June 30, 2025

448: Why Every GM Needs a Strong Exit Plan And a Stronger People Plan w/ David Sweet, CCM

David Sweet’s journey from the luxury hotel world to the private club space is anything but typical—but his impact at Boca Woods shows what’s possible when a leader aligns people, purpose, and values.

In this episode, David shares how Boca Woods has evolved by investing deeply in culture, communication, and brand—from the inside out. From forming a marketing dream team to reshaping how members engage with the club, this is a masterclass in modern leadership.

We cover:

How Boca Woods earned a nomination as a Distinguished Club of the World

The importance of clarity in values—and how to make them live in your operations

How storytelling (internally and externally) has transformed engagement

Building a healthy internal culture that supports mental health and belonging

The value of mentorship—and how one mentor helped him negotiate a GM role on his terms

Why people and culture aren’t just “nice to have”—they’re your competitive edge

This one is for anyone who believes clubs are about more than just amenities—they’re about people.

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00:00 - Introduction to David Sweet

03:34 - Man Plans and God Laughs

09:54 - Building a Club Brand & Culture

19:29 - Transforming Boca Woods Club

29:30 - Club Leadership & Board Negotiations

40:36 - Mental Health & Workplace Culture

47:07 - Unwinding & Bourbon Conversations

WEBVTT

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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs, from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light.

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Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.

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I'm your host, denny Corby.

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Welcome to the show.

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This episode is exactly what I needed, because today I am joined by a guy who's not just a killer club leader but one of the kindest, most grounded humans I've had the pleasure of laughing with.

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Here on Private Club Radio we have David Sweet, ccm General Manager and COO of Boca Woods Country Club in Boca Raton, florida.

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David's had a wild ride from executive steward at the Ritz-Carlton in New England and Boston to managing TGI Fridays, to transforming a private club in a way that would make even the most skeptical board members cry tears of operational joy.

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We talk about everything from personal branding and bourbon to board negotiations and balance sheets.

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You'll hear how man's plan and God laugh isn't just his favorite quote but kind of the GPS for his entire journey.

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We get into the evolution of club culture building trust through consistency, creating a team that breathes the brand, and why every GM should have an exit strategy and also maybe a good bottle of Whistlepig Boss Hog.

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David shares how Boca Woods has grown.

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We get into leadership lessons, mentorship, mental health and, yep, even how he proposed to his now wife on a rooftop, with a surprise dinner menu courtesy of a Ritz-Carlton wedding downstairs.

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No big deal.

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This episode is warm, smart, hilarious and full of moments that make you rethink how you show up as a leader, teammate and human.

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I am super stoked for it.

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Before we dive in though, quick thanks to some of our show partners.

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We have our friends Golf Life, navigators, members, first Kennis Member, vetting Concert Golf Partners, as well as myself.

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The Denny Corby Experience.

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There's excitement, there's mystery.

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Also there's magic, mind reading and comedy.

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A ton of laughs, gasps and holy craps.

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If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorbycom.

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And I've also developed and created a guide for you to have the best comedy night possible.

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Now, I don't do straight stand-up comedy, but I've had too many clubs tell me they've had bad comedy nights, so I made the comedy guide on how you can have the best comedy night.

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It's the Comedy Night Blueprints If you want to check it out, go to dennycorbycom slash comedy guide.

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And also, I have to tell you about something very, very special and something I'm extremely passionate about that I'm putting on September 22nd.

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It's called Management in Motion and I am hosting it at the Monticello Motor Club, aka the private racetrack where dreams and tires go to burnout.

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Now you've been to leadership events before.

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You sit, you listen and maybe you get a cookie and then you go home wondering if anything really stuck.

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This is not that.

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Management in Motion is for club pros who want to move literally and professionally.

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We are talking full day access to BMW M's 2's, 3's and 4's, drifting on the wet skid pad, precision autocross, drag racing, high speed laps, karting the whole shebang.

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And in between all of the adrenaline we are learning real leadership lessons from club GMs who actually have spent time on the track.

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So not just talkers but doers and how.

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That all relates to what we're doing on the track, but as well as club management.

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It is something you are not going to want to miss.

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It is so affordable and so much fun.

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If you want to learn more, head on over to privateclubradiocom slash management in motion or privateclubradiocom slash mim M-I-M for management in motion.

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It's going to be so much fun.

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Seats and registration is filling up quick.

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We are only limited to 50 people and I would love to see you there.

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Enough about all of that, though.

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Let's get to the episode.

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Private Club Radio listeners.

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Let's get to the episode.

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Private club radio listeners.

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Let's welcome to the show.

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David sweet.

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Had you know, quite a killer journey from you know the ritz carlton to boca woods uh, that's very true do you ever just like, think, like, how did I end up here?

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definitely reflect on that once in a while.

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Yes, it's, uh, it's pretty cool.

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It is not at all where we expect it to be, but I'm so I we feel blessed that this is where we are.

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Yeah, yeah, and I mean your quote says it best man plans and God laughs, yeah for sure.

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Yeah, that about sums, up life.

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Yeah, do you have like a memory or anything or a moment that like embodied that quote for you?

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Yeah, absolutely memory or anything or a moment that like embodied that quote for you?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, I come out of college gung-ho, I did really, really well in school and I I got this vision of being a corporate executive for hotels, and then the great recession hits and I got laid off in, I want to say, 2008.

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Like boom, how does this happen?

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My departments are doing some of the best sales in the entire hotel, but people are making business decisions at that time, and so it really kind of changed the way that I looked at the world.

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And yeah, there it is man plans and god laughs and and then over time the fmv director who I was working with back then.

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He ends up as an agm down here in florida at a country club and I get this crazy phone call to come join the team, kind of again.

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Laugh like this is not my plan yeah, and then from from new.

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It's funny because we overlapped.

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Like we must have met some of the same places in in boston, which is even funnier.

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Uh, there's been a couple other people I've like chatted with.

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It's like we were in the sick.

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That's so cool.

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Like what are the?

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It almost makes you think like how many times, like you know, we were probably in like the same ball or just somewhere, or like walk past each other on the street and just had like no, no, like what's the word?

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Uh, you know no idea who, who we were, um no clue that we would connect what.

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What is it like 20 years?

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later.

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Okay, maybe not that yeah or to say that no, no oh yeah, oh, that hurt.

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That actually really doesn't hurt that.

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I don't like that at all I know I, I know, and now you've been at Boca Woods for a while now and I think from our chat and just from reading and everything, it's clear a lot has evolved.

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How would you describe the journey the club's been on?

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I think it's been an incredible journey at Boca Woods.

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It's been an incredible journey at Boca Woods and when I characterize it and kind of look at everything that has gone on, I think that this club over the last 10 years has really leaned in to the education provided by the club managers association and has really done the work that club benchmarking talks about and realized what needed to happen for the club to be something that's viable and that people look forward to in the future.

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So in the last 10 years, we've taken a property that Ray Cronin at Club Benchmarking would describe as not reinvesting, not doing the things to maintain the balance sheet, but cash flush and then helping members to understand how important it is to reinvest in their environment and building, I guess, relationships of trust to be able to pass the votes that needed to happen.

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And, yeah, it's been an incredible journey to see where we are now.

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We were recently tapped a nomination for Distinguished Clubs of the world and super humbling Like, yeah, super humbling.

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I shared with you a story when we were talking before I came to hookah woods in 2016, touring the property to consider working here, and I go home to my wife and I said, jamie, there's no way I can't do this.

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This club isn't in alignment with what we believe in.

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It's not my brand.

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And she says to me Dave, think about it for a minute, does it have potential?

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And so I'm reflecting on everything.

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And the people here were wonderful, just genuine human beings the membership, the staff, everybody, really really good people.

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And then, when you did the research and actually looked in on the balance sheet, they had the resources.

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They just the team in the membership wasn't agreeing on what needed to happen to get it to the next level.

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And so another moment where man plans and God laughs.

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She kind of helps me to refocus my energy and direction and, instead of trying to align with all the brands that I believe match who I am, here's an opportunity to take something from where it is or where it was and help it to realize its potential.

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I think that's incredible.

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Very very cool.

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Let's dive in about personal brand.

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Have you always been like a personal brand person and like a value person, or has that maybe grown over time?

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Just because I've talked with so many people and everyone has their own journey of how they got to where they're at.

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And some people, you know it's maybe something happened and they're like oh, like a light bulb clicks, like oh, I have to take this more seriously.

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So like how, how has that been for you on that journey of like a personal brand?

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So I think if you take the word personal brand and match it with the word reputation, the answer is yes.

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I've always been very, very concerned about my reputation and the impact that I leave on others.

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But when you think of all the nuances of quote branding, I think personal brand is really for me taken on a higher level, meaning in the last, I'd say, 15 years, and again I get it, I'm dating myself.

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But if you look at where we were as a society in the States and like, let's look at like the 90s, unemployment rate is like 10%.

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When you look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics you can see it.

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So basically translate that to the job that you're looking for.

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There are probably 10 other people, nine to 10 other people looking for the exact same job.

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So you don't really have the time or the energy to think about who you are, what your values are.

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You're pounding the streets trying to get the job because you've got bills to take care of, you've got responsibilities.

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Yeah, I don't think that shifts for society until much more recently, when they're historically low unemployment rates and all of a sudden, for everybody looking for a job, there are all these jobs available.

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Well, now people can be more thoughtful.

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They can think to that who am I as a person and what lines up with that?

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What are the brands, what are the right places that line up with that?

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So I think it's an evolution.

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I was always concerned with reputation, understanding values and brand.

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I think it's a luxury that where we are in society today affords all of us.

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So how do you bring because we're talking about the personal branding how do you bring that to life?

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What are those steps?

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What do you do to bring a personal brand to life?

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What does that entail?

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How does that work?

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So the concept that we're talking about is personal branding and then in today's world, how people want the places they work to align with their personal brands in the way that they.

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The way that that happens is a group, company, a club, puts a lot of time and energy into establishing what their values are, in sharing those values and bringing those values to life.

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So I think the hard part about that is that sometimes the concept of values sound really good to people and they think that it's a match for them, but it doesn't truly resonate and fit who they are.

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So in my mind, you can't bring a brand to life until you've got the right people on the bus.

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It's all about surrounding yourself with people that you love and that you trust and investing in those people, in helping those people to understand what's important to you.

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And that's what brings a company's brand to life is when everybody's kind of speaking the same language, right, and believing in the words that they're speaking.

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To me, that's when a brand really comes to life and once it's alive.

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Now it's about how you tell the story, and for us, we've been blessed to put together a really good membership and marketing team.

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Greg Friedlander is our member engagement director Cool kind of side story.

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We rebranded the concept of the membership role completely and it is totally focused on connecting with people and helping people connect with the experiences they want out of the club.

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So advocacy is a huge part of it, understanding the data of where people are actually participating huge part of it.

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And then she works that with our communications director, nihala Hillhouse, and our content creator, michael McMinn, and together that team helps people on the outside understand our brand through content.

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So there's some really cool videos out there.

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There's some really cool stories.

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There's a new concept that Michael piloted called the faces of character, character being our, our, our shared values, our acronym Um in me.

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That's how, once the brand is truly alive and people are breathing it and believe in it, that's how you share that brand is is to bring those stories to life for people on the outside, and then they can kind of look at that and say is this something I want to be a part of or does it not fit who I am?

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Yeah, and the reality is that's okay.

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Not every brand is for every person.

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When people spend the time and the energy to identify the right brand they're, they're probably entering into something that's more meaningful for them, and when people spend a lot of time and energy trying to become the brand they think they want to be a part of in today's market, I don't think that that's the right use of people's time.

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And then do you also do the same for internal communications and the content and stuff like that too.

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So you have your front facing.

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But I'm assuming I'm a big, big, big assumption I'm assuming then you're also creating really good content just for internal, that stuff that the outside never is going to see also.

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Yeah, a hundred percent.

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So that team is super engaged with creating newsletters and retelling stories, and we have we love the concept of FOMO, right?

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Somebody has the fear of missing out, and so we will regenerate what happened at an event and resell that story to people so they can look at what they missed out on and want to be a part of it next time.

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And yeah, I think that internal branding that you're talking about relates to something that we touched on earlier.

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When you're in sort of transition management or change management, helping people identify what that path looks like and where you're headed, that's a huge responsibility of branding.

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When your brand is helping to tell that story and drive it home for people, that gives people the runway to make the right decisions for themselves.

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Is this a brand I identify with as a member?

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Do I want to be on this journey with this club?

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And if the answer is no, that's okay.

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But how do we continue to extend grace and help that person to fulfill the next steps in their lives in a way that's meaningful and doesn't feel like they're being just left out in the cold right?

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yeah we're a really unique club in that every member votes for the annual operating budget.

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So think about that for a second.

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If the citizens of the united states could vote on the federal budget, I've got a feeling we wouldn't have highways, we just wouldn't have them.

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So the need, the need to communicate and help people understand where we're going is higher than it's.

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It's a very high threshold that that we have to reach for people to understand and to make the right decisions I love that.

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And to go back a moment to when you were considering the position at Boca, you were almost not going to take it at Boca Woods.

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You almost were going to take it, but then didn't they ask to talk to your wife.

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Oh yeah, that's a cool story, so that's actually that's a really cool story.

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So that's, that's actually not Boca Woods.

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That takes us back.

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My bad, my bad, so I love this, though this is.

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This is funny, so again, never thought country clubs were in my future.

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Um, I came from a small town in upstate New York.

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The country club was like a big room on a golf course.

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I always saw myself as corporate hotels, resorts, and I come down to Woodfield actually was the club, and I'm touring this club and it's gorgeous.

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I'm like oh my gosh, this is a resort.

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And I get all excited and I go home and then Jamie and I we talk ourselves out of it.

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We're like we're a two income family.

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We've got to move 1200 miles.

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We don't know where we're going to live.

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We don't.

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It's going to take months to find a job.

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We can't make this work and so I declined.

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And Eben, who's still the GM at Woodfield today, great, great guy Eben calls me up the next morning.

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He says so, I heard you turn us down.

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He says can I talk to your wife?

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And rose me I'm coming out of corporate.

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That's not a common thing in the corporate environment in 2010 or 12 when we're making this consideration.

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But I say, yeah, I guess.

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So I hand her the phone and she's pacing all over the house, she's walking the stairs, they're laughing.

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I'm like what is going on?

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An hour and a half goes by and she finally hangs up the phone.

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I go Jamieie, what just happened in?

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We're in new england, so some of the language might be a little off color and she responds and she goes.

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I don't know what the f that was, but I have a job at the country club across the street from your club, and we both start in october.

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So evan, through all of his relationships, knew he could land her a job immediately, didn't even ask them first and we end up making this huge plunge because they're willing to take the risk on us.

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It gets to the point where we're being foolish if we're not willing to reciprocate yeah and I think that is one of the key differences between clubs and corporate.

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Clubs have heart and when club managers are are, would they believe in something that they'll work really hard to help make those things happen.

00:19:01.088 --> 00:19:32.548
And I think club managers in today's world really believe in their people and they work really hard to bend heaven and earth to help their people achieve what they need to achieve to be successful yeah, yeah, is there something that's that you're proud of that might not show up on like a spreadsheet, because you know we were talking about like the, the numbers and stuff at, at, uh, at boca, but uh, is there something maybe that might not show up on the spreadsheet, but you feel it every day on property.

00:19:33.369 --> 00:19:33.971
Yeah, for sure.

00:19:33.971 --> 00:19:43.807
We try to incorporate it in our brand with a lot of the videography and stuff that we do, but it's the feeling that you get when you're interacting with the members and the staff here.

00:19:43.807 --> 00:19:48.355
Boca Raton has a tough name, right.

00:19:48.355 --> 00:20:08.612
It's known to be a very pretentious area in the country, but our little slice of heaven over here in West Boca is very unpretentious and you could be standing next to somebody whose net worth is just absolutely wild, but you'd have no idea, because they're down to earth and they treat you like people and they want to be treated just like another person.

00:20:08.612 --> 00:20:21.601
And that's something that is truly special about this club that I think we fight really hard to preserve, and the way that we fight those battles are through our vision, our mission and through some of our goals and things.

00:20:22.125 --> 00:20:30.855
Yeah, and have you felt that shift to the positive since you've started Like, has there been like a bigger shift in that direction, shift to the positive, since you've?

00:20:30.875 --> 00:20:31.115
started Like.

00:20:31.115 --> 00:20:32.178
Has there been like a bigger shift in that direction?

00:20:32.178 --> 00:20:39.596
Yeah, I mean, I would say that unpretentiousness was something that always made Bocowood special, I think how it's defined, though, has been shifted over time right.

00:20:39.596 --> 00:20:50.984
Unpretentious was a part of that story of deferred maintenance, where maybe things were kept up but not upkept, not lifted when it comes to facilities.

00:20:50.984 --> 00:21:00.355
So we've done a really good job of elevating facilities but at the same time continuing to drive that unpretentiousness through the relationships.

00:21:00.355 --> 00:21:06.155
And so, over time, boards have adopted all sorts of fun employee engagement activities.

00:21:06.155 --> 00:21:21.673
We do an event where members actually come down the golf course maintenance and we set up a huge barbecue and things and the members do a role reversal and they'll serve all the golf course maintenance staff and do some really fun things like that.

00:21:22.214 --> 00:21:28.521
And so those little things are happening all over the place and it's not just a board initiative right.

00:21:28.521 --> 00:21:29.826
All the membership leans into it.

00:21:29.826 --> 00:21:31.432
People look forward to those things.

00:21:31.432 --> 00:21:32.875
They get really excited about those things.

00:21:34.287 --> 00:21:34.528
Yeah, yeah.

00:21:34.528 --> 00:21:38.718
Now you've, you've, you've done a lot of you know from the corporate side.

00:21:38.718 --> 00:21:46.634
But all hospitality, was there something or anything that you picked up in your early days that still helps you or that that you keep, keep with now?

00:21:52.505 --> 00:21:53.849
Yeah, a hundred percent.

00:21:53.849 --> 00:21:56.538
I think that if I were to look at clubs 10 years ago and that's my barometer I guess I joined clubs 12 years ago.

00:21:56.538 --> 00:22:02.836
But if I were to look at clubs 10 years ago, I think that there were a lot of differences around the way clubs were run.

00:22:02.836 --> 00:22:15.873
Evan was really passionate about the concept of bringing some corporate thought processes and how we manage business in the corporate world to clubs, and I think I've brought some of that here to Boca Woods.

00:22:16.433 --> 00:22:44.115
But more importantly and that is, I think, the foundations that I took from Ritz-Carlton here at Boca Woods we have a credo card very similar to what you might have seen at Ritz-Carlton back in the day, and the credo card outlines our vision, our mission, our shared values, and when I say shared, these aren't the values of just the team, they're the values that we also share with the membership, because that's what makes the place special is that we share a set of values.

00:22:44.115 --> 00:22:53.297
There's a list of guiding principles that helps us in decision-making, and so those are things that came to life for me through Ritz-Carlton.

00:22:53.297 --> 00:23:03.498
Every day, whether we were working as a team in the stewarding department in DISH or whether it was the senior leadership meetings every day started out the same way.

00:23:03.498 --> 00:23:15.059
It started out with that credo card in hand and just a reflection on what the vision was for the company and what we were doing that day that helped to roll up to that greater process.

00:23:16.404 --> 00:23:17.588
Yeah, and what you managed?

00:23:17.588 --> 00:23:19.375
Like 200 grand worth of China.

00:23:21.464 --> 00:23:22.711
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right Yep.

00:23:24.105 --> 00:23:25.392
That's a big responsibility.

00:23:26.565 --> 00:23:27.445
Yeah, it was fun.

00:23:27.445 --> 00:23:29.007
I had a team of like 24.

00:23:29.007 --> 00:23:31.067
We did the overnight cleaning for the place.

00:23:31.067 --> 00:23:34.151
That Ritz-Carlton property was special.

00:23:34.151 --> 00:23:47.240
There was a rooftop that was a wedding venue that had an independent sort of kitchen up there, and then we had the main events and activities took place on the fourth floor.

00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:48.800
It was just cool.

00:23:48.800 --> 00:23:53.247
It was really, really, it was special was that the ritz in boston?

00:23:53.247 --> 00:23:59.026
Yeah, on the corner of arlington and newberry street beautiful, beautiful funny story.

00:23:59.808 --> 00:24:02.194
I was the I.

00:24:02.194 --> 00:24:04.161
I grew into the executive steward role.

00:24:04.161 --> 00:24:07.087
From a stewarding supervisor I went to the fmb director.

00:24:07.087 --> 00:24:18.532
I'm like, hey, I, uh, I've got this woman who I want to ask to marry me, but you're aware of my financial situation.

00:24:18.532 --> 00:24:19.635
I don't have a ton of resources.

00:24:19.635 --> 00:24:22.549
And he was so sweet, robert Recterman.

00:24:22.549 --> 00:24:26.357
He's a GM now a different company, but great, great guy.

00:24:26.357 --> 00:24:46.192
He asked the catering team to work with me and so there was a wedding going on on the fourth floor and the girls in catering put little candles out onto the rooftop deck and put a little sweetheart table in the corner and they gave us the same menu that the wedding was serving downstairs for for this engagement dinner.

00:24:46.192 --> 00:24:47.714
She had no clue it was coming.

00:24:48.797 --> 00:24:57.657
It was magical, it was magical yeah, yeah yeah, hospitality is special yeah, that's cool, that's really cool.

00:24:59.082 --> 00:25:09.586
You must have felt like a baller that night, I mean honestly I she probably did I I was just super grateful and in the back of my mind is the sweat dripping down.

00:25:09.586 --> 00:25:11.490
You know I'm thinking to myself what am I gonna?

00:25:11.551 --> 00:25:12.413
owe everybody for this.

00:25:12.413 --> 00:25:13.977
Like, how am I gonna make?

00:25:14.057 --> 00:25:16.815
up for what these people have done, because it was just.

00:25:16.815 --> 00:25:18.121
It was super heartfelt.

00:25:18.121 --> 00:25:25.739
There were some really good people that put a lot of energy into making it special yeah, was there any any shifts at the club?

00:25:26.346 --> 00:25:31.297
that, uh, that required a lot of, like, finesse and patience, maybe.

00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:36.710
Yeah, yeah, there are multiple and I think that takes place in every club.

00:25:36.710 --> 00:25:42.675
One of the key things going on right now, I think, in the industry as a whole, is this concept of regeneration.

00:25:42.675 --> 00:25:49.212
You've got original members at many of these clubs who are sort of attritioning out.

00:25:49.212 --> 00:26:01.368
Right, they're either aging out, really dying off some um, choosing to sell off before that happens, and so you've got this new population, younger generations, coming in.

00:26:01.368 --> 00:26:09.294
So all of a sudden, as the club regenerates which is great because it's whole right we have the membership base to be successful.

00:26:09.294 --> 00:26:19.109
But you've got members in different generations that are all maybe volleying for the same membership dollars, for different experiences that they're looking for.

00:26:19.190 --> 00:26:38.555
So I think navigating that, for both for the membership and for the management, it's it's challenging yeah, yeah, how have you and it's probably more so in Florida than a lot of other places yeah, maybe, maybe Good for you, but no, yeah, definitely a lot more.

00:26:38.555 --> 00:26:45.696
I'm just saying because I think the concentration in Florida, but what have you done to help with that, that regeneration?

00:26:47.227 --> 00:26:50.999
I think just being open and honest about what we're facing has helped.

00:26:50.999 --> 00:26:54.849
Right in the beginning people didn't realize what was happening.

00:26:54.849 --> 00:27:03.615
They just felt like they maybe they were losing a piece of what they were used to, because it's the same dues dollars to now help more people.

00:27:03.615 --> 00:27:23.740
So we spent a lot of time in energy building a communication strategy that could help sort of bring people along with the story and help them understand, and that communication strategy included things like some focus group meetings or some by invitation sessions.

00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:25.549
We called it.

00:27:25.549 --> 00:27:35.046
The president at the time was named Joanne, so it was a cup of Joe with Dave and Joe, and so we would sit down and we would just tell them hey, these are some of the things that we're up against.

00:27:35.046 --> 00:27:36.588
Is we're planning next year's budget?

00:27:36.588 --> 00:27:40.376
Um, you know, we did some open invites.

00:27:40.897 --> 00:27:49.067
Um, in more recent administrations, president has held um discussions with the membership and it's open invite.

00:27:49.067 --> 00:27:51.145
People can come in and just share what's on their mind.

00:27:51.145 --> 00:27:53.711
We use those platforms to also share.

00:27:53.711 --> 00:28:01.727
Hey, this is where we are and we know that what you're paying is important to you and we also know that value is defined by what you're getting.

00:28:01.727 --> 00:28:09.109
But there are all these different people now with different needs that are looking for value, and here's the way that we believe is right to approach this.

00:28:09.109 --> 00:28:16.278
I think as long as it hits the logic test, people tend to get behind it.

00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:22.990
Yeah, yeah, really, we're all just in sales, it's all just sellable.

00:28:22.990 --> 00:28:31.019
No, but I think, because sometimes change is more about unlearning than learning.

00:28:31.825 --> 00:28:32.750
Yeah, that's true.

00:28:34.945 --> 00:28:40.276
Is there anything that you or your team had to maybe unlearn to move forward?

00:28:40.296 --> 00:28:51.335
No, when I got here in 2016, the operations weren't known for consistency.

00:28:51.335 --> 00:29:02.415
They weren't very smooth and at the same time, looking at it, there were certain resources being denied the operations team.

00:29:02.415 --> 00:29:04.880
That would have maybe created that consistency.

00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:10.813
So the membership had learned we don't have budget increases more than 3%.

00:29:10.813 --> 00:29:14.983
That was their expectation and the reality of.

00:29:14.983 --> 00:29:25.950
I guess the psychology behind a dues increase is that it really matters, like when you're leading up to it, but after it happens it's yesterday's news and people forget about it.

00:29:25.950 --> 00:29:34.303
What they don't forget about is the fact that the dinner I had tonight was wonderful, but three days later I had dinner and it was a mess.

00:29:34.963 --> 00:29:44.782
So if you can help people understand the resources that you need to do the job that you believe they want you to do, and then you can deliver on those expectations, that's how trust is built.

00:29:44.782 --> 00:29:51.422
So we had to unlearn certain things that people were taking for granted.

00:29:51.422 --> 00:29:55.152
Help them understand the things that historically, we've never done.

00:29:55.152 --> 00:29:57.584
Well, it's within our abilities.

00:29:57.584 --> 00:29:59.651
We just need to be resourced correctly to do it.

00:29:59.651 --> 00:30:02.182
And new guy walking in can't say that.

00:30:02.182 --> 00:30:13.816
So I come in and I'm busting tables and I'm, you know, learning everybody's names and developing the street credit to be able to tell that story later down the line.

00:30:14.299 --> 00:30:15.281
Yeah, yeah.

00:30:15.281 --> 00:30:22.654
Have you had any mentors or you know, guiding voices, so to speak, that shape you and what you've done?

00:30:24.101 --> 00:30:24.842
Yeah, yeah.

00:30:24.842 --> 00:30:27.327
So I'm blessed, I was.

00:30:27.327 --> 00:30:30.441
I was blessed to be aligned with eban malloy, who's a gm at woodfield.

00:30:30.441 --> 00:30:31.502
That was phenomenal.

00:30:31.502 --> 00:30:36.272
Uh, former gm at woodfield who's now the coo at hunter's run.

00:30:36.272 --> 00:30:39.205
Larry sabitas has been a wonderful mentor for me.

00:30:39.205 --> 00:30:42.992
Mike mccarthy, um, has been a phenomenal mentor.

00:30:42.992 --> 00:30:45.886
He's the gm and ceo over at addison.

00:30:45.886 --> 00:30:53.871
In fact, when I was ready to take the step from AGM to GM, mike helped me negotiate my package with the board.

00:30:53.871 --> 00:31:00.449
He was amazing, quick, kind of side step story, side quest.

00:31:00.449 --> 00:31:03.844
Love it, okay, cool.

00:31:03.864 --> 00:31:11.414
So they present me with this offer and I, you know, I want to be grateful and I just I thank them and I say I need some time to think about it.

00:31:11.414 --> 00:31:20.954
You know, looking at it in the reality is it is not representative of what this job should be worth or even what an entry level GM should be making.

00:31:20.954 --> 00:31:30.484
So I reach out to Mike and we have some conversations and he says Dave, maybe, I don't know send your president over here, I'll feed him the lunch, we'll have some conversation.

00:31:30.484 --> 00:31:37.747
So my president comes back with the past president and she says well, that was eyeopening.

00:31:37.747 --> 00:31:39.250
I said I don't understand.

00:31:39.250 --> 00:31:39.731
What do you mean?

00:31:39.731 --> 00:31:48.654
She says well, he basically told me that he could rip you out of the seat that you're in today and have you be the AGM somewhere else, making twice what we offer you.

00:31:49.902 --> 00:31:51.983
I said, oh wow, I can see how that.

00:31:51.983 --> 00:31:55.986
I can see how that that might, yeah, but it trends.

00:31:55.986 --> 00:32:35.904
So he delivered in a way that just showed genuine love and trust and that stimulated some really good conversations, and so probably took three months for us to get to the place where I was signing on the dotted line, but he helped to create this environment of receptiveness where they were ready to to think through realizing maybe all my expertise in what I've done through my life doesn't necessarily prepare, prepare me to be the expert in this particular negotiation that that that was just amazing.

00:32:35.904 --> 00:32:37.618
Having a mentor step into that kind of role, that that was huge.

00:32:38.201 --> 00:32:38.663
Yeah, yeah.

00:32:38.663 --> 00:32:39.547
Were there any big?

00:32:39.547 --> 00:32:44.612
Were there any other big takeaways from from that negotiation, from that?

00:32:45.780 --> 00:32:47.810
Yeah, for sure, for sure.

00:32:47.810 --> 00:32:48.173
Yeah.

00:32:48.173 --> 00:33:13.167
One thing that both Mike and Larry will tell you and I preach this to all the guys coming up who I work with and talk to is that one of the most important things that you do in your labor negotiations is negotiate a really strong exit strategy, and I get that sounds dark, but the reality of the industry that we're in is that our careers are dependent upon a political process right.

00:33:13.167 --> 00:33:24.165
A popular vote determines who the next board seats are, and the board seats determine whether or not what you believe is performance is or is not considered performance.

00:33:24.165 --> 00:33:27.854
So an exit strategy might look like.

00:33:27.854 --> 00:33:38.701
If you were to be separated without cause, how many months of severance pay would you be entitled to, based on your years of service?

00:33:38.701 --> 00:33:51.409
In preparing that exit strategy is what causes a board to come in, and, let's face it, new board seats coming in have been sitting on the outside of the tent the entire time.

00:33:51.409 --> 00:33:53.827
They have no real clue what's going on.

00:33:54.280 --> 00:34:01.386
They might be really great people, right, but their impression of what is or is not happening is not based in reality.

00:34:01.386 --> 00:34:03.407
It's based in the rumors that are circulating around the club.

00:34:03.407 --> 00:34:12.851
So when you've created a really strong exit strategy, you cause them all to pause really, really hard before making what I would consider a very dumb decision.

00:34:13.900 --> 00:34:17.148
That might be the highlight of the episode there, that little last three minutes.

00:34:17.148 --> 00:34:22.389
Yeah, it's important, yeah, very.

00:34:22.699 --> 00:34:25.427
And if you think about it, what do they want from you?

00:34:25.427 --> 00:34:26.409
The board that's hiring you?

00:34:26.409 --> 00:34:27.731
They want you to be a strong, independent leader.

00:34:27.731 --> 00:34:27.797
They want you to lead with your.

00:34:27.797 --> 00:34:28.117
What do they want from you, the board that's hiring you?

00:34:28.117 --> 00:34:28.601
They want you to be a strong, independent leader.

00:34:28.601 --> 00:34:31.369
They want you to lead with your heart and they want you to be honest with them.

00:34:31.369 --> 00:34:58.586
But if they've prepared your labor agreement in a way that you're very worried about all these outside influences, well now your instinct as a father, as a husband, as a caregiver, your instinct might be to protect all those who you're responsible for outside of the organization, when your instincts should be focused on protecting all those within the organization.

00:34:58.586 --> 00:35:10.286
And as long as the people who are outside of the organization that you care for are protected through your agreement, then you can focus on the people who are who you're responsible for within the organization.

00:35:10.688 --> 00:35:16.650
Yeah, I'm sure it saves both parties, both sides also.

00:35:16.650 --> 00:35:22.539
Yeah, so no one you know with a hothead or something just goes in from the GM or the board.

00:35:22.539 --> 00:35:27.885
You know it saves both sides from, I guess, maybe blowing the top off.

00:35:27.885 --> 00:35:31.367
It has a nice little cushion there, so to speak.

00:35:32.628 --> 00:35:37.612
Yeah, you think about it.

00:35:37.612 --> 00:35:41.637
There's a great guy and I won't share his name, but he shared with me a story.

00:35:41.637 --> 00:35:57.206
He was looking for a job and the GM who he was applying with reached out to his former GM and he shared with me what the former GM said was listen, sometimes bad things happen to good people.

00:35:57.206 --> 00:36:11.543
In the reality of the club space that we choose to to operate in and that we love and that we believe in, that can happen if the politics are permitted to kind of go on their own way, unfettered.

00:36:11.543 --> 00:36:25.666
So it's our responsibility to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first so we can think about everybody else who are responsible for it, and that's both members, that's future boards and that's staff.

00:36:26.206 --> 00:36:27.429
Yeah, yeah.

00:36:27.429 --> 00:36:31.023
Yeah, I think we touched on it a little bit.

00:36:31.023 --> 00:36:40.460
We can probably think of some other stuff, but what do you think the next generation of club leadership needs to be ready for, or that like we're just not talking about enough?

00:36:42.563 --> 00:36:53.175
There are two things that I think we're just starting to touch on, and one of them is mental health, and I am so proud of what happened at this last year's World Conference.

00:36:53.175 --> 00:36:54.782
Joe Mendes should be applauded.

00:36:54.782 --> 00:36:57.851
Everybody with CMA who leaned into that should be applauded.

00:36:57.851 --> 00:37:06.327
The world that we're coming out of, the Generation Xers, were kind of taught not to look in on themselves, and I still believe that a huge part of that was the unemployment rate.

00:37:06.327 --> 00:37:08.713
They didn't have the time or they couldn't afford the luxury of looking in on themselves, and I still believe that a huge part of that was the unemployment rate.

00:37:08.713 --> 00:37:12.016
They didn't have the time or they couldn't afford the luxury of looking in on themselves.

00:37:12.016 --> 00:37:19.740
But the reality of the luxury of options today is that awareness of mental health comes to the forefront.

00:37:19.740 --> 00:37:34.949
If we're not providing the tools and the resources for our team to have the right experiences both at work and maybe outside of work, get the support that they need, then it's tough to believe that they're going to stick around and be a part of what we're doing.

00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:38.670
That leads to my second one, which is workplace culture.

00:37:38.670 --> 00:37:53.396
I'm calling what we're experiencing right now the people and culture revolution, and I don't believe that it's just happening because, ultra realistically, it always should have.

00:37:53.396 --> 00:38:01.550
I believe a huge part of what's driving it is the current demographics, in the fact that there are so many jobs available in the marketplace.

00:38:01.550 --> 00:38:20.623
So all of these things converging coming together create the situation where the employee who we're targeting has so many options and it could be a single thing that happens on the job that triggers somebody to just walk out the door and they don't have to worry about a safety net because there are so many jobs available for them.

00:38:20.623 --> 00:38:22.871
Within the week they could probably be earning a paycheck.

00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:35.210
So if you're building the right structure internally, people have people to turn to safe, safe spaces they can talk to and I joked with this, this with you before.

00:38:35.210 --> 00:38:39.248
The safe space isn't the soft seating, the Google couch where you can cry for the day.

00:38:39.248 --> 00:39:09.541
The safe space is just knowing that there are people on that team that you can trust, who aren't going to abuse what you share with them, who aren't going to share it, who are just going to be there for you to vent sometimes and not hold you responsible for those things that need to come off your chest in that moment, but help you to realign how you're approaching a situation, rethink through your position in a certain thing and when you're providing an environment that helps everybody to get stronger, that's where people want to be.

00:39:09.541 --> 00:39:12.628
They're not going to go looking elsewhere.

00:39:13.090 --> 00:39:17.384
So, people in culture yeah, the parties are fun.

00:39:17.384 --> 00:39:19.208
Yeah, having music day is cool.

00:39:19.208 --> 00:39:21.880
But people in culture is deeper than all of that.

00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:23.485
Those are check boxes.

00:39:23.485 --> 00:39:51.894
The meaningful thing happens when you create spaces where people can be themselves, they can be authentic and they can share openly, behind any door that they feel comfortable, what's on their mind and what's concerning them, because that's an opportunity for that leader or that coworker to help them reframe, refocus and be on the path that they want to be on if, for a moment, they're feeling like they're not sure which way to turn, yeah, how do you unwind which?

00:39:52.054 --> 00:39:56.065
what's the what's the sweet way to unwind and relax?

00:39:57.010 --> 00:40:01.621
well, if you asked me, two years ago, it was probably three fingers of bourbon every night.

00:40:01.621 --> 00:40:09.090
But a part of that mental health journey is also understanding coping mechanisms that aren't necessarily, you know, self-medicating.

00:40:09.090 --> 00:40:16.521
So, um, I think, I think now the way that I unwind is I'm reinvesting in myself.

00:40:16.521 --> 00:40:29.965
Um, one of the cool things about the club here is that we have some policies that provide access to the sports amenities to team members, so you'll find me on the tennis courts three, four days a week.

00:40:30.786 --> 00:41:00.269
Um, I participate in some of the member clinics and it's just a break from the grind yeah and it's reinvesting in physical fitness, which is something I neglected, probably for solid 20 years, right when the badge of honor that we're growing out of from starting the workplace in the 90s is how many hours you put in and we're defining passion as the sacrifices we make for the job, not the sacrifices that we make for our families or for ourselves.

00:41:00.269 --> 00:41:12.998
When you redefine what passion is, I think that helps you to unwind and decompress, and I still enjoy those three fingers every now and then.

00:41:13.501 --> 00:41:13.882
What's your?

00:41:13.882 --> 00:41:14.304
What's your?

00:41:14.304 --> 00:41:14.865
What's your?

00:41:14.865 --> 00:41:15.548
Bourbon of choice?

00:41:16.661 --> 00:41:21.025
Oh, that's a good question Um okay, I grew up yeah, I.

00:41:21.025 --> 00:41:33.094
So I grew up with my dad, with makers, um, I'm a big Woodford fan and more recently I've I really liked exploring rise um yeah.

00:41:33.094 --> 00:41:36.983
So, uh, let me see boss hog.

00:41:36.983 --> 00:41:54.079
Um, yeah, I'm a big fan of, of uh, the new rise that are coming out yeah, so I'll tell you uh, yeah so so bourbon came to me, though, because I decided my my recession um back in 20, 2008, 2010,.

00:41:54.481 --> 00:41:58.170
The way I was going to contribute was I was going to ignore scotch and I was going to drink bourbon.

00:41:58.170 --> 00:42:01.706
My contribution to the local economy.

00:42:01.967 --> 00:42:13.346
So so this is like a weird side quest, so uh, whenever, this is like a weird side quest, so uh, whenever I fly, my like drink of choice is jack and diet dr pepper love it.

00:42:13.346 --> 00:42:14.869
I'm just a big big jack jack fan.

00:42:14.869 --> 00:42:18.083
On american airlines, they, they have jack, also woodford.

00:42:18.083 --> 00:42:25.804
But to me, like woodford, even like makers like I, to me, like those are just bourbons you don't mix.

00:42:25.804 --> 00:42:33.648
There's just one that that may be like an ice cube, whatever, maybe like an old-fashioned whatever, that's fine, but to me, woodford, you just don't mix yeah.

00:42:34.121 --> 00:42:34.985
Classic cocktails only.

00:42:35.246 --> 00:42:35.385