Steve Flannes, Ph.D.
Executive and Career Assessment /

People Skills / Training for Teams

Joanne Webb

Artist Communication Development / Mentoring / Presentation

Rex McGee
Creativity Coach / Screenwriter / Journalist 

Steven W. Flannes, Ph.D.

Steven Flannes is the principal of Flannes Associates (www.flannesassociates.com)  , a  consulting firm providing business solutions for the people issues in the world of work. He works with individuals, teams, and organizations in providing leadership development services, transition management expertise, and executive coaching.

Since 1986, Steve has been a consulting psychologist with DBM, a global provider of career transition services. In this capacity, he provides career assessment and coaching services to individuals from the level of middle manager to chief executive officer. 

He has a specialty in providing leadership development and executive coaching services for mid and senior level technical leaders. Towards that goal, he is the co-author of People Skills for Project Managers, a practical guide for technical leaders in developing the people skills needed for enterprise success. His book was translated into Russian, and was published in Moscow in 2004.

Steve regularly conducts two-day workshops on the subject of interpersonal skills, and in recent years has presented these workshops to groups in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He takes pride in providing developmental services that are tangible and practical, and can be applied to the challenges in today’s workplace.

Prior to forming Flannes Associates, Steve had leadership and management experience in positions within the consulting and behavioral healthcare industries. 

Steve is a licensed psychologist and has taught at the graduate level of the University of Notre Dame and for the University of California, Berkeley, Extension Program. He is a frequent keynote speaker for professional organizations and regularly presents to a variety of organizations, including the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Joanne Webb

Joanne Webb comes to the training and development arena with extensive experience in the entertainment industry.  Her expertise as a trainer and coach focuses on establishing Artist Development for Creative Groups inspiring creativity, while initiating stronger interdepartmental communication among teams, as well as improving Presentation Skills in selling concepts through project completion to an internal and external audience and, developing and enhancing Corporate Mentoring Programs. 

 

She also assists her clients with curriculum design through a series of customized Train the Trainer programs in one on one or workshop formats.  Joanne's background as a strategic thinker with effective communication skills has been the basis of her success in today's competitive business market

 

Though Joanne started her career as an actress, opportunity invited her to make the leap behind the scenes as Assistant to the Producer for CBS special presentations such as the All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rose Parade and Happy New Year America. Joanne went on to develop her skills as a writer at ABC Television and The Walt Disney Company’s Consumer Products Division ranging from voice-over copy, licensing style guides, a Standard Character Guidebook, story/presentation development and children's books. Joanne went on to produce creative presentations for Disney's Licensing Department, communicating to major business licensees such as Mattel, Wamsetta, Seiko and Hallmark in Manhattan, Burbank, CA and Orlando, FLA.

 

During her tenure at Disney, Joanne helped to introduce Artist Development to the Consumer Products Division, bringing artists and business executives together through workshop and meeting formats.  Joanne has worked in alliance with DBM as a trainer, curriculum designer and one on one consultant in their outplacement programs.  Most recently, Joanne served as an advisor for Countrywide Financial Corporation’s Employee Mentoring Program.  In so doing, she utilized her marketing and creative skills, enhancing communication and performance between Countrywide’s Career Development Center and mentor/mentee participants.

 

Joanne holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, from Boston University where she was a Theatre Arts major.  She is a member of A.S.T.D. - Los Angeles Chapter and has received certification through their Train the Trainer Program and is MBTI and Strong Qualified through the APT Qualifying Training Program.

Rex McGee

Writing His Life’s Direction - Dallasnews.com "Recapturing the Magic"article

Rex McGee's Artists Way @ SMU

 http://homepage.mac.com/rexmcgee/Education7.html

Rex McGee, a successful Hollywood screenwriter is currently passing along the hard-won lessons in creativity he has learned over his years in the Film Industry.  He conducts workshops at corporations and local universities, called “The Artist’s Way,” which are based on the bestselling book by Julia Cameron that sharpened his own creative approach.    He helps participants revive the creative process, adding creativity to their jobs as engineers and mathematicians, journalists and human resource specialists. - or by guiding them toward their dreams of becoming writers, painters, musicians – whatever they desire.  Just as in his own life, Rex enjoys seeing his students take the creative reins.  Being consistently creative is about removing fear and taking fresh risks, he says, and Rex knows first-hand that taking a risk-- whether writing a letter to a famous director or a move back home -- could be the chance of a lifetime.
 
While a film student at the University of Southern California, Rex wrote what could have been dismissed as an ordinary fan letter to his idol, six-time Oscar winner Billy Wilder, about the director’s newest film at the time, a romantic comedy called Avanti!-  Wilder was impressed with the letter, and invited 21-year-old Rex to meet him at his office.  That first introduction ultimately led to a 29-year friendship like no other, with Rex assisting Wilder.  That meeting with Wilder Rex’s junior year of college provided the inspiration and courage necessary to launch the Texas native on a career doing what he loved.  Rex began writing movie scripts, while also working as a studio story analyst and writing for magazines such as Playboy and American Film. 

Though successful in a city that eats many alive, Rex finally hit the proverbial ‘creative wall’ in L.A.  He had outlived both of his parents and endured the end of a long-term relationship when he lost his dear Aunt Alice, who considered him like a son.  She bequeathed to him her 100-year-old home in Cleburne, and Rex took that as a sign that it was time to revisit his roots.  He packed up and moved back to Texas. -

Shortly after returning home, Rex got a call from film producer Jerry Weintraub (protégé of Elvis Presley’s manager, Col. Tom Parker), who needed a movie script to showcase country music star George Strait.  Rex wrote a story of a successful but unhappy singer who walks away from the limelight to return to his Texas roots, looking for a more genuine existence.  The film, Pure Country, was really Rex’s own story in disguise, and it turned out to have universal appeal.  The movie was a hit not only for Strait, but also for Rex. -

Today, Rex’s story of homecoming is now being developed into a stage musical with director Peter Masterson (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Trip to Bountiful).  In addition, his movie about the aunt who left Rex her house, A Family of Strangers, starring Marion Ross, Frank Whaley and Keith Carradine, is scheduled to air in January, 2005 on the Hallmark Channel.   Whether as a writer in L.A. or Cleburne, Texas, Rex still battles the blank page every day, currently working on diverse film projects about Cuba, cable TV news, and the Chicago Cubs.  He is happily married to the former Sandra Knebel, with whom he has a four-year-old daughter, Annie.