Neighbors Construction has been in the construction industry for over 50 years. Started by R.D. "Pat" Neighbors in 1951 with little more than a Navy issued tool box, he sold a much larger business to son Roger in 1989. Now Roger and Nancy's twin sons are in the business as well (their daughter is a chef in Arizona), starting at the bottom, just like their grandfather and father.

Roger handles the construction and Nancy, Vice President, handles administration and finance, and manages their lumber yard and apartment complex. Revenue from the firm is around $25-28 million and Roger mentions destiny--and a whole lot of hard work and wonderful employees are the reasons for their success. Nancy agrees and adds clear communication to each other and their staff.

That hard work often seems all-engrossing. That is probably their biggest challenge--keeping work separate from their personal lives. "Every morning in the bathroom, we have a board of directors meeting," Nancy laughs. "Work can really consume us." So they have developed a pact that on their many weekends at the lake, they will not, can not, talk about work until they hit Harrisonville on the way home. "Roger tried to talk about an issue in Clinton once, but a rule is a rule," laughs Nancy. Separating work from business is always difficult for them but the advantage, Roger says, is that Nancy "understands what I go through to run this side of the company. I can blow off steam and she listens. And helps."

Nancy says that the two of them are really opposites, with she being more of the cheerleader and Roger a pretty quiet guy, but one who loves company in general, as well as their company. Both feel a strong obligation to the company and their employees. "We care for our people. Roger always says to them, 'We'll try to take care of you no matter what happens--death, divorces, money, whatever. As long as you come to us and you're honest, we'll try to help you deal with it.'" That caring attitude must partially account their many long term employees, not to mention their long term success.

"I am compelled to tell you this--I am a very difficult woman! I'm very forward, very driven. It takes an extraordinary man to support that, a very special guy. And Mike would agree with me." Gail Worth Wilson laughs, as she does often, but it's clear she means it. And Mike is her husband of 15 years, known around Gail's Harley-Davidson in Belton as "Dyno-Mike."

This dealership, recognized as one of the top in the country, offers one of the largest inventories of motor-cycles, parts and accessories, and MotorClothes™ merchandise in the Midwest. Its sales have zoomed to $15-20 million a year and 40 employees, steadily increasing since Gail bought the 15,000 square foot shop from her father three years ago. Tripling their size and moving to Grandview is in the works now.

Gail is the president and has been active in the dealership since high school, learning all phases of the day-to-day operations in a variety of positions. In 1991 she was put in control of the Belton shop while two brothers ran different locations. She persuaded her husband Mike to leave his job as sales and service manager at a large Grandview company to set up a performance center. Initially hesitant to leave, Mike was finally convinced that this was the niche they needed to develop. It's been remarkably successful.

From their first date, "the most romantic ever" according to Gail (including pizza, beer and a drag race), they've been friends, a real key to their relationship. That and the fact, hoots Gail, "I am so remarkably forgiving!" It's really not that easy, though Mike says it is." But they've agreed on a system and figured out boundaries: Gail is the boss at work but, "After 7 p.m., he runs the show . . . and takes care of me. At work, he's the man running the Performance Center." Their personalities balance one another: Gail is "at the edge of the cliff, ready to leap. And Mike is holding me back with one arm wrapped around a tree." It works--and what else works, they say, is to "leave work at work."