Greg McNeilly, the West Michigan entrepreneur behind mcneilly.com, has released his debut poetry collection, Red White and Verse, a work that explores American myths, legends, and iconic historical figures through the precision of poetry. The collection, published June 21, 2026, marks a significant expansion of McNeilly's platform, which has long blended business thinking with creative writing.
Rather than treating entrepreneurship and poetry as separate disciplines, Red White and Verse reflects a perspective shaped by both. McNeilly applies the clarity required in leadership to examine broader questions about national identity and historical memory. The collection uses the compression and precision of verse to examine well-known historical figures from angles that prose often overlooks, offering readers a fresh lens on American culture.
"Poetry gave me a way to get closer to these figures and stories than a business essay ever could," said McNeilly. "The discipline of writing verse forces you to be precise—every word has to carry weight. That turns out to be a lot like running a business."
McNeilly's West Michigan background grounds the collection's sensibility, drawing on a region known for practical industry and community-oriented values. That perspective informs both the tone of mcneilly.com and the approach in Red White and Verse, which is engaged, direct, and attentive to the human dimensions of the figures it examines.
The parallel between entrepreneurship and creative writing is one mcneilly.com has explored for some time. Both disciplines require tolerance for uncertainty, the ability to revise, and a willingness to commit to a direction even when outcomes are not guaranteed. Red White and Verse represents a convergence of those two paths into a single published work.
For readers familiar with mcneilly.com and its focus on ideas at the intersection of business and human experience, the collection extends that habit of inquiry. As an entrepreneur poet, McNeilly brings the same analytical attention he applies to business into his reading of American history, asking not just what happened, but what those events and figures have come to represent and why those representations endure.
The debut collection is now available through mcneilly.com, adding a distinct creative dimension to a platform that continues to sit at the crossroads of business leadership and reflective writing. For followers of the site's entrepreneurship content, the poetry offers a new entry point into the ideas and questions that have shaped McNeilly's work across both fields.
