In Conversation with Convergence, Episode 49: George Evans and Marisa Messana of Marigold Elite Partners Discuss Golf and High Performance

George Evans welcomes listeners to the 49th episode of In Conversation with Convergence, a monthly podcast featuring interesting people in and around the industry, which he says has run for about four years. He introduces Marisa Messana, founder of Marigold Elite Partners and a former professional golfer, and says she is not like Convergence's normal guest. Messana says she and Evans met at an Apex event, which was an example of one of her programs.

Messana says she played golf at Clemson University for four years and that the team reached the national championship, which she believes was her junior season. She says she received the Elite 90 award there, given to the student-athlete at the championship with the highest GPA, and that the moment was defining because her internal world did not match her external success. She says that led her to build the systems and processes that sustain high performance, a theme she sees among many high performers.

After finishing her master's at Clemson, Messana turned pro. She says she made it through the second stage of qualifying school for the LPGA and competed on the Epson Tour for about three years, with COVID interrupting, sometimes playing in eight cities in eight consecutive weeks and traveling and competing by herself in her twenties.

How did Marigold Elite Partners start?

Messana says she checked in honestly with herself about whether the tour lifestyle matched the life she wanted and realized it did not. She says Sports Illustrated asked her to launch a channel on its website producing golf content, which she did not see as her true north as a broadcaster but as the best next step for diversifying her skills. Through the channel, she says, companies began asking her to teach their executives golf and help them develop relationships on the course, which she calls the genesis of her business.

Messana, who is based in Florida, says she now travels the country helping clients develop relationships with their top clients, prospects, and others through golf programs. Evans says Convergence launched about 12 years ago.

What are Marigold's pillars of high performance?

Messana says the through line is developing relationships, applied in two ways: business development, in which clients bring top clients and prospects out through golf, and internal leadership development. She says she shares strategies from her time as a top performer on tour that translate to any industry, organized around three pillars, and that putting systems in place in all three can catapult success. The table below summarizes them as she describes them.

Marisa Messana's three pillars, as she describes them in Episode 49

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How do Marigold's programs work?

Evans asks how to get a typical corporation, in an industry that wants proof, to think about the three pillars. Messana says the golf course is the perfect platform for breaking down barriers, so she starts programs there. She says sharing stories of her own trials and triumphs lowers the barrier for others to share what they are struggling with, that the group can then create solutions collectively, and that shared struggle creates deeper relationships.

Marigold Elite Partners programs, as Messana describes them in Episode 49

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How has the business evolved, and where is it going?

Messana says Marigold is about two and a half years old, counting from when she officially made the transition. She says it began heavy on golf content because her Sports Illustrated channel produced inquiries for golf instruction, but that she realized executives faced the same challenges she faced as a top performer and built a high-performance curriculum, combining golf and growth over about a year. She says last year brought many keynote inquiries.

Messana says she is moving toward interactive workshops in which participants work together on solutions rather than listening to a keynote. She describes acting as an extension of a client's team: for an investment firm whose general partners (GPs) are raising capital and need continued touch points with limited partners (LPs), she can run bimonthly or quarterly programs that build relationships and create a community of the client's clients, which she says compounds the client's value as people introduce one another.

What did Messana and Evans say about AI and human connection?

Messana says AI will take over many tasks people no longer need to do but cannot replace human connection, which she calls humans' advantage, and that creating human connection can help people come out stronger from the current systemic change.

Evans says Convergence, a data and analytics company, has had AI for about six years, that it is not new although it is evolving, and that AI is no good without subject matter expertise: he says the human side of expertise on the subject guides AI and defines what AI looks at and its output.

How does Marigold measure change and follow through?

Evans asks whether Messana returns months later to measure what has changed. She says she also works one-to-one, in the second vertical of internal leadership development: she kicks off at an internal leadership team offsite, then works one-on-one with each executive to implement the systems and hold them accountable. She says a feedback loop over six weeks or six months shows whether performance is actually improving, and that she acts almost as a performance partner. Evans says executives want to measure return on investment and that he thinks change management will be the greatest thing she has to offer.

What did Messana leave listeners with?

Messana says it is a long game with no quick fix, that she is eager to lock arms with people driven to invest in their internal performance in order to achieve external success, and that there are no shortcuts to becoming a champion. She says transformational results are possible for those who commit to the process and play the long game, whether they work with her or anyone else. Evans says he likes the long game and wishes her continued success.

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