We’ll all take a big career break every once in a while. Sometimes, it comes just when we need it.
In producing the eighth annual 12 People You Need to Know publication, a consistent theme emerged around a few key decisions influencing the trajectory of a career. These 12 businesspeople have made bold moves to end up in their key roles across our community.
For Jeff Houghton, one big break was getting selected for an internship with the “Late Show with David Letterman.” He moved to New Jersey for the educational gig and experienced big-city life on a queen-size mattress for a time. Now, Houghton hosts his own TV show, “The Mystery Hour,” in a city he’s committed to and where he keeps the people smiling.
Other times, we receive something we’re not looking for or even wanting. But it turns out OK.
The career of former NFL player Grant Wistrom wrote that script. The Webb City native had a high draft stock his senior college season in 1998, and the last thing he wanted as a young adult with a first-round, seven-figure contract awaiting him was to return to his home state. Of course, one of Missouri’s two NFL teams called his name with the sixth pick. “I wanted to travel,” Wistrom says.
But after a couple seasons with the St. Louis Rams, he found himself celebrating a Super Bowl title. Missouri was OK with him then, and he’s now back in the Springfield area running a CrossFit gym.
Then there’s that unexpected opportunity – or two, in the case of Matt Morrow.
Morrow is back in Springfield after leaving a lengthy run at the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield. The HBA director job in Birmingham, Ala., opened up in 2012, and Morrow felt compelled to explore it and they made a match. But when Jim Anderson vacated the top post at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and Morrow was contacted by multiple community members, he took the chance to return home. He tells me his wife and kids are anxious to return to the Ozarks, once they finish the school semester and have Christmas in their current Birmingham home.
Other times, the big break doesn’t come, but we’re shaped by a community into an unexpected role even better than we imagined for ourselves.
Beth Domann’s Second City acting dream took a detour when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Domann nixed plans to audition at the Chicago improv theater to care for her here. And her work at home led to a role in the critically acclaimed indie film “Winter’s Bone” and a pivotal scene with the movie’s budding lead actress. “I got to beat Jennifer Lawrence up,” Domann says. “How many people can say that?”
The conversations this year should be entertaining and equally informative as the previous seven years in this editorial series sponsored by Arvest Bank.
We’re just scratching the surface here. Come on out for a listen and jump into the conversation. You never know, it could lead to a big break.
Springfield Business Journal Editorial Director Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.
