July 15, 2024 • 37 mins
Crafting a leadership brand is more than just a buzzword—it's about executive presence, storytelling, and ethical clarity.
Ever wondered how to stand out in the competitive world of hospitality, particularly in the exclusive private club sector?
This episode promises to unlock the secrets of personal branding with insights from Tom Wallace from KKW.
We dive into the essence of what makes professionals like chefs, CFOs, and leaders unique, and how they can convey their singular qualities to land top-tier positions. With 2025 around the corner, discover why your LinkedIn profile might be your most powerful tool yet in showcasing your professional identity.
Listen to personal stories and valuable advice that stress the importance of hard work, a love for people, and maintaining a positive attitude over traditional education credentials. Learn how these elements, combined with a robust personal brand, pave the way for a thriving career in hospitality.
Tom Wallace emphasizes the need for confidence, consistency, and a clear set of non-negotiables. We also tackle the potential pitfalls of social media and the importance of maintaining a professional online presence. Learn how to communicate effectively with concise, logical messaging, and understand why brevity can be your ally in professional settings.
This episode is packed with actionable tips to help you navigate the intricacies of personal branding and leadership in today's hospitality landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
First is you know, be able to easily articulate
what's compelling about you.
Tell me what is different aboutyou as a chef than every other
chef that's applying for thisjob.
You need to be able to say thatyou know, these are the things
that I'm best known for.
This is what my team would sayabout me.
This is what my boss would sayabout me.
(00:20):
This is what anybody that worksunder me would say.
And you know why I'm in thisindustry.
Is this, this and this, and Idon't want to hear what you cook
.
Well, we just assume you cancook.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Because we're in the leadership business.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Whatever we're hiring for chefs, pros,
superintendents, gms, cfos we'rein the leadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming if you're a CFOs,I just want we're in the
leadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming you could.
If you're a CFO, you can countand add and subtract and do all
the finance stuff you can, butwhat separates you as a finance
leader and what as a culinaryleader?
(00:57):
What sets you apart?
So you know, being able to tella compelling story is really
important to me about whatseparates you curtain.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Learn what we're about here.
Welcome.
We are glad you were all here.
I'm excited for this episode.
I talk with one of my favoritepeople to talk with in the club
space, tom Wallace.
What a guy.
If you don't know Tom Wallace,you have to.
Just such a consummateprofessional, just someone who's
worked his way up, did the workand is now in a position where
(01:44):
he helps other people get jobsand positions.
Just a wonderful, wonderfulperson.
When I think of personalbranding, one of the people who
I think about the most is TomWallace.
I was like, oh, if I'm going tohave anybody on, it's going to
be Tom, because not only hispersonal brand is good but he
helps represent and put peoplein positions.
So you know, if there's anybodywho knows what it takes, what a
(02:08):
good personal brand looks likeand what it means for and what
is a personal brand, it is TomWallace.
So we just talk about all thedifferent levels and how you
know in 2024, in today's day andage, what it kind of means to
have a brand, a personal brand,and what other clubs and what
people are looking for when itcomes to a personal brand and
(02:29):
club professionals.
So I'm super excited to bringTom on for this episode.
Before we get to the episodereal quick, a quick little note
from some of our show partnershere on the channel we have our
friends member vetting, paulDank.
If you have not evaluated orthought about or thinking about
changing how you vet yourmembers, how your new members
(02:50):
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of information and it's really.
It comes down tocharacter-based, it's really
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(03:13):
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So if you're interested inlearning more, head on over to
membervettingcom, set up a callwith Paul Dank.
Also, check out our otherepisodes of Member Vetting.
Here on Private Club Radio wehave our friends Golf Life
Navigators and they have areally amazing platform Zillow
meets eHarmony for golfenthusiasts and they help uh,
they help them navigate theoverwhelming number of club
(03:33):
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Their platform and they presentyou with members who are the
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(04:15):
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Set up a call with PeterNannula.
See if you guys are a good fit.
Last but not least, myself ifyou or your club is looking for
one of the most fun member eventnights, hands down, I'm your
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It's the Denny Corby experience.
It's magic, mind reading andcomedy.
It can be just for the adultsor fun for an entire family.
(04:39):
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If you want to learn more, headover to DennyCorbycom.
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See some of my TV appearancesand other cool stuff.
We have Worked with hundreds ofclubs all over the country, so
I know you're in good hands,dennycorbycom.
That's that.
(04:59):
Let's get to this episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome Tom Wallace.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think this is an interesting topic because
everybody's talking aboutrebranding and branding and
branding yourself are just morein tune with like.
I can't imagine myself, as ayoung manager, going into my gm
and being like I need to focuson my brand a little bit more
and they'd be like I don't knowwhat you're talking about and I
think it's funny.
I think when I think brand, Ido I immediately think of like
nike, apple, like the brandsthat I guess we grew up to, you
know and but it is funny howmuch more more focused young
(05:50):
professionals are making surethey're putting them.
But there's also a lot morevehicles.
Like we didn't have LinkedIn,we didn't have those places
where your brand, somebody couldgo learn about you as a person
without talking to you.
You know, we had a resume thatwould be about it.
But now you have LinkedIn andInstagram and Twitter.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You did have a MySpace top eight, and your top
eight can really tell a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, I never got into that.
I was talking to someone aboutMySpace.
I was talking to a person whowas telling me about how they
went on and did their MySpacetop eight and then their mom
found out that through theirolder sister that they were on,
and then she had to change itand I was like that's crazy.
I said I was like that was notbefore my time, but it was one
(06:38):
of those things that I was too.
I was already down my careerpath, so I was like that's that
sounds very social to me.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I was already down my career path.
So I was like that sounds verysocial to me and that's why I
wanted to talk, because you dealwith so many youths, so many
older people, younger people,and you're in feet on the ground
in the hiring space Like you'rein that world in so many
capacities, and not just even inthe club space but even outside
(07:05):
of it.
What, what was the show?
You were just at the restaurantshow.
So it's still like hospitality,like so, like you know, you're
even dipping outside and gettingyour legs into other industries
and other kinds of verticals,as yeah, yeah, we, we just like
to see what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
we like to think we're in the, we're in the
hospitality industry.
So we, I like to see what elseis, you know, out there and the
club spaces you know it's thelast of the hospitality spaces
in my mind that really kind ofis balancing between tradition
(07:40):
and relevance.
You know you can't be toomodern because clubs are and
again, a lot of clubs strugglewith what's a tradition and
what's just a bad habit.
That they've done repeatedlyand I think, but you don't want
to be so modern and nouveau thatyou don't.
You know you're not the Sohohouse, you're.
You know you're so-and-socountry club.
(08:01):
So you've got to balance that.
But yeah, we'd like to go outand just see what other people
are doing.
The restaurant business is sofar advanced on how they.
You know everything's moving toautomation so they're trying to
.
A lot of restaurants are tryingto find a way to have less
interaction and just get it, getthe food to you.
And then you know, the whitetablecloth folks are certainly
(08:23):
still focused on you know, howdo we engage with the customer?
But a lot of them are, I'd say,from white tablecloth, just
under white tablecloth down.
They're like how do we haveless interaction and get the
food out faster with less people?
And I understand that, becausethere's going to be, in my
opinion, less and less peoplewanting to get into hospitality,
(08:45):
at least for the next decade,just because I think the younger
generation they bring so muchto the table.
But I don't know that there iswilling to want to go into an
industry that's so selfless andabout everybody but yourself.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So how do you combat that?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
but yourself.
So how do you combat that?
Well, I think, I mean, I thinkone.
I do think there's a lot ofpeople with serving hearts out
there.
I just think you've got to goout.
I it's interesting Jeff Morganhad a post today about you know
why you should be thinking aboutthe club business, and I think
we're.
We're micro focused on the clubbusiness, but hospitality needs
to focus everybody and then wewant to take our share of the
best and brightest from there.
But I think we've got to bemore active in high schools.
(09:30):
I think we've got to really goout and talk about hospitality.
I don't want to treat it like atrade because it is to me.
You know there's executivelevel skills that you need
certainly to be a GM COO, but Ithink you've got to just teach
them about the fun and thethings that they'd be able to
experience on their way up theladder.
I think we're doing a betterjob of that.
(09:52):
We're certainly got a big boostduring COVID.
Covid was certainly a horriblething, but the club business
really everybody startedrecognizing boy we take.
They take way better care oftheir employees than the
Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons.
All those places did the bestthey could, but they're for
profits.
They have big ownership groupsthat are expecting, and when you
(10:14):
have to cut because there isn'tany revenue, the cuts are labor
and a lot of people that if Ihad a dollar for everybody that
said, I moved my family fivetimes for this company and now
I'm furloughed.
They're like and they're like.
So I'm done.
I'm jumping into the club spacebecause at least I can have a
little more control of my life,and so I think we are at a good
(10:37):
time.
We just have to keephighlighting it.
Don't rest on our laurels.
I think sometimes we tend tothink, ok, we've got we're, we
look good.
Now we don't have to payattention to that for a while.
I think we've got to be at thehigh schools.
We've got to be at the collegestelling people why clubs are
the best place to be inhospitality, and I do believe
that I don't know that there'sall those big box hospitality.
(10:59):
They do a great job of helpingyou develop into their
hospitality.
You know hierarchy.
I think clubs they grow you asa leader and then you could go
wherever you want.
I think you know.
I think if you learn the Ritzway, you'd be great within the
Ritz, but you might fall shorton some things.
If you move to the Four Seasonsor the Montage, if you're a
great leader in a club andyou've worked for a great GM,
(11:23):
that's a mentor.
They're going to get you ready.
You can pretty much plug andplay.
Anywhere you go.
You're going to know the basics, the blocking and tackling, and
I think those skill sets aremore transferable because clubs
are so similar.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So how do you see clubs getting into the schools
Any unique ways or any ways?
You see clubs that are doingthis actively and doing it well?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Oh, I think there are a lot of again.
This is where the young peoplein our industry are doing great
things AGMs, food and beveragemanagers, sous chefs.
They're going into the highschools, they're going to job
fairs, they're telling people,they're putting on their dress,
whites, they're putting on agreat looking suit, and these
men and women are going in andsaying you should come work for
(12:07):
us.
And if you work for me andthat's another thing our
industry can do very cleanly issay you come work for me for
three years, I'm going to, I'mgoing to make sure, when you're
out of college, I'm going toleverage every member, every,
every person in my network tohelp you get the job you want,
even if you don't want to be inservice the rest of your life.
Give me three, four, six, sevenyears.
(12:28):
If it's high school and collegeand you're going to meet a
bunch of people, you're going toget paid well, you're going to
have fun, you're going to bearound people your own age, you
can sell it if you.
I think you need somebodythat's been there, done that and
had some success.
I think the people who canstory tell the best are the
people that have lived it.
You know you again, the onething that people always say why
(12:49):
do you love the club business?
I love it because you can.
Anybody from anywhere with anyeducational background, low to
high, can have great success ifthey're hardworking and they
they love people, they lovetaking care of people, if
they're a good teammate althoughyou know there's a lot of
things you have to be but ifyou're, if you have all those
boxes, you can do great.
You don't have to have a PhD.
(13:11):
An MBA doesn't help, of course,but it does.
It doesn't also hurt just to bea hardworking young person with
a great smile, great attitudeand that's obsessed with being
successful.
I take someone who's obsessedwith succeeding over an MBA.
That doesn't mean I don't valueeducation.
It means I think someone that'sobsessed with succeeding will
(13:34):
just continue to well.
One will work hard and pushthrough some of the things that
kind of come at you in the clubbusiness or any hospitality
business.
Is that what you see as well,from the, from that position of
(14:07):
you know, finding other peoplepositions.
Is that you know?
Do you see, if you have yourCCM, that's attractive and
that's you know?
Is it as attractive as an MBA?
I'd say it's a little moreattractive.
Because one thing club membersknow is that clubs are different
than hotels, than restaurants.
You know, our worst customerscome back day after day In a
restaurant.
If someone comes in and they'rereally unhappy, they're
(14:29):
probably never coming back.
So you have to have a differentset of skills when you're
dealing with the same person.
You know what I used to haveservers tell, you know, when I
was in the industry.
They would say you know, thisguy complains every day about
how bad this place is, but hecomes back every day.
I've never seen anything likeit.
And and they're like in highschool.
(14:50):
So they, you know, they, they,they were like what, what's the
deal?
I'm like no, no, that's justsome people.
Just, you know, it doesn'tmatter their lot in life, how
much money they have, how muchsuccess.
Some people just aren't happyand they want to share that
unhappiness with everyone.
But the good thing about clubsis, I said, the majority of the
people are happy and you've gotto.
(15:11):
I always used to tell the staffI say this to boards today run
the club for the happy people,you know, focus your energies.
And that wasn't something I didwhen I was young.
I always thought I could flipanybody.
You know, oh, I can make that.
You know he or she's alwayscomplaining, but tonight they're
going to have a perfect dinnerservice.
I'm waiting on them, it's goingto be perfect.
(15:32):
And then it didn't go perfectand I would beat myself up and
it took me years my last coupleof years of managing at
Mediterra, I had a presidentthat was like Tom, you're
awesome at a lot of things, butone thing you're not good at,
because you're a people pleaser,is realizing that you're not
going to win over everybody.
And he said so just run the clubfor the happy people, he told
(15:54):
me.
He said and if you do that,which is the majority, you're
going to win a lot of hearts andminds.
I said, and he said if youdon't, you're going to exhaust
yourself on that 10% that arenever happy.
And I was like that's a reallygood point.
And he said yeah, and he wasright because that was my first
year at Medi.
My second year we moved at a lotfaster speed because I've
(16:16):
stopped trying to, I've stoppedputting all my energy into the
10% and I put it into the happypeople.
And you know how that goes.
It's it.
It just it's like a great jokeor a great trick.
It starts, you know, buildsmomentum, snowballs, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, wow, I learnedthat the last three years of
managing clubs.
Somebody finally told me, but Ithink it takes a brave leader,
(16:38):
it takes someone that's led.
He was a leader at McDonald'sFast Food, one of their C-suite
executives, and I think herealized he probably learned
that years ago and then he hadto watch me kind of fumble
around with it myself and thenhe helped me.
But but that's what's greatabout the club business you get
to.
I mean, the people that youinteract with on a daily basis
are the, for the, for the mostpart, the smartest and or the
(17:01):
most successful, or both peoplein the region and they love the
place and they typically, inturn, love you because you take
good care of them and they teachyou things and are there to
lean on, which I like.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And you know, as people are younger and growing
up, you know talent recognizestalent.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Listen, I used to get mad when I was a younger
manager when a member would hirea great employee away.
But you know, but it would be.
I'd say, well, listen, thatthis is where they wanted to go,
they wanted to be, they wantedto be managed hedge fund or be
in banking or be in you know,whatever.
It was not in hospitality.
So I was happy.
But yeah, you're right, talentrecognizes talent and there's
(18:02):
not a better place to be outthere being to be recognized in
a club for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Would you say are there like three things that
people need to do when it comesto their personal branding,
whether they're, you know,already doing it, great, but if
they're not, is there threethings people need to do, or at
least need to be doing if, orstart if they are not already?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yeah Well, I mean first is, you know, be able to
easily articulate what'scompelling about you.
You know what you know, tell me.
It's amazing how many we in mywhat I do now for the last 11
years you know, tell me what isdifferent about you as a chef
than every other chef that'sapplying for this job.
And it's amazing how few ofthem can tell you, you know,
(18:54):
really, yeah Well, it's justit's, and I'm like listen, we're
just having a phoneconversation and you can tell
they're stammering and I'm likeboy, you, you know, you need to
be able to say that.
You know, these are my, theseare the things that I, I'm, I'm
best known for.
(19:14):
This is what my team would sayabout me.
This is what my boss would sayabout me.
This would this is what anybodythat works under me would say.
And you know why I'm in thisindustry is this, this and this,
and and you know, I don't wantto hear what you cook Well, we
just assume you can cook, youknow?
And and some people go intothat like they almost don't
understand how to brandthemselves they're like well,
I'm really good at Italian, butI can do French, and it's like
(19:36):
no, no, no, no, you, becausewe're in the leadership business
.
Whatever we're hiring for chefs, pros, superintendents, gms, c
just want we're in theleadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming you could.
If you're a CFO, you can countand add and subtract and do all
(19:56):
the finance stuff you can, butwhat separates you as a finance
leader and as a culinary leader?
What sets you apart?
So being able to tell acompelling story is really
important to me about whatseparates you.
I think obviously you have tohave executive presence, even at
a, you know, even at thestarting, out of the starting
(20:19):
blocks, you still have to have afew of the pieces that I think
make up you know composure.
You know are you succinct?
Are you consistent as a leader,as a human being?
Do I get Tom, this version ofTom on Thursday, this version of
Tom on Saturday, because he wasout all night?
You know what?
Are you confident?
You know there's a delicatebalance between cocky and
(20:39):
confident, but you know, do youhave those things you know?
Can you tell a great story aboutyourself?
Do you have executive presenceor the beginnings of executive
presence about yourself?
Do you have executive presenceor the beginnings of executive
presence?
If you're not going to have thecomposure you need to get up in
front of a thousand members andask them for an assessment of
$10,000 if you're just gettinginto the industry.
But could you stand up in frontof your classmates and tell
(21:01):
them why you're going to go workat Acme Country Club and
articulate what would be greatabout that?
You can be an introvert butstill be a great extrovert.
It just as we know, you know aswell.
You just have to take extraenergy to make that happen.
So I think the three things istelling that compelling story.
You know, having that executivepresence either in full bloom
(21:26):
or at least it's been plantedand there's a couple of small
flowers starting to come out.
And last but not least, I justthink you've got to know what's
important to you.
What do you stand for?
What are the things that youjust won't bend on For me?
I always used to say everythinghas to be past my stink test.
(21:49):
Is it equitable, you know?
Is it ethical Stink test?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
The stink test.
You've never heard that LikeS-T-I-N-K.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, like stink.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think that might be aculinary term, like you know.
Nope, that doesn't.
I just wanted to make sure Iheard the word stink and I was
like but you know, what is it?
I always used to say here's howI make decisions.
Is it effective, is itefficient, is it equitable and
is it ethical?
And I think you need to be ableto tell someone I make how do
(22:22):
you make decisions as a leader,even if it's just the floor
leader of a, of a dining room or, you know, an assistant, food
and beverage manager, assistantsuperintendent what are the
things that I need to know aboutyou that separates you from the
pack?
I think if a young person hasthat executive presence and can
articulate to me what it is, howthey kind of think about
(22:46):
decisions, I'd be like, wow,that's really, really impressive
.
And then I always like to askthem you know, what are you
obsessed about?
You know, are you, are you, areyou someone that is interested
or are you obsessed?
And what I want to hear, tomWallace, when I was a manager, I
wanted to hear I'm obsessedwith success, I'm competitive, I
(23:08):
love competitive people.
And some people didn't meldwith me as a leader because I
was always like we're going to.
You know, I had to make upstuff like Michael Jordan.
I work like this with JimButler now, but when I was at
Mediterra.
Jim Butler is at Club Benchmark.
When I was at Mediterra he wasat Gray Oaks and I used to walk
(23:29):
around and literally my firstyear there, our mantra amongst
the staff was we're going todestroy Gray Oaks.
And I didn't mean that in thephysical sense, I just said
they're the big successful highend.
Everybody in town talked aboutGray Oaks and I said they're the
big, successful high-end.
Everybody in town talked aboutGray Oaks and I said that's our
target.
And it was funny.
Our HR director used to say whydo you need a target?
(23:50):
I was like I don't know, I justneed, I need a North Star so we
can focus and go after it.
And so I like competitive, Ilike servant hearted, I like if
you're going to get in thisindustry, you've got to thrive
on feedback.
That's a big differentiator.
I think you could be successfulin many, many industries, but
(24:12):
if you're not, if you're in thehospitality, if you can't take
feedback as gasoline, you're inbig trouble.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And then would you say there's three things that
people should stop doing, threethings you see going on.
People need to stop cut it out.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Slow down with social media.
I think social media is great.
I think you've got to realizeif I had a dollar for everybody
this year, I had to call and say, hey, we got your social media
backgrounding back.
And there's 15 things.
Now we don't set up thecriteria for what it gets
(24:52):
flagged for, but there's so manythings like oh, that was
college.
I'm like, well, take it down.
Yeah, you take it down.
And they're like, oh, I haven.
Yeah, you take it down.
And they're like, oh, I haven'tbeen on that in 10 years.
Well then, sign off and closeit so that everybody else in the
world can't see what you did incollege.
And it's always not always, butit's mostly minor stuff.
(25:13):
So it's not the end of theworld, but I'm just like what's
going on?
Like why, why am I?
It amazes me that people aren'tsmarter about their social
media and what they're puttingout there, and I think it's a
sign of the times.
You know the politics of ourcountry right now.
Everybody thinks they have anopinion and the louder they say
their opinion, the better offthey are, and I don't agree with
(25:38):
that.
On and talk about politics andreligion and your feelings and
think that that's not going tobe an influencer.
When we download all that stuffand share it with a future boss
of yours, they're going to lookat that.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
What about thoughts and things?
If it's on a private, if it'slike a, if it's you know if your
profile is private and lockeddown?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, I think, if it's locked down, just know that
there's so many services outthere that now can find it.
I'm on Instagram and LinkedInand those things, but I, you
know one, I'm boring and I worka lot.
That's what I do.
And then I, I love my family.
That's it I got.
Those are my kind of two thingsmy team, my team and my family.
(26:20):
But you, I think, my, myfeeling, it seems like, even if
it's private, people can find it, but I don't.
That's a good question.
I probably need to dig in onthat a little bit with our
background.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, I was just seeing like how, like how that
you know from from your point ofview, from your perspective, is
like OK, like if it's private.
You know, having your opinionsis like one.
You know it was more.
I was just trying to keep theconversation rolling at that
point Just because I mean,that's a whole different, you
know topic going into likeprivate ghost accounts and all
(26:53):
that crazy stuff.
I'm just, you know, saying fromlike a 30,000 foot like view
and all.
So actually, at that token, youknow what, where, what is that
line Like?
So I think different peopleobviously have different lines
into some people, you know, whatmight be crazy to put something
out.
Is not that crazy?
Where, where do you see thatline of going?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, no, yeah Well, I go back to kind of the way I
was raised.
You know you don't talk aboutreligion, politics at the dinner
table kind of a thing.
I just I think you can haveopinions on a lot of things.
I'm not going to tell folksthey can't have opinions, but I
just want them to know if theperson that is seeing your
(27:36):
materials feels opposite of that.
You've just cut youropportunities by 50% the more
opinions you put out to thepublic to digest without any
explanation, you know it's justa picture or a quote that
doesn't have enough texture orcontext.
I personally would say why riskit and just let people get to
(27:58):
know you, and then you can shareyour beliefs in a one.
And I think I have completelydifferent feelings about lots of
important things in this worldwith dear friends, but we don't
talk about it by posting againsteach other.
We talk about it one on one sowe can understand each other's
(28:18):
perspective.
And I still say I think you'redead wrong, but okay, but I
still love and respect youbecause I think that's how the
world should work.
But I think why would youeliminate 50% of the people that
might want to hire you justbecause you have a feeling about
something I don't know?
I don't know if that's, Ihaven't really given it a lot of
thought.
I just eliminate anything thatcould hurt you from getting your
(28:41):
foot in the door At the end ofthe day.
If you're a great leader andyou work your butt off and you
have a strong opinion aboutsomething that the GM doesn't
share that opinion, they don'tcare.
But if it's between two greatcandidates and one person is
just exposing everything onsocial media and the other
person isn't on it, my guess ispeople are going to go with
(29:03):
someone that's not going to havethat to deal with.
I guess yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, what else?
What's another thing besidessocial media?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, I think, I think you need to be.
I think young people need tocommunicate more clearly.
I think one of the things I'm abig fan of being concise and, I
think, being too verbose.
So watch your social media.
Number two be concise, don't beverbose.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It's a 45-minute episode, tom, no, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah.
So go talk Tom.
So go talk, tom.
I think it's important torealize that bullet points, the
higher up you're going andcommunicating bullet points and
being precise and realizing thatmost leaders want honesty, they
want conciseness and they wantlogic.
Lay things out briefly andconcisely so that they can make
(30:00):
good decisions in a quick manner.
Don't be too verbose.
And sometimes I think peoplethink putting charts and words
and you know you email with me,you know how I email and
everybody makes fun of me.
It's like yes, no, okay, 3o'clock, and it's not to be rude
.
But I work with managers thatare like I don't need the, I
(30:20):
don't need the, I need theReader's Digest version.
I'm like what's that?
And you know not familiar withReader's Digest, but I do
remember my grandparents had it,you know.
But you know, dick Coplin has agreat saying.
He says you know, I don't needwar and peace, I need Reader's
Digest.
And I think that was probably inhis era.
That meant faster, more concise.
(30:41):
In our era, how concise canconcise be?
You know, we have eliminatedeverything, down to how many
characters.
So I do think people tend to betoo verbose because I think
they're making up for the factthat in their social lives
they're very concise and quick,so they feel like going over the
(31:04):
top and giving all the contextand all the background.
Your leaders, as you work upthe chain, they want you to be
concise, they want you to belogical and not be too verbose,
which is funny because in theirsocial lives they're completely
the opposite.
They're very concise, but but inthey I think they feel the need
to make it up for someone likeme was a little older generation
(31:24):
.
I'm like I actually want justthe facts, please, and I want
them in bullet points.
And you know people that sendme.
You can send me long emails andanticipate that I'm going to
read through them.
I'm like, please pick up.
I just literally will emailthem back.
Please call me, because it'slike I don't know.
I mean, I just think there'sjust something to.
(31:45):
I think people tend to hidebehind lengthy emails.
Sometimes, too, it's like pickup the phone, let's have some
interaction.
We can, we can get through allof this.
And it amazes me.
I'm like you'll write a 25minute email rather than pick up
the phone, and you know youcould probably get that answer
with within two or three minutes.
So find the way to be concise,find the way to check as many
(32:08):
things off your list as you can.
And that leads to my third one,which is I would rather most
leaders, especially inhospitality, would rather have
you do 10 things a day at a Bplus level than one thing at an
A.
Don't be a perfectionist.
You know there's a level.
We don't want C efforts, butwe'd rather have multiple things
done at a B level in a day thanone A that you want to turn in
(32:33):
and get.
You know, get applause for.
The more things you can getdone quickly at a high level
maybe not at the best level, buta very high level the greater
the momentum of your department,of your company, of your club
is going to be Getting one thingdone really, really well in the
(32:54):
club industry and it's so fluidso you could kill yourself for
a week to do one thing and thenthe next week we're like, guess
what?
We're pulling the plug on that.
We're going a differentdirection, you know.
So learn to learn to do well,learn to do well and do it at a
high, high and fast pace.
I think those are so.
(33:14):
So you know, going back to thosethree things, I think, be
smarter about your social media.
To those three things, I thinkbe smarter about your social
media, you know, be more conciseand then, at the end of the day
, be able to work fast and beproud of your B's, because it's
okay to get.
You know I again, I would, I'dbe more proud of someone leaving
the day with six B projectsdone than one A.
(33:55):
Amen.
So, ritz-carlton, they're goingto screw something up every day
, but guess what they're goingto do?
They're going to recover in areally powerful way.
And that's what separates them,as you know, four seasons.
The same thing You're going tohave hiccups on the golf course.
You're going to have hiccups inthe kitchen.
How do you recover?
How do you close the loop onthat feedback so that the
customer slash member knowshere's what happened, here's
(34:18):
what we're doing to make sure itdoesn't happen again.
And once again I know I alreadysaid this, we're really sorry.
And guess what?
If you do that consistently,you're going to have a great
hospitality organization, or atleast for most, maybe not the
10% that we talked about earlierthat are never happy.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
That was good.
Hope you all enjoyed thatepisode.
I know I did.
If you have not done so already, a five-star rating with a
review on Apple Podcasts,spotify, a thumbs up and some
comments over on YouTube meansthe absolute world.
Engaging with us on socialmedia is very important as well.
If you can do that, that's allwe ask, and we ask that you
share the content with peoplewho you think would enjoy it.
(34:57):
If you haven't signed up forour newsletter,
privateclubradiocom.
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
First is you know, be able to easily articulate
what's compelling about you.
Tell me what is different aboutyou as a chef than every other
chef that's applying for thisjob.
You need to be able to say thatyou know, these are the things
that I'm best known for.
This is what my team would sayabout me.
This is what my boss would sayabout me.
(00:20):
This is what anybody that worksunder me would say.
And you know why I'm in thisindustry.
Is this, this and this, and Idon't want to hear what you cook
.
Well, we just assume you cancook.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Because we're in the leadership business.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Whatever we're hiring for chefs, pros,
superintendents, gms, cfos we'rein the leadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming if you're a CFOs,I just want we're in the
leadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming you could.
If you're a CFO, you can countand add and subtract and do all
the finance stuff you can, butwhat separates you as a finance
leader and what as a culinaryleader?
(00:57):
What sets you apart?
So you know, being able to tella compelling story is really
important to me about whatseparates you curtain.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Learn what we're about here.
Welcome.
We are glad you were all here.
I'm excited for this episode.
I talk with one of my favoritepeople to talk with in the club
space, tom Wallace.
What a guy.
If you don't know Tom Wallace,you have to.
Just such a consummateprofessional, just someone who's
worked his way up, did the workand is now in a position where
(01:44):
he helps other people get jobsand positions.
Just a wonderful, wonderfulperson.
When I think of personalbranding, one of the people who
I think about the most is TomWallace.
I was like, oh, if I'm going tohave anybody on, it's going to
be Tom, because not only hispersonal brand is good but he
helps represent and put peoplein positions.
So you know, if there's anybodywho knows what it takes, what a
(02:08):
good personal brand looks likeand what it means for and what
is a personal brand, it is TomWallace.
So we just talk about all thedifferent levels and how you
know in 2024, in today's day andage, what it kind of means to
have a brand, a personal brand,and what other clubs and what
people are looking for when itcomes to a personal brand and
(02:29):
club professionals.
So I'm super excited to bringTom on for this episode.
Before we get to the episodereal quick, a quick little note
from some of our show partnershere on the channel we have our
friends member vetting, paulDank.
If you have not evaluated orthought about or thinking about
changing how you vet yourmembers, how your new members
(02:50):
are coming in, are they who theysay they are, head over to
membervettingcom andcomprehensive applicant
information gathering processthat provides an unrivaled depth
of information and it's really.
It comes down tocharacter-based, it's really
figuring out are these peoplethe right character fit for your
(03:13):
club?
So if you're interested inlearning more, head on over to
membervettingcom, set up a callwith Paul Dank.
Also, check out our otherepisodes of Member Vetting.
Here on Private Club Radio wehave our friends Golf Life
Navigators and they have areally amazing platform Zillow
meets eHarmony for golfenthusiasts and they help uh,
they help them navigate theoverwhelming number of club
(03:33):
options and assist them infinding their dream clubs.
And, uh, how that works is forclubs.
You are on their platform andthey present you with members
who are the best fit for yourclub.
Their platform and they presentyou with members who are the
best fit for your club.
This is the only resourceavailable for golf professionals
to discover experience andultimately secure and find their
ideal club and membership.
(03:53):
So if you would like to learnmore about how your club can be
a part of Golf Life Navigatorit's marketing without marketing
, advertising.
Without advertising it isunreal Head on over to
golflifenavigatorscom.
Set up a call with Jason andthe team.
Guaranteed it's going to beawesome.
We have our friends, concertGolf Partners, boutique
owner-operators of private golfand country clubs nationwide.
If you or a club is looking forsome recapitalization, head on
(04:15):
over to Private Club Radio.
Head on over toConcertGolfPartnerscom.
Set up a call with PeterNannula.
See if you guys are a good fit.
Last but not least, myself ifyou or your club is looking for
one of the most fun member eventnights, hands down, I'm your
guy.
It's the Denny Corby experience.
It's magic, mind reading andcomedy.
It can be just for the adultsor fun for an entire family.
(04:39):
Evening, night out, it's anentire night.
It's a whole immersiveexperience.
We laugh, we cry.
We have such a good time.
There's so much crowd work,banter, interaction.
If you want to learn more, headover to DennyCorbycom.
Check it all out there.
See some of my TV appearancesand other cool stuff.
We have Worked with hundreds ofclubs all over the country, so
I know you're in good hands,dennycorbycom.
That's that.
(04:59):
Let's get to this episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome Tom Wallace.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think this is an interesting topic because
everybody's talking aboutrebranding and branding and
branding yourself are just morein tune with like.
I can't imagine myself, as ayoung manager, going into my gm
and being like I need to focuson my brand a little bit more
and they'd be like I don't knowwhat you're talking about and I
think it's funny.
I think when I think brand, Ido I immediately think of like
nike, apple, like the brandsthat I guess we grew up to, you
know and but it is funny howmuch more more focused young
(05:50):
professionals are making surethey're putting them.
But there's also a lot morevehicles.
Like we didn't have LinkedIn,we didn't have those places
where your brand, somebody couldgo learn about you as a person
without talking to you.
You know, we had a resume thatwould be about it.
But now you have LinkedIn andInstagram and Twitter.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You did have a MySpace top eight, and your top
eight can really tell a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, I never got into that.
I was talking to someone aboutMySpace.
I was talking to a person whowas telling me about how they
went on and did their MySpacetop eight and then their mom
found out that through theirolder sister that they were on,
and then she had to change itand I was like that's crazy.
I said I was like that was notbefore my time, but it was one
(06:38):
of those things that I was too.
I was already down my careerpath, so I was like that's that
sounds very social to me.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I was already down my career path.
So I was like that sounds verysocial to me and that's why I
wanted to talk, because you dealwith so many youths, so many
older people, younger people,and you're in feet on the ground
in the hiring space Like you'rein that world in so many
capacities, and not just even inthe club space but even outside
(07:05):
of it.
What, what was the show?
You were just at the restaurantshow.
So it's still like hospitality,like so, like you know, you're
even dipping outside and gettingyour legs into other industries
and other kinds of verticals,as yeah, yeah, we, we just like
to see what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
we like to think we're in the, we're in the
hospitality industry.
So we, I like to see what elseis, you know, out there and the
club spaces you know it's thelast of the hospitality spaces
in my mind that really kind ofis balancing between tradition
(07:40):
and relevance.
You know you can't be toomodern because clubs are and
again, a lot of clubs strugglewith what's a tradition and
what's just a bad habit.
That they've done repeatedlyand I think, but you don't want
to be so modern and nouveau thatyou don't.
You know you're not the Sohohouse, you're.
You know you're so-and-socountry club.
(08:01):
So you've got to balance that.
But yeah, we'd like to go outand just see what other people
are doing.
The restaurant business is sofar advanced on how they.
You know everything's moving toautomation so they're trying to
.
A lot of restaurants are tryingto find a way to have less
interaction and just get it, getthe food to you.
And then you know, the whitetablecloth folks are certainly
(08:23):
still focused on you know, howdo we engage with the customer?
But a lot of them are, I'd say,from white tablecloth, just
under white tablecloth down.
They're like how do we haveless interaction and get the
food out faster with less people?
And I understand that, becausethere's going to be, in my
opinion, less and less peoplewanting to get into hospitality,
(08:45):
at least for the next decade,just because I think the younger
generation they bring so muchto the table.
But I don't know that there iswilling to want to go into an
industry that's so selfless andabout everybody but yourself.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So how do you combat that?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
but yourself.
So how do you combat that?
Well, I think, I mean, I thinkone.
I do think there's a lot ofpeople with serving hearts out
there.
I just think you've got to goout.
I it's interesting Jeff Morganhad a post today about you know
why you should be thinking aboutthe club business, and I think
we're.
We're micro focused on the clubbusiness, but hospitality needs
to focus everybody and then wewant to take our share of the
best and brightest from there.
But I think we've got to bemore active in high schools.
(09:30):
I think we've got to really goout and talk about hospitality.
I don't want to treat it like atrade because it is to me.
You know there's executivelevel skills that you need
certainly to be a GM COO, but Ithink you've got to just teach
them about the fun and thethings that they'd be able to
experience on their way up theladder.
I think we're doing a betterjob of that.
(09:52):
We're certainly got a big boostduring COVID.
Covid was certainly a horriblething, but the club business
really everybody startedrecognizing boy we take.
They take way better care oftheir employees than the
Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons.
All those places did the bestthey could, but they're for
profits.
They have big ownership groupsthat are expecting, and when you
(10:14):
have to cut because there isn'tany revenue, the cuts are labor
and a lot of people that if Ihad a dollar for everybody that
said, I moved my family fivetimes for this company and now
I'm furloughed.
They're like and they're like.
So I'm done.
I'm jumping into the club spacebecause at least I can have a
little more control of my life,and so I think we are at a good
(10:37):
time.
We just have to keephighlighting it.
Don't rest on our laurels.
I think sometimes we tend tothink, ok, we've got we're, we
look good.
Now we don't have to payattention to that for a while.
I think we've got to be at thehigh schools.
We've got to be at the collegestelling people why clubs are
the best place to be inhospitality, and I do believe
that I don't know that there'sall those big box hospitality.
(10:59):
They do a great job of helpingyou develop into their
hospitality.
You know hierarchy.
I think clubs they grow you asa leader and then you could go
wherever you want.
I think you know.
I think if you learn the Ritzway, you'd be great within the
Ritz, but you might fall shorton some things.
If you move to the Four Seasonsor the Montage, if you're a
great leader in a club andyou've worked for a great GM,
(11:23):
that's a mentor.
They're going to get you ready.
You can pretty much plug andplay.
Anywhere you go.
You're going to know the basics, the blocking and tackling, and
I think those skill sets aremore transferable because clubs
are so similar.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So how do you see clubs getting into the schools
Any unique ways or any ways?
You see clubs that are doingthis actively and doing it well?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Oh, I think there are a lot of again.
This is where the young peoplein our industry are doing great
things AGMs, food and beveragemanagers, sous chefs.
They're going into the highschools, they're going to job
fairs, they're telling people,they're putting on their dress,
whites, they're putting on agreat looking suit, and these
men and women are going in andsaying you should come work for
(12:07):
us.
And if you work for me andthat's another thing our
industry can do very cleanly issay you come work for me for
three years, I'm going to, I'mgoing to make sure, when you're
out of college, I'm going toleverage every member, every,
every person in my network tohelp you get the job you want,
even if you don't want to be inservice the rest of your life.
Give me three, four, six, sevenyears.
(12:28):
If it's high school and collegeand you're going to meet a
bunch of people, you're going toget paid well, you're going to
have fun, you're going to bearound people your own age, you
can sell it if you.
I think you need somebodythat's been there, done that and
had some success.
I think the people who canstory tell the best are the
people that have lived it.
You know you again, the onething that people always say why
(12:49):
do you love the club business?
I love it because you can.
Anybody from anywhere with anyeducational background, low to
high, can have great success ifthey're hardworking and they
they love people, they lovetaking care of people, if
they're a good teammate althoughyou know there's a lot of
things you have to be but ifyou're, if you have all those
boxes, you can do great.
You don't have to have a PhD.
(13:11):
An MBA doesn't help, of course,but it does.
It doesn't also hurt just to bea hardworking young person with
a great smile, great attitudeand that's obsessed with being
successful.
I take someone who's obsessedwith succeeding over an MBA.
That doesn't mean I don't valueeducation.
It means I think someone that'sobsessed with succeeding will
(13:34):
just continue to well.
One will work hard and pushthrough some of the things that
kind of come at you in the clubbusiness or any hospitality
business.
Is that what you see as well,from the, from that position of
(14:07):
you know, finding other peoplepositions.
Is that you know?
Do you see, if you have yourCCM, that's attractive and
that's you know?
Is it as attractive as an MBA?
I'd say it's a little moreattractive.
Because one thing club membersknow is that clubs are different
than hotels, than restaurants.
You know, our worst customerscome back day after day In a
restaurant.
If someone comes in and they'rereally unhappy, they're
(14:29):
probably never coming back.
So you have to have a differentset of skills when you're
dealing with the same person.
You know what I used to haveservers tell, you know, when I
was in the industry.
They would say you know, thisguy complains every day about
how bad this place is, but hecomes back every day.
I've never seen anything likeit.
And and they're like in highschool.
(14:50):
So they, you know, they, they,they were like what, what's the
deal?
I'm like no, no, that's justsome people.
Just, you know, it doesn'tmatter their lot in life, how
much money they have, how muchsuccess.
Some people just aren't happyand they want to share that
unhappiness with everyone.
But the good thing about clubsis, I said, the majority of the
people are happy and you've gotto.
(15:11):
I always used to tell the staffI say this to boards today run
the club for the happy people,you know, focus your energies.
And that wasn't something I didwhen I was young.
I always thought I could flipanybody.
You know, oh, I can make that.
You know he or she's alwayscomplaining, but tonight they're
going to have a perfect dinnerservice.
I'm waiting on them, it's goingto be perfect.
(15:32):
And then it didn't go perfectand I would beat myself up and
it took me years my last coupleof years of managing at
Mediterra, I had a presidentthat was like Tom, you're
awesome at a lot of things, butone thing you're not good at,
because you're a people pleaser,is realizing that you're not
going to win over everybody.
And he said so just run the clubfor the happy people, he told
(15:54):
me.
He said and if you do that,which is the majority, you're
going to win a lot of hearts andminds.
I said, and he said if youdon't, you're going to exhaust
yourself on that 10% that arenever happy.
And I was like that's a reallygood point.
And he said yeah, and he wasright because that was my first
year at Medi.
My second year we moved at a lotfaster speed because I've
(16:16):
stopped trying to, I've stoppedputting all my energy into the
10% and I put it into the happypeople.
And you know how that goes.
It's it.
It just it's like a great jokeor a great trick.
It starts, you know, buildsmomentum, snowballs, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, wow, I learnedthat the last three years of
managing clubs.
Somebody finally told me, but Ithink it takes a brave leader,
(16:38):
it takes someone that's led.
He was a leader at McDonald'sFast Food, one of their C-suite
executives, and I think herealized he probably learned
that years ago and then he hadto watch me kind of fumble
around with it myself and thenhe helped me.
But but that's what's greatabout the club business you get
to.
I mean, the people that youinteract with on a daily basis
are the, for the, for the mostpart, the smartest and or the
(17:01):
most successful, or both peoplein the region and they love the
place and they typically, inturn, love you because you take
good care of them and they teachyou things and are there to
lean on, which I like.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And you know, as people are younger and growing
up, you know talent recognizestalent.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Listen, I used to get mad when I was a younger
manager when a member would hirea great employee away.
But you know, but it would be.
I'd say, well, listen, thatthis is where they wanted to go,
they wanted to be, they wantedto be managed hedge fund or be
in banking or be in you know,whatever.
It was not in hospitality.
So I was happy.
But yeah, you're right, talentrecognizes talent and there's
(18:02):
not a better place to be outthere being to be recognized in
a club for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Would you say are there like three things that
people need to do when it comesto their personal branding,
whether they're, you know,already doing it, great, but if
they're not, is there threethings people need to do, or at
least need to be doing if, orstart if they are not already?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yeah Well, I mean first is, you know, be able to
easily articulate what'scompelling about you.
You know what you know, tell me.
It's amazing how many we in mywhat I do now for the last 11
years you know, tell me what isdifferent about you as a chef
than every other chef that'sapplying for this job.
And it's amazing how few ofthem can tell you, you know,
(18:54):
really, yeah Well, it's justit's, and I'm like listen, we're
just having a phoneconversation and you can tell
they're stammering and I'm likeboy, you, you know, you need to
be able to say that.
You know, these are my, theseare the things that I, I'm, I'm
best known for.
(19:14):
This is what my team would sayabout me.
This is what my boss would sayabout me.
This would this is what anybodythat works under me would say.
And you know why I'm in thisindustry is this, this and this,
and and you know, I don't wantto hear what you cook Well, we
just assume you can cook, youknow?
And and some people go intothat like they almost don't
understand how to brandthemselves they're like well,
I'm really good at Italian, butI can do French, and it's like
(19:36):
no, no, no, no, you, becausewe're in the leadership business
.
Whatever we're hiring for chefs, pros, superintendents, gms, c
just want we're in theleadership.
What sets you apart as a leader?
I am assuming you could.
If you're a CFO, you can countand add and subtract and do all
(19:56):
the finance stuff you can, butwhat separates you as a finance
leader and as a culinary leader?
What sets you apart?
So being able to tell acompelling story is really
important to me about whatseparates you.
I think obviously you have tohave executive presence, even at
a, you know, even at thestarting, out of the starting
(20:19):
blocks, you still have to have afew of the pieces that I think
make up you know composure.
You know are you succinct?
Are you consistent as a leader,as a human being?
Do I get Tom, this version ofTom on Thursday, this version of
Tom on Saturday, because he wasout all night?
You know what?
Are you confident?
You know there's a delicatebalance between cocky and
(20:39):
confident, but you know, do youhave those things you know?
Can you tell a great story aboutyourself?
Do you have executive presenceor the beginnings of executive
presence about yourself?
Do you have executive presenceor the beginnings of executive
presence?
If you're not going to have thecomposure you need to get up in
front of a thousand members andask them for an assessment of
$10,000 if you're just gettinginto the industry.
But could you stand up in frontof your classmates and tell
(21:01):
them why you're going to go workat Acme Country Club and
articulate what would be greatabout that?
You can be an introvert butstill be a great extrovert.
It just as we know, you know aswell.
You just have to take extraenergy to make that happen.
So I think the three things istelling that compelling story.
You know, having that executivepresence either in full bloom
(21:26):
or at least it's been plantedand there's a couple of small
flowers starting to come out.
And last but not least, I justthink you've got to know what's
important to you.
What do you stand for?
What are the things that youjust won't bend on For me?
I always used to say everythinghas to be past my stink test.
(21:49):
Is it equitable, you know?
Is it ethical Stink test?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
The stink test.
You've never heard that LikeS-T-I-N-K.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, like stink.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think that might be aculinary term, like you know.
Nope, that doesn't.
I just wanted to make sure Iheard the word stink and I was
like but you know, what is it?
I always used to say here's howI make decisions.
Is it effective, is itefficient, is it equitable and
is it ethical?
And I think you need to be ableto tell someone I make how do
(22:22):
you make decisions as a leader,even if it's just the floor
leader of a, of a dining room or, you know, an assistant, food
and beverage manager, assistantsuperintendent what are the
things that I need to know aboutyou that separates you from the
pack?
I think if a young person hasthat executive presence and can
articulate to me what it is, howthey kind of think about
(22:46):
decisions, I'd be like, wow,that's really, really impressive
.
And then I always like to askthem you know, what are you
obsessed about?
You know, are you, are you, areyou someone that is interested
or are you obsessed?
And what I want to hear, tomWallace, when I was a manager, I
wanted to hear I'm obsessedwith success, I'm competitive, I
(23:08):
love competitive people.
And some people didn't meldwith me as a leader because I
was always like we're going to.
You know, I had to make upstuff like Michael Jordan.
I work like this with JimButler now, but when I was at
Mediterra.
Jim Butler is at Club Benchmark.
When I was at Mediterra he wasat Gray Oaks and I used to walk
(23:29):
around and literally my firstyear there, our mantra amongst
the staff was we're going todestroy Gray Oaks.
And I didn't mean that in thephysical sense, I just said
they're the big successful highend.
Everybody in town talked aboutGray Oaks and I said they're the
big, successful high-end.
Everybody in town talked aboutGray Oaks and I said that's our
target.
And it was funny.
Our HR director used to say whydo you need a target?
(23:50):
I was like I don't know, I justneed, I need a North Star so we
can focus and go after it.
And so I like competitive, Ilike servant hearted, I like if
you're going to get in thisindustry, you've got to thrive
on feedback.
That's a big differentiator.
I think you could be successfulin many, many industries, but
(24:12):
if you're not, if you're in thehospitality, if you can't take
feedback as gasoline, you're inbig trouble.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And then would you say there's three things that
people should stop doing, threethings you see going on.
People need to stop cut it out.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Slow down with social media.
I think social media is great.
I think you've got to realizeif I had a dollar for everybody
this year, I had to call and say, hey, we got your social media
backgrounding back.
And there's 15 things.
Now we don't set up thecriteria for what it gets
(24:52):
flagged for, but there's so manythings like oh, that was
college.
I'm like, well, take it down.
Yeah, you take it down.
And they're like, oh, I haven.
Yeah, you take it down.
And they're like, oh, I haven'tbeen on that in 10 years.
Well then, sign off and closeit so that everybody else in the
world can't see what you did incollege.
And it's always not always, butit's mostly minor stuff.
(25:13):
So it's not the end of theworld, but I'm just like what's
going on?
Like why, why am I?
It amazes me that people aren'tsmarter about their social
media and what they're puttingout there, and I think it's a
sign of the times.
You know the politics of ourcountry right now.
Everybody thinks they have anopinion and the louder they say
their opinion, the better offthey are, and I don't agree with
(25:38):
that.
On and talk about politics andreligion and your feelings and
think that that's not going tobe an influencer.
When we download all that stuffand share it with a future boss
of yours, they're going to lookat that.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
What about thoughts and things?
If it's on a private, if it'slike a, if it's you know if your
profile is private and lockeddown?
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, I think, if it's locked down, just know that
there's so many services outthere that now can find it.
I'm on Instagram and LinkedInand those things, but I, you
know one, I'm boring and I worka lot.
That's what I do.
And then I, I love my family.
That's it I got.
Those are my kind of two thingsmy team, my team and my family.
(26:20):
But you, I think, my, myfeeling, it seems like, even if
it's private, people can find it, but I don't.
That's a good question.
I probably need to dig in onthat a little bit with our
background.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, I was just seeing like how, like how that
you know from from your point ofview, from your perspective, is
like OK, like if it's private.
You know, having your opinionsis like one.
You know it was more.
I was just trying to keep theconversation rolling at that
point Just because I mean,that's a whole different, you
know topic going into likeprivate ghost accounts and all
(26:53):
that crazy stuff.
I'm just, you know, saying fromlike a 30,000 foot like view
and all.
So actually, at that token, youknow what, where, what is that
line Like?
So I think different peopleobviously have different lines
into some people, you know, whatmight be crazy to put something
out.
Is not that crazy?
Where, where do you see thatline of going?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, no, yeah Well, I go back to kind of the way I
was raised.
You know you don't talk aboutreligion, politics at the dinner
table kind of a thing.
I just I think you can haveopinions on a lot of things.
I'm not going to tell folksthey can't have opinions, but I
just want them to know if theperson that is seeing your
(27:36):
materials feels opposite of that.
You've just cut youropportunities by 50% the more
opinions you put out to thepublic to digest without any
explanation, you know it's justa picture or a quote that
doesn't have enough texture orcontext.
I personally would say why riskit and just let people get to
(27:58):
know you, and then you can shareyour beliefs in a one.
And I think I have completelydifferent feelings about lots of
important things in this worldwith dear friends, but we don't
talk about it by posting againsteach other.
We talk about it one on one sowe can understand each other's
(28:18):
perspective.
And I still say I think you'redead wrong, but okay, but I
still love and respect youbecause I think that's how the
world should work.
But I think why would youeliminate 50% of the people that
might want to hire you justbecause you have a feeling about
something I don't know?
I don't know if that's, Ihaven't really given it a lot of
thought.
I just eliminate anything thatcould hurt you from getting your
(28:41):
foot in the door At the end ofthe day.
If you're a great leader andyou work your butt off and you
have a strong opinion aboutsomething that the GM doesn't
share that opinion, they don'tcare.
But if it's between two greatcandidates and one person is
just exposing everything onsocial media and the other
person isn't on it, my guess ispeople are going to go with
(29:03):
someone that's not going to havethat to deal with.
I guess yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, what else?
What's another thing besidessocial media?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, I think, I think you need to be.
I think young people need tocommunicate more clearly.
I think one of the things I'm abig fan of being concise and, I
think, being too verbose.
So watch your social media.
Number two be concise, don't beverbose.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It's a 45-minute episode, tom, no, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah.
So go talk Tom.
So go talk, tom.
I think it's important torealize that bullet points, the
higher up you're going andcommunicating bullet points and
being precise and realizing thatmost leaders want honesty, they
want conciseness and they wantlogic.
Lay things out briefly andconcisely so that they can make
(30:00):
good decisions in a quick manner.
Don't be too verbose.
And sometimes I think peoplethink putting charts and words
and you know you email with me,you know how I email and
everybody makes fun of me.
It's like yes, no, okay, 3o'clock, and it's not to be rude
.
But I work with managers thatare like I don't need the, I
(30:20):
don't need the, I need theReader's Digest version.
I'm like what's that?
And you know not familiar withReader's Digest, but I do
remember my grandparents had it,you know.
But you know, dick Coplin has agreat saying.
He says you know, I don't needwar and peace, I need Reader's
Digest.
And I think that was probably inhis era.
That meant faster, more concise.
(30:41):
In our era, how concise canconcise be?
You know, we have eliminatedeverything, down to how many
characters.
So I do think people tend to betoo verbose because I think
they're making up for the factthat in their social lives
they're very concise and quick,so they feel like going over the
(31:04):
top and giving all the contextand all the background.
Your leaders, as you work upthe chain, they want you to be
concise, they want you to belogical and not be too verbose,
which is funny because in theirsocial lives they're completely
the opposite.
They're very concise, but but inthey I think they feel the need
to make it up for someone likeme was a little older generation
(31:24):
.
I'm like I actually want justthe facts, please, and I want
them in bullet points.
And you know people that sendme.
You can send me long emails andanticipate that I'm going to
read through them.
I'm like, please pick up.
I just literally will emailthem back.
Please call me, because it'slike I don't know.
I mean, I just think there'sjust something to.
(31:45):
I think people tend to hidebehind lengthy emails.
Sometimes, too, it's like pickup the phone, let's have some
interaction.
We can, we can get through allof this.
And it amazes me.
I'm like you'll write a 25minute email rather than pick up
the phone, and you know youcould probably get that answer
with within two or three minutes.
So find the way to be concise,find the way to check as many
(32:08):
things off your list as you can.
And that leads to my third one,which is I would rather most
leaders, especially inhospitality, would rather have
you do 10 things a day at a Bplus level than one thing at an
A.
Don't be a perfectionist.
You know there's a level.
We don't want C efforts, butwe'd rather have multiple things
done at a B level in a day thanone A that you want to turn in
(32:33):
and get.
You know, get applause for.
The more things you can getdone quickly at a high level
maybe not at the best level, buta very high level the greater
the momentum of your department,of your company, of your club
is going to be Getting one thingdone really, really well in the
(32:54):
club industry and it's so fluidso you could kill yourself for
a week to do one thing and thenthe next week we're like, guess
what?
We're pulling the plug on that.
We're going a differentdirection, you know.
So learn to learn to do well,learn to do well and do it at a
high, high and fast pace.
I think those are so.
(33:14):
So you know, going back to thosethree things, I think, be
smarter about your social media.
To those three things, I thinkbe smarter about your social
media, you know, be more conciseand then, at the end of the day
, be able to work fast and beproud of your B's, because it's
okay to get.
You know I again, I would, I'dbe more proud of someone leaving
the day with six B projectsdone than one A.
(33:55):
Amen.
So, ritz-carlton, they're goingto screw something up every day
, but guess what they're goingto do?
They're going to recover in areally powerful way.
And that's what separates them,as you know, four seasons.
The same thing You're going tohave hiccups on the golf course.
You're going to have hiccups inthe kitchen.
How do you recover?
How do you close the loop onthat feedback so that the
customer slash member knowshere's what happened, here's
(34:18):
what we're doing to make sure itdoesn't happen again.
And once again I know I alreadysaid this, we're really sorry.
And guess what?
If you do that consistently,you're going to have a great
hospitality organization, or atleast for most, maybe not the
10% that we talked about earlierthat are never happy.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
That was good.
Hope you all enjoyed thatepisode.
I know I did.
If you have not done so already, a five-star rating with a
review on Apple Podcasts,spotify, a thumbs up and some
comments over on YouTube meansthe absolute world.
Engaging with us on socialmedia is very important as well.
If you can do that, that's allwe ask, and we ask that you
share the content with peoplewho you think would enjoy it.
(34:57):
If you haven't signed up forour newsletter,
privateclubradiocom.
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
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