendous. Because we respect our friend's judgement, we both shed our cynicism and agreed to take a risk.About midway through the program, I quit. Being the rebel that I am, that says more about me than the program. My wife, Carol, who is also very independent, had the good sense and maturity to go ahead and complete the program. After seeing the positive impact the program had on Carol, I decided to re-enroll for the next series, and recently "graduated" from the program. Without question, I would count Focus as one of the most significant experiences of my life. And, judging by reactions of the others who shared this experience, ages 18 to 60, I would say most -- if not all -- would say the same.
That's about as far as I can go without going too far. At this point, I must say to readers what our friend said to us: Trust me. Trust me that this program is powerful and cathartic. And from those I have talked to who went through the program a year or more ago, the positive impact appears to be lasting. I saw not only individuals impacted positively, but marriages, as well. Some marriages that were near collapse were literally saved. (Although our 32-year marriage was already very solid, it is even better after Focus.)
For skeptics, let me tell you emphatically what Focus is Not. Focus is not a cult. There is no mesmerizing personality. Focus is not a religious experience (although any program that deals with freeing your emotions and negative thoughts is likely to have a spiritual component.) Focus is not a superficial , feel-good, psycho-babble quick-fix. It is a deep, meaningful program that allows you to grow emotionally out of places where you are now stuck. Focus is not a disguised pyramid scheme, where graduates are extolled to bring in the next batch. And there is no monetary solicitation whatsoever, beyond the initial fee for the program.
Focus is the real deal, or I would not be giving it the space in this column, which almost never promotes any kind of program or company. At the holiday season, however, I could not think of a better way to share a bit of joy, in the hope that some of you will choose to find it for yourselves.
Go to www.focusseminar.com or call 816.767.8600 for more information.
