September 15, 2025 • 39 mins
Ever feel like you are not good enough, even when you are?
In this episode, GM Kent Johnson opens up about his personal experience with imposter syndrome as a leader in the private club world. We talk honestly about the voice of self-doubt that can show up even after years of success, and what it really takes to lead with vulnerability, clarity and confidence.
Kent shares how imposter syndrome shows up at the GM level, why it often goes unspoken, and how he works through it without letting it take over. We also discuss personal growth, leadership style, and learning to stop chasing perfection.
If you have ever questioned your own success or felt like a fraud in your role, this episode will remind you that you are not alone.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs Frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, we are goingto chat with someone who's been
quietly shaping the future ofclub leadership and club culture
in a way that feels real,honest and incredibly impactful.
I get to sit down with KentJohnson, gm of Baltimore Country
Club, and his story isn't yourtypical rise through the ranks
(00:44):
and I know he's been doing a lotand speaking more and being
open more with the clubcommunity, speaking at BMIs,
cmaa events all over and ofcourse, I wanted to talk and
learn more about him and hisstory.
But I didn't want to have himcome on and talk about some
things that he would maybe speakabout, because I want you to
hear that come from him when yousee him in person and you see
(01:05):
him speak in person and when wewere chatting and game playing
the episode he brought somethingup and the light bulb went off
for me because I thought it wassomething that a lot of people
don't talk about often and it'ssomething that I struggle with
myself, have been for years andstill do today and that is
imposter syndrome, that innervoice that tells you you're not
(01:26):
good enough, you're notqualified enough, you're not
ready, you're never going tomake it.
This is you're going to bomb.
That inner voice that tells youall those bad, negative things,
even when you know you areready, and you know you are good
enough and you know you'requalified and you know you're
the right person for it.
So it's something that I'vestruggled with myself and I know
I'm not alone and you knowwe're bringing and talking about
(01:48):
mental health and wellness notjust in the club space a lot,
but also just in the world, andthis is something maybe we don't
talk about enough eitherbecause it kind of does relate
to mental health and wellness.
But so when he brought that upI was like, yes, this is what I
want us to dive in on and he wasall in on it.
So I'm super stoked to bechatting with him today here on
Private Club Radio aboutimposter syndrome, because it's
(02:10):
something that it wasn't justearly on in his career.
But even after reachingmilestones and accomplishing so,
so much, you still feel it, andhe still feels it and I still
feel it, and we talk aboutworking through it and ways to
get over it and how to you know,calm down that voice in your
head that tells you, man, you'renot good enough for this, when
(02:31):
really you are and you'reprobably going to kill it.
I think that's what makes thisepisode so special is it's not
just Kent's resume, it's it'shis openness, and we just dive
into more about his leadershipand culture style and how he's
just learned to work through itand help others work through
their own limiting beliefs andmindsets.
(02:54):
Also, how to recognizeself-doubt, not in yourself but
also in your team, and how tosupport them through it.
Why it's important to choosevalues over titles and paychecks
and why success doesn't have tobe loud and powerful, and how
(03:16):
it's very particular andspecific to you it doesn't have
to be about anybody else.
This episode is so, so good.
I cannot wait for us to dive inreally, really quick.
A big thanks to some of ourshow partners.
As always, you're going to heartheir ads.
You're going to see me postabout them.
All I ask is if you ever wantto use their products or if
(03:37):
you're in the market for theirproduct or their service, give
them a shout, give them an atbat and if you can say, hey, we
appreciate you supporting Dennyand Private Club Radio, because
that means the absolute world.
Speaking of Private Club Radio,I have my Management in Motion
Leadership event coming up very,very soon, september 22nd,
monticello, new York.
It's gonna be so much fun a dayof ripping up amazing,
(04:00):
beautiful vehicles, bmws andwhile learning relevant
information about what we'redoing on the track and how that
relates to cloud leadership andmanagement.
It's gonna be so much fun.
Head on over toprivateclubradiocom slash
management in motion to learn alittle bit more or to sign up.
We have a few more spots left.
And quick, shameless plug formyself the Denny Corby
(04:20):
Experience it's a comedy, magicand mind reading show.
Very crowd work focusedexperience.
It's a comedy, magic and mindreading show, very crowd work
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2025 is pretty much sold out.
I have very, very, very fewdates left but, more importantly
, I am booking for 2026 and wellinto the year.
So if you want to head over todennycorbycom, fill out the form
reach out.
We'd love to have aconversation about what it looks
(04:40):
like to bring me into your clubfor a really fun evening for
your members.
So enough about all of this.
Let's get to the episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show KentJohnson For Private Club Radio
listeners people who don't knowwho is Kent Johnson.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Who is Kent Johnson?
That's a great question, Danny.
Well, I guess I would tell you,first and foremost I'm a
husband and a father.
So my wife, Shannon, is verypatient, very understanding
about the trials, tribulationsand hours that are associated
with this particular careerchoice.
We have three kids Jimmy, Maxand Bella.
(05:19):
So this is second marriage forShannon and I.
So we've been together now, Iguess, 16 years.
So we she had two kids from herprevious marriage, I had one.
But the interesting part aboutthat, Denny, is our boys are the
same age.
They're literally two weeksapart, went to the same high
school, same group of friends,but the kids couldn't be any
(05:41):
more different from one another,so there was never any
competition or anything likethat.
The most interesting part ofthat is Shannon and I met when
she was my son's football coach,so kind of a funny little thing
there.
And then Bella is the youngest,Bella's, 20.
She's now a junior at Mount StMary's.
So we're definitely in adifferent phase of life at this
(06:01):
point.
So we're really just adjustingto what that looks like.
And you know, if I'm not hereat the club then you can
probably find me sitting in atree somewhere.
So that's, that's kind of my,my hobby.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Tree sitting.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Tree sitting, so you know hunting hunting those kinds
of things.
Yeah, you never know how peopleare going to respond to that,
so Well, I was like tree sitting.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I was like it could be a.
You know, I don't knowbirdwatching.
There's a lot of ways you couldtake sitting in a tree.
Yeah, exactly, and you've beendoing a lot more speaking the
last couple of years throughdifferent CMAA events, chapter
events, conference, bmis, allthat fun stuff.
(06:49):
What are some of the thingsthat you've been speaking on?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Mostly it's leadership and culture, and
those are two things that wefocus pretty heavily on here at
BCC.
And it's an interesting thing onour side and even on my side
personally too, because I hatepublic speaking in more ways
than I can tell you and it'ssomething that takes a lot of
(07:14):
work on my part to have thecourage to be able to do that,
and that's a relatively newdevelopment, I'd say, probably
in the last four years.
I guess the only good part aboutthat is, you know, we believe
that things should be builtorganically, so we don't do a
lot of posting about thedifferent things that we do, but
I think we found that themessage and the way that we do
(07:38):
things has sort of resonatedwith people, which I think has
been really awesome to see thatthat's happened and so to be
able to use, you know, aplatform to be able to share
what we do and how we do it, andif that helps others, then that
makes it pretty well worth it.
So I'm going to ride this trainas long as I can because it is
(07:59):
truly rewarding.
I think if I could have anothercareer path outside of, you
know, doing what I do nowteaching would probably be at
the top of the list.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And I shouldn't say but funny enough, you didn't
even go to college, Wasn't thata big thing?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I did go to college.
I want to be clear I did notgraduate from college.
That was it, college.
I want to be clear.
I did not graduate from collegebecause at the time I was
working for a restaurant and theowner said, hey, I need a GM,
would you do it?
And at the time I'm kind ofthinking to myself well, I
didn't even know that ahospitality degree was a thing,
(08:39):
or maybe I would have actuallystayed in school.
And so I was like, well, why amI?
This is what I want to do withmy life.
I want to own my own restaurant.
Why am I wasting my time and myfather's money?
And so that's exactly what Idid.
I dropped out and then thingsdidn't work out from that
perspective, but I had alreadymade that decision and you know,
(08:59):
here I sit a number of yearslater.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, but you're crushing it, Like I said a
number of years later.
So yeah, but kind of crushingit, like you know your CCM, you
know you got all of like yourcreds, you got the, you know
you're, you're still crushing it.
Did was did.
Was there any feeling of notfinishing?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
In fact, it's something that I struggle with
all the time, denny, to behonest, you know, it's kind of
that one nagging question that,denny, to be honest, it's kind
of that one nagging questionthat hopefully I don't ever have
to go through another jobinterview again, but it's that
one question that I know thatI'm going to have to answer or
address that says, well, whydidn't you finish your college
degree?
And, like I said, the answer isreally simple I thought I was
(09:41):
wasting my time and my father'smoney.
So, yeah, it's definitely adark cloud that hangs there, and
I'm not sure that there's aspecific certification that I
could achieve.
That's going to make me feeldifferently about that.
It's a source of a little bitof conflict with my wife and I.
Really, it just hangs there,yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So even if you got your MCM, you'd still be like
you know what Never got thatbachelor's degree.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, and so, and I do have the intention of
finishing or doing my MCM.
So, um, I'm just now at thepoint where I can do that too.
Um, but yeah, I think at somepoint, if I can find the time to
do it, I'll do it, and you know, then I can at least check the
box and make sure that Iaccomplished something that I
should have done a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And I and, and when we chatted a few weeks ago
before the recording, there wasa common theme and correct me if
I'm wrong but almost this, andI think we touched on it a few
minutes ago but this impostersyndrome, a little bit almost,
and I know, for me it's notsomething I talk about, I know I
(10:51):
have it to the nth degree.
It's like who am I to be doing?
X, y and Z and blah, blah, blah.
And just hearing you open up tome about it and share with it,
I was like, oh my goodness, likeyou know, I was like you.
I was like you know you'veyou've led some of like you know
, some great big historic clubsin the country.
You know, when people look atyour, your resume, they're
probably never assumed there'sany imposter syndrome or like,
(11:13):
anything like can you share,like when, when that like
started to come up, and like whyyou maybe got that um, I think
it's.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's probably been a chip that I've carried on my
shoulder for a long time, and Ishared with you a story about
the transition between jvfootball and varsity football
what you know, back right as Iwas getting ready to go into
high school, and I think thingsprobably started there, do you
want to share the story here?
So okay.
So interestingly enough, I wasactually a pretty good athlete,
(11:46):
growing up Compulsivelycompetitive, I think is probably
the best way for me to say that.
But at the end of the day Iwasn't the most popular kid in
school.
I certainly wasn't the least,but you know, a lot of the
popular kids were footballplayers.
And so here came my time totransition into varsity, from
junior varsity and there reallywasn't a coach, so most of the
(12:09):
practices were kind ofplayer-led and I didn't think
that putting myself into thatsituation was going to be a good
thing.
So I stayed on JV and you know,of course, in hindsight that
probably wasn't the bestdecision for me to make.
So in getting into my freshmanyear of high school and playing
football, fine, I've stillexcelled.
(12:30):
Same thing in my sophomore year.
But then junior year comes andyou know, going from being a
leader on those lower levelteams to all of a sudden being
on varsity, and so I get up tostart leading the exercise and
the coach put me right in myplace and I think that's
probably a lot of of where thatstarted.
And so for me it was just I'mgoing to work really, really
(12:51):
hard and do the best that I cando and whatever that situation
was going to be and for me thathappened to be working in
restaurants, which was that'skind of where it came from, and
so there's always been sort ofthis desire that I have to
continue to prove myself and soon.
But it also has manifesteditself into this fear, right,
(13:13):
like I remember the very firstCMA event that I ever went to
and I was just wildlyuncomfortable that I was going
to be judged, for you know thefact that I didn't have a degree
that that was going to.
Somehow, advice that I give toyoung people is, you know,
address that fear head on.
And you know where I would havenever gone up to a me to start
(13:46):
a conversation, or to you know,the Mitchell Platts, the Joe
Fulcos, the Michael Wheelers,any of those guys that I always
felt were, you know, just thegods.
Know the gods for lack of abetter word of of our, of our
industry.
I would have never, I wouldhave never addressed that and
you know, hindsight being whatit is, would have said you know,
those are some of the best guysin the industry that would have
(14:08):
put their arm around you and,and you know, walked you through
any of those things and youknow.
So yeah, so that's, that's kindof.
I want to be different thanthat in my more wiser years.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, and and and I don't know if you have
experienced this or you knowmight might be able to agree to,
but it's, you know.
You see, some of those peopleyou know, I just know, if I'm
like my own experience, and it'slike you finally get the
courage to go up and they'relike amazing and nice.
And you're like, oh, why'd Iwait so long?
And then there's the other oneswho you like looked up to and
when we went to go chat or sayhi or introduce or whatever, and
(14:42):
they just blow you off orthey're just rude or arrogant
and you're like why'd I wait solong?
And still look up, like if Iwould have just reached out
sooner, I would have knownfocusing on other people or
putting my eggs, or, you know,farming and harvesting with
different, better likerelationships and stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, 100%, and that's fully accurate and I, you
know that's, I've certainlyexperienced that too.
But that's one of the things isthat I just I never, I never
want to be that guy Right?
So any time that I've had thegood fortune of being able to
speak or teach or, you know,engage with somebody, I'm always
(15:21):
free to give my contactinformation and when I tell
people that I want them to reachout, I absolutely will make
sure that I stay in contact withthose folks Because, again, I
just I think back to you knowthe situations that I put myself
in and I would just prefer tobe more helpful than not.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, seeing as you've been able to be open
about this and recognize it asas a leader.
You know you guys have a, havea, have a great culture, you
know, and all that fun stuff.
And you know, I know you talkabout that and do all that.
And then I didn't want to diveinto that on this cause it's,
you know, people would havemaybe heard it or whatever, and
plus, I don't want to.
You know, it's almost like theyou know doing like a magic show
.
I don't want to give away likethe tricks.
(16:00):
You know what I mean.
I want people to hear from youin person, like live on stage so
you know but.
But so I want to dive into moreof like the imposter stuff, like
when we were talking.
So as a, as a leader, are youable to now also almost see it
with younger people?
Can you see when somebody maybehas it and maybe they, you know
(16:20):
, you can kind of see not likeyour younger self, but you can
just almost see the like same.
I don't know if it'shesitations or whatever, but
like that same feeling, and youknow, maybe they don't always
say it out loud or ask for help,but like you know, how do you
kind of support those teammembers?
You know those, those youngerones or younger, older, cause
you know it could be any ageLike how do you see it, find it,
support it and like make themcomfortable enough to come out
(16:42):
of like a little bit there.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, I think, um, you know, there was an
experience at conference thisyear.
I met um, a young woman that umclearly had some confidence
struggles, um, and in hearingthis young woman speak you
realize just how incredible thiswoman is and the potential that
she has.
And so being able to just reachout and just say, hey, look, you
(17:08):
know, I believe in who you areas a person and you know what I
think that you know you can bedoing, and so on and so forth,
and being able to continue thatconversation and then having
this individual literally hadn'theard from them for a while.
And then I reached out, maybe Idon't know, six weeks ago or so
(17:29):
, had a nice conversation withthem and I got a text back maybe
a week or so later that says,hey, can I ask you a question?
And I said sure, and she said,would you be my mentor?
And so when you look at thosekinds of situations and I think
we could all hope that there'sgoing to be that one person or
two people that they're going tolook back on their lives and
say, you know, wow, whetherthat's you know through doing
what we do or you know just bytrying really hard to be a good
(17:50):
human most days yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What?
What conversations do you havewith you know team members or
just other people?
Like what are thoseconversations that you have when
you know people are doubtingthemselves?
Like how do you normalize thosefeelings for them without
letting it stall their growth?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
For me, it's a lot about drawing on past experience
having been into those and beenin many of those situations
that have zapped my confidencefor one reason or another, or
mistakes that I've made or,frankly, successes that I've
experienced and being able tomake those relatable to the
individual and trying to breakthings down in a way that are
(18:44):
that it's digestible and human,frankly, and you hope that
that's what has, that, that'sultimately what makes it, what
makes it resonate with thatperson.
Yeah, yeah, yeah Do you have anytools or habits that help you
(19:07):
kind of quiet that impostervoice?
Yeah, I just, whatever thesituation is, I just need to do
it and just be me.
And if I can do that and betrue to myself, then I find that
, you know, most things aregoing to be pretty good, and at
times you have to quiet thingsthe other way too, that says,
hey, look, you know, we've donesome really good things, We've
(19:28):
gotten recognized for somereally cool things, but you know
, don't forget all the thingsthat you did to get to where you
are, and so that's on bothsides of that, Right.
So, um, yeah, I mean absolutelyyou have to quiet the noise and
and just realize that you knowyou want to be the guy that
you've told everybody that youare and that you've spent your
(19:50):
entire life being that you'vespent your entire life being.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, I know, for me it's definitely probably
having that.
I was gonna say that that likeI-S, but then it sounds too much
like I-B-S and I don't wannasay that.
Got that I-S acting up again.
Yeah, no, I know, for me Ithink it's helped a bit because
(20:16):
you know, you know, after like ashow for me, you know it could
be a killer show, be like thatwas great, like the back of my
head, I'm like you have that onemoment you know I could have,
or like, oh, still so, and so isbetter.
Like whatever you know, do youever find it's helped?
You keep you humble and just,you know, for, for me, I know it
keeps me hungry, keeps melearning, keeps me relatable.
(20:36):
Do you think like the same?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Absolutely, um.
I mean, I think it's.
I think it wouldn't be normalif you just got off stage or did
whatever and didn't look andsay, oh my gosh, I missed making
this point or I missed thatpart, this trick was supposed to
go that way.
Yeah, 100%, I do that, and I'llkind of kick myself if there
(21:02):
are days that I didn't preparefor something as well as I
should have, but I also, at thesame time, I want to be prepared
, but I don't want to berehearsed, if that makes any
sense too.
So I think I think probably I'mhardest on myself, um, with
those kinds of situations, andthat definitely helps, helps
keep things in check.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, are you.
Are you a journaler, like, like, what do you?
What do you lean?
Lean into when you, when youneed it the most, like you know,
are you a journaler?
Do you lean to mentors?
You know you're like groups,like what's your, what's your
go-to muse, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, that allows me to sort them some things out,
just because you know you'resitting in a tree for hours on
end by yourself, so nothing withyour, but your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I just see, I just have a visual now of you in a
tree Doing like duck calls,sorry, doing like duck calls.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Sorry, no, it's kind of funny because, you know, if
you see the bowtie version of meright and then you see the
unshaven, camouflaged version ofme, and it's, it's a tale of
two individuals um, shannon andI get a good kick out of that
still wearing a camo bowt, butstill on brand.
Funny, I get that comment quitea bit.
(22:18):
Sorry, didn't mean to interruptno, no, no, no.
Um, you know, certainly withany struggles or you know
questions and things like that,I lean into Shannon a lot, who
is, um, she's successful in hercareer too, and and so she's,
she's.
She's a really good person tohelp help me reason through some
things.
And then you know there's anetwork of some individuals that
(22:41):
you know I can pick up thephone and call and say hey, how
would you handle the situation?
What would you do?
Am I thinking about this theright way?
And I find that I use that morefrequently than not to, and I
(23:13):
find that I use that morefrequently than not to and I've
talked about this in a lot ofthe talks and presentations that
I've given is easiest thing tocancel.
And so for the first year of theprogram, I don't think I
attended a single thing.
And then, finally, I was justI've got a little whiteboard
here in my office that keeps myschedule on it, and so I looked
up and there was one of theextraordinary leader calls.
I'm like, oh my gosh, let mejust, I've got some time, let me
get into this.
And so I did it, and I'm soglad I did, because I think that
(23:36):
has significantly helpeddealing with the imposter
syndrome, dealing with fear andsome of those things.
And frankly, I wouldn'tprobably be talking to you if I
had not been on that, beeninvolved in that program.
So I'm really fortunate thatI've done that coaching, done
that coaching too, and you know,frankly, the group.
You know you get on that calland you could be with GMs, you
(23:58):
could be with head pros, youcould be with, you know, servers
and bartenders and differentthings like that.
You just never know and I thinkthat's one of the most
rewarding pieces of that.
So I've counted on that groupin more ways than I can, than I
can tell you.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, and it's probably nice having such an
eclectic, wide range of thepeople in the club spectrum
because you get that perspectiveand and and you know it could
be, I could be wrong but it youprobably have had one of those
moments where someone who youwould have never thought like
the bartender just chimed in andmaybe said that one thing and
you're like SOB, that was reallygood, like that's exactly what
(24:34):
I needed.
You know, it's not always somesomething from like the top of
the top or the best of the best.
Sometimes it's from the personyou like least expect that gives
you that one little nugget orthat one thing and you're like
that was, that was exactly whatI needed.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, that's it.
I mean, you never know wherethe next great idea is going to
come from.
Next great idea is going tocome from right, or in some
cases there's a little storythat I tell there was.
You know, a lot of folks havewhat are called like comparative
shopping allowances, where youknow the club wants to go out
and experience what's going onin other restaurants, and so my
last club they had said, oh, yougot to go, you got to go try
this restaurant up in, likeHaverd or Grace or wherever it
(25:08):
was.
So you walk into this place andit's like where in the hell am
I Like this cannot be the placethat you know?
They felt that I should go andvery quickly it was confirmed
that it was not a place that Ishould have gone.
But I learned one very importantthing that I was able to pull
out of that.
There's one sandwich that hadblackened tomato slices, which I
(25:32):
thought was, you know, marylandis known for tomatoes and so on
and so forth, and blackeningwas just a different approach to
it.
So I'm like, oh, so that madethe trip kind of worthwhile and
got to laugh about some of theother things.
But you know, so you do younever really know in the
experiences of life where that,that thing that's going to help
you.
You know, learn something or dosomething differently than what
(25:54):
you do it, and so you just haveto be open to some of those
things at times.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, what do you?
You know you've, you've beenable to work with your own
people, people across theindustry, conference, what, what
when you're talking to youngmanagers and and and I should
young is young as an age, butyou know, maybe somebody who's
moving up the career ladder,cause everyone starts at
different points in their, intheir lives and careers what do
you tell somebody?
(26:19):
What do you tell peoplestepping into like that next
important role, so it could befrom banquet server to banquet
captain, or to banquet manager,or maybe it's AGM, uh, you know.
Finally, you know, to F&Bdirector, what do you tell or
you know, at least, like yourown team you know for for
experience, or just anybody,what do you tell, what advice do
you have, you know, to kind ofhelp them get through that next
(26:44):
level and maybe dealing withthose doubts, and that, you know
, is.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
It's one.
It's a lot of listening,because you do have to be able
to listen and you have to ask alot of questions, and so we do
try to make sure that we'regetting that point across as
quickly as we can.
And at times, like with, youknow, with our own leadership
team here, we have what arecalled huddles.
(27:09):
So those are things that occurevery three to four weeks that
will address goals and differentthings of that nature, and
that's a perfect opportunity forus to sit down with those
individuals and say, hey, tellme, walk me through, why you
made this decision this way.
Or if I have somebody that I'msitting across from that is
(27:30):
maybe struggling with something,it's asking them if I have
their permission to speak thetruth to them, and then just
kind of lay things out at thatpoint, because you know,
sometimes that's exactly what.
You know, what we need to, whatwe need to convey is you know
that there's, you know there's adifferent way, there could be a
better way, and you know wehave to be able to talk through
(27:50):
what those, what those thingsare better way, and you know we
have to be able to talk throughwhat those, what those things
are.
Um, and you know, I thinksometimes as leaders and I'm
guilty of this too we can have atendency to speak at people
rather than with people, and youknow, so just you try to make
that as much of a two-wayconversation so that you're open
to listening, but at the sametime, you know we have standards
(28:12):
and expectations that we, youknow, we expect are done in a
very specific way, and you know,giving them the tools that they
need to be able to achieve thatin that fashion.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
How do you talk with people instead of to them Like,
like, and how can you recognizeif you're talking at them, not
with them?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
just by how, pay attention to how much you're
talking, right, and I know thisis kind of like communications,
one-on-one, right, but makingsure that you're asking
questions, and some questionsthat you know maybe you're
asking because you want them torecognize why you're asking the
question, and some questionsthat you know, walk me through
why you made the decision thatyou made, some questions that
(28:52):
you know, walk me through whyyou made the decision that you
made.
And then you know listening,truly listening, and not just
waiting to respond.
And so sometimes it'll be justmaking sure that I'm jotting
notes down and so on and soforth so that I'm present in the
conversation.
But I mean, just you've got tobe able to speak the truth to
(29:13):
them and you know, sit back andunderstand that some days it's
not about you being the onethat's speaking.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, did you ever run into a scenario where it's
both people who are trying tolike ask the questions but no
one wants to like talk?
So it's just two people like oh, so what do you think about
this?
Like oh, what prompted you toask that question?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
it's just like it's the dance those are exhausting
right at the end of the day.
I mean, you know somebody's gotto make the decision or the
determination on what it is yeahand no.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I was just busted on that.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, it's true, though it's true, though it's
true.
Those can be really frustratingconversations.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
It's like you know, the last one to, or the first
one to speak loses, so everyonejust sits there in silence.
No, yeah I know.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I know I hope that at some point that I can be an
example of you know that youdon't have to be perfect to be
successful, right, and successis a relative term, too, right?
So everybody defines successdifferently and we choose to
look at that here says that youknow, success isn't what we can
(30:26):
achieve in our own careers, butwhat we can help others achieve
in theirs.
That makes the difference andthat really is the truth.
And so I hope that you know ifwe can truly inspire people to
think more about others righteven as they're you know, sort
of getting to the point in theirown careers where you know
(30:47):
they're right at the brink ofsuccess, and so on is never
forgetting the why behind.
You know what got you there,and I think that's probably a
pretty important message thatI'd like to make sure that
everybody of success and so onis never forgetting the why
behind you know what got youthere, and I think that's
probably a pretty importantmessage that I'd like to make
sure that everybody understandsis you know it's.
You know it takes a village forall of these things to work,
especially in clubs, and youknow when you look at some of
what the best run clubs in thecountry are.
(31:08):
You see, this connectivitybetween you know, between the
managers and the staff and theboard and those kinds of things
and those relationships, man,they're just, they're critical
and you know, truthfully, that'skind of where I think that you
know, when I look at the eightyears now that I've spent here
at BCC, that's why I don't thinkI see an end in sight, like
it's the relationships that youknow the way the club treats the
(31:31):
staff and rallies behind them,and you, the relationships that
you know the way the club treatsthe staff and rallies behind
them.
And you know and it's not thatthey don't hold us accountable
either, they certainly do, but Ithink that's that is probably
one of the best and mostrewarding things that I get.
That I that we see in clubsright Is.
That's just not something thatshould be taken for granted.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, and you've, and you've had substantial runs at
all your clubs, I think.
Well, you're like.
You know your shortest run wasthree years, like and so like
that's.
There's something to be saidabout that.
Like all of your clubs have hadsubstantial 10 years in runs.
It's really impressive.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, better lucky than good, I think, is the way
that goes right.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Better, what is it?
Better the devil you know thanthe devil you don't know?
No, we'll just keep on here,you know.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I mean, we don't know who else we're gonna get in
here and but that's, but that'sokay.
So think about this right, soyou can look to be in a club
where things are really reallygood and you can see that
there's, you know, job x, that's, you know, going to be down
wherever it is and you, you know, carries a bigger paycheck.
And so we sometimes get, youknow, we get blinded by oh my
(32:40):
gosh, I can do A, b, c and D andmy life is going to be
different if I take this, andyou know, then we forget to ask
questions about values and youknow the things that really
should be important to us inaddition to you know how much
money we're going to make, and Ithink a lot of times that's
what leads to failure.
And if you're not aligned withyour values and you know the
(33:03):
direction that the club wants togo, or any organization for
that matter, then I think thingshave a less than good chance of
being successful.
So I guess a lot of it for meis right place, right time and
right opportunities, and youknow, I certainly know, that
those are, you know, forces atplay that are bigger than me,
and you know I'm just incrediblyfortunate to have experienced
(33:24):
the clubs and the leaders that Ihave.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, yeah, definitely defining your own
definition of success.
Because it's one thing I thinkpeople it's like oh, I want to
be successful.
It's like well, what does thatmean?
Everyone's version is different, and this just reminds me of a
couple of like just previousguests I've had on who it's like
.
It's similar things.
It's you know what is yourversion of success, what do you
(33:49):
want to accomplish, what'simportant to you, and then that
helps you guide your decisionsand not moving around or not
taking that you know other club,because you're going to get
whatever X more, but you'regoing to be now an hour away
from work instead of 20 minutes,and now for all your kids'
sports games.
You know, I was talking withRyan Brennan from Manasquan
River and he's been at his clubforever because he knew he could
(34:17):
have taken so many otheropportunities, but he likes his
area.
He knew the progression, heknew he wasn't going to get gm
as quick as he wanted, but heknew the vision, the goal,
success, the, the vision of theclub, like he, the strategic
plan, like it was all there.
And then also going back, youknow, one of my favorite
episodes was with uh alfredohildebrandt, and it was I was.
Oh man, that is probably stillone of my top episodes.
When he said I was like Iforget, I forget the question I
(34:38):
asked exactly.
But I was like you know what,what got you to here, like you
know what was your progression.
And I was like he said uh, youknow, I came from a line of
studs picking my bosses, I waspicking my managers and I was
like damn.
I was like he was like I wasjust wanting to work for the
best of the best it didn'tmatter what, what club they were
at, it was about the managerand want to learn and be the
(35:01):
best.
And you know, the rest wasgoing to like find itself, so to
speak, and I was like geez likewhy and how wild.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
And his personal journey is an inspiration what
he's doing with his life and howthat's impacted everything else
that he's doing.
I mean it's really impressive,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, well, hey, I want to thank you so much,
genuinely.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing and being open and
for all you're doing for theindustry.
Thanks for being on here.
It means the absolute world,thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Well, I appreciate this too.
You know, I've seen all thestuff on LinkedIn and so on and
so forth.
I know it took us a while tokind of be able to figure this
out but I'm really thankful.
Is that what we're going to gowith, denny?
Yes, yes, all right.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Well, that's fair by me.
Kent, thank you so much forcoming on.
I appreciate your openness andwilling just to share, and not
just here on the channel, buteverything else you do for the
industry when you speak at BMIsand leadership events and the
mentorships that you give tomany.
So thank you so much once again.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Hope you got something from theshow from this episode.
That is this episode.
(36:16):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Until next time, catch you onthe Flippity Flip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs Frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, we are goingto chat with someone who's been
quietly shaping the future ofclub leadership and club culture
in a way that feels real,honest and incredibly impactful.
I get to sit down with KentJohnson, gm of Baltimore Country
Club, and his story isn't yourtypical rise through the ranks
(00:44):
and I know he's been doing a lotand speaking more and being
open more with the clubcommunity, speaking at BMIs,
cmaa events all over and ofcourse, I wanted to talk and
learn more about him and hisstory.
But I didn't want to have himcome on and talk about some
things that he would maybe speakabout, because I want you to
hear that come from him when yousee him in person and you see
(01:05):
him speak in person and when wewere chatting and game playing
the episode he brought somethingup and the light bulb went off
for me because I thought it wassomething that a lot of people
don't talk about often and it'ssomething that I struggle with
myself, have been for years andstill do today and that is
imposter syndrome, that innervoice that tells you you're not
(01:26):
good enough, you're notqualified enough, you're not
ready, you're never going tomake it.
This is you're going to bomb.
That inner voice that tells youall those bad, negative things,
even when you know you areready, and you know you are good
enough and you know you'requalified and you know you're
the right person for it.
So it's something that I'vestruggled with myself and I know
I'm not alone and you knowwe're bringing and talking about
(01:48):
mental health and wellness notjust in the club space a lot,
but also just in the world, andthis is something maybe we don't
talk about enough eitherbecause it kind of does relate
to mental health and wellness.
But so when he brought that upI was like, yes, this is what I
want us to dive in on and he wasall in on it.
So I'm super stoked to bechatting with him today here on
Private Club Radio aboutimposter syndrome, because it's
(02:10):
something that it wasn't justearly on in his career.
But even after reachingmilestones and accomplishing so,
so much, you still feel it, andhe still feels it and I still
feel it, and we talk aboutworking through it and ways to
get over it and how to you know,calm down that voice in your
head that tells you, man, you'renot good enough for this, when
(02:31):
really you are and you'reprobably going to kill it.
I think that's what makes thisepisode so special is it's not
just Kent's resume, it's it'shis openness, and we just dive
into more about his leadershipand culture style and how he's
just learned to work through itand help others work through
their own limiting beliefs andmindsets.
(02:54):
Also, how to recognizeself-doubt, not in yourself but
also in your team, and how tosupport them through it.
Why it's important to choosevalues over titles and paychecks
and why success doesn't have tobe loud and powerful, and how
(03:16):
it's very particular andspecific to you it doesn't have
to be about anybody else.
This episode is so, so good.
I cannot wait for us to dive inreally, really quick.
A big thanks to some of ourshow partners.
As always, you're going to heartheir ads.
You're going to see me postabout them.
All I ask is if you ever wantto use their products or if
(03:37):
you're in the market for theirproduct or their service, give
them a shout, give them an atbat and if you can say, hey, we
appreciate you supporting Dennyand Private Club Radio, because
that means the absolute world.
Speaking of Private Club Radio,I have my Management in Motion
Leadership event coming up very,very soon, september 22nd,
monticello, new York.
It's gonna be so much fun a dayof ripping up amazing,
(04:00):
beautiful vehicles, bmws andwhile learning relevant
information about what we'redoing on the track and how that
relates to cloud leadership andmanagement.
It's gonna be so much fun.
Head on over toprivateclubradiocom slash
management in motion to learn alittle bit more or to sign up.
We have a few more spots left.
And quick, shameless plug formyself the Denny Corby
(04:20):
Experience it's a comedy, magicand mind reading show.
Very crowd work focusedexperience.
It's a comedy, magic and mindreading show, very crowd work
focused.
2025 is pretty much sold out.
I have very, very, very fewdates left but, more importantly
, I am booking for 2026 and wellinto the year.
So if you want to head over todennycorbycom, fill out the form
reach out.
We'd love to have aconversation about what it looks
(04:40):
like to bring me into your clubfor a really fun evening for
your members.
So enough about all of this.
Let's get to the episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show KentJohnson For Private Club Radio
listeners people who don't knowwho is Kent Johnson.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Who is Kent Johnson?
That's a great question, Danny.
Well, I guess I would tell you,first and foremost I'm a
husband and a father.
So my wife, Shannon, is verypatient, very understanding
about the trials, tribulationsand hours that are associated
with this particular careerchoice.
We have three kids Jimmy, Maxand Bella.
(05:19):
So this is second marriage forShannon and I.
So we've been together now, Iguess, 16 years.
So we she had two kids from herprevious marriage, I had one.
But the interesting part aboutthat, Denny, is our boys are the
same age.
They're literally two weeksapart, went to the same high
school, same group of friends,but the kids couldn't be any
(05:41):
more different from one another,so there was never any
competition or anything likethat.
The most interesting part ofthat is Shannon and I met when
she was my son's football coach,so kind of a funny little thing
there.
And then Bella is the youngest,Bella's, 20.
She's now a junior at Mount StMary's.
So we're definitely in adifferent phase of life at this
(06:01):
point.
So we're really just adjustingto what that looks like.
And you know, if I'm not hereat the club then you can
probably find me sitting in atree somewhere.
So that's, that's kind of my,my hobby.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Tree sitting.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Tree sitting, so you know hunting hunting those kinds
of things.
Yeah, you never know how peopleare going to respond to that,
so Well, I was like tree sitting.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I was like it could be a.
You know, I don't knowbirdwatching.
There's a lot of ways you couldtake sitting in a tree.
Yeah, exactly, and you've beendoing a lot more speaking the
last couple of years throughdifferent CMAA events, chapter
events, conference, bmis, allthat fun stuff.
(06:49):
What are some of the thingsthat you've been speaking on?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Mostly it's leadership and culture, and
those are two things that wefocus pretty heavily on here at
BCC.
And it's an interesting thing onour side and even on my side
personally too, because I hatepublic speaking in more ways
than I can tell you and it'ssomething that takes a lot of
(07:14):
work on my part to have thecourage to be able to do that,
and that's a relatively newdevelopment, I'd say, probably
in the last four years.
I guess the only good part aboutthat is, you know, we believe
that things should be builtorganically, so we don't do a
lot of posting about thedifferent things that we do, but
I think we found that themessage and the way that we do
(07:38):
things has sort of resonatedwith people, which I think has
been really awesome to see thatthat's happened and so to be
able to use, you know, aplatform to be able to share
what we do and how we do it, andif that helps others, then that
makes it pretty well worth it.
So I'm going to ride this trainas long as I can because it is
(07:59):
truly rewarding.
I think if I could have anothercareer path outside of, you
know, doing what I do nowteaching would probably be at
the top of the list.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And I shouldn't say but funny enough, you didn't
even go to college, Wasn't thata big thing?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I did go to college.
I want to be clear I did notgraduate from college.
That was it, college.
I want to be clear.
I did not graduate from collegebecause at the time I was
working for a restaurant and theowner said, hey, I need a GM,
would you do it?
And at the time I'm kind ofthinking to myself well, I
didn't even know that ahospitality degree was a thing,
(08:39):
or maybe I would have actuallystayed in school.
And so I was like, well, why amI?
This is what I want to do withmy life.
I want to own my own restaurant.
Why am I wasting my time and myfather's money?
And so that's exactly what Idid.
I dropped out and then thingsdidn't work out from that
perspective, but I had alreadymade that decision and you know,
(08:59):
here I sit a number of yearslater.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, but you're crushing it, Like I said a
number of years later.
So yeah, but kind of crushingit, like you know your CCM, you
know you got all of like yourcreds, you got the, you know
you're, you're still crushing it.
Did was did.
Was there any feeling of notfinishing?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
In fact, it's something that I struggle with
all the time, denny, to behonest, you know, it's kind of
that one nagging question that,denny, to be honest, it's kind
of that one nagging questionthat hopefully I don't ever have
to go through another jobinterview again, but it's that
one question that I know thatI'm going to have to answer or
address that says, well, whydidn't you finish your college
degree?
And, like I said, the answer isreally simple I thought I was
(09:41):
wasting my time and my father'smoney.
So, yeah, it's definitely adark cloud that hangs there, and
I'm not sure that there's aspecific certification that I
could achieve.
That's going to make me feeldifferently about that.
It's a source of a little bitof conflict with my wife and I.
Really, it just hangs there,yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So even if you got your MCM, you'd still be like
you know what Never got thatbachelor's degree.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, and so, and I do have the intention of
finishing or doing my MCM.
So, um, I'm just now at thepoint where I can do that too.
Um, but yeah, I think at somepoint, if I can find the time to
do it, I'll do it, and you know, then I can at least check the
box and make sure that Iaccomplished something that I
should have done a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And I and, and when we chatted a few weeks ago
before the recording, there wasa common theme and correct me if
I'm wrong but almost this, andI think we touched on it a few
minutes ago but this impostersyndrome, a little bit almost,
and I know, for me it's notsomething I talk about, I know I
(10:51):
have it to the nth degree.
It's like who am I to be doing?
X, y and Z and blah, blah, blah.
And just hearing you open up tome about it and share with it,
I was like, oh my goodness, likeyou know, I was like you.
I was like you know you'veyou've led some of like you know
, some great big historic clubsin the country.
You know, when people look atyour, your resume, they're
probably never assumed there'sany imposter syndrome or like,
(11:13):
anything like can you share,like when, when that like
started to come up, and like whyyou maybe got that um, I think
it's.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's probably been a chip that I've carried on my
shoulder for a long time, and Ishared with you a story about
the transition between jvfootball and varsity football
what you know, back right as Iwas getting ready to go into
high school, and I think thingsprobably started there, do you
want to share the story here?
So okay.
So interestingly enough, I wasactually a pretty good athlete,
(11:46):
growing up Compulsivelycompetitive, I think is probably
the best way for me to say that.
But at the end of the day Iwasn't the most popular kid in
school.
I certainly wasn't the least,but you know, a lot of the
popular kids were footballplayers.
And so here came my time totransition into varsity, from
junior varsity and there reallywasn't a coach, so most of the
(12:09):
practices were kind ofplayer-led and I didn't think
that putting myself into thatsituation was going to be a good
thing.
So I stayed on JV and you know,of course, in hindsight that
probably wasn't the bestdecision for me to make.
So in getting into my freshmanyear of high school and playing
football, fine, I've stillexcelled.
(12:30):
Same thing in my sophomore year.
But then junior year comes andyou know, going from being a
leader on those lower levelteams to all of a sudden being
on varsity, and so I get up tostart leading the exercise and
the coach put me right in myplace and I think that's
probably a lot of of where thatstarted.
And so for me it was just I'mgoing to work really, really
(12:51):
hard and do the best that I cando and whatever that situation
was going to be and for me thathappened to be working in
restaurants, which was that'skind of where it came from, and
so there's always been sort ofthis desire that I have to
continue to prove myself and soon.
But it also has manifesteditself into this fear, right,
(13:13):
like I remember the very firstCMA event that I ever went to
and I was just wildlyuncomfortable that I was going
to be judged, for you know thefact that I didn't have a degree
that that was going to.
Somehow, advice that I give toyoung people is, you know,
address that fear head on.
And you know where I would havenever gone up to a me to start
(13:46):
a conversation, or to you know,the Mitchell Platts, the Joe
Fulcos, the Michael Wheelers,any of those guys that I always
felt were, you know, just thegods.
Know the gods for lack of abetter word of of our, of our
industry.
I would have never, I wouldhave never addressed that and
you know, hindsight being whatit is, would have said you know,
those are some of the best guysin the industry that would have
(14:08):
put their arm around you and,and you know, walked you through
any of those things and youknow.
So yeah, so that's, that's kindof.
I want to be different thanthat in my more wiser years.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, and and and I don't know if you have
experienced this or you knowmight might be able to agree to,
but it's, you know.
You see, some of those peopleyou know, I just know, if I'm
like my own experience, and it'slike you finally get the
courage to go up and they'relike amazing and nice.
And you're like, oh, why'd Iwait so long?
And then there's the other oneswho you like looked up to and
when we went to go chat or sayhi or introduce or whatever, and
(14:42):
they just blow you off orthey're just rude or arrogant
and you're like why'd I wait solong?
And still look up, like if Iwould have just reached out
sooner, I would have knownfocusing on other people or
putting my eggs, or, you know,farming and harvesting with
different, better likerelationships and stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, 100%, and that's fully accurate and I, you
know that's, I've certainlyexperienced that too.
But that's one of the things isthat I just I never, I never
want to be that guy Right?
So any time that I've had thegood fortune of being able to
speak or teach or, you know,engage with somebody, I'm always
(15:21):
free to give my contactinformation and when I tell
people that I want them to reachout, I absolutely will make
sure that I stay in contact withthose folks Because, again, I
just I think back to you knowthe situations that I put myself
in and I would just prefer tobe more helpful than not.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, seeing as you've been able to be open
about this and recognize it asas a leader.
You know you guys have a, havea, have a great culture, you
know, and all that fun stuff.
And you know, I know you talkabout that and do all that.
And then I didn't want to diveinto that on this cause it's,
you know, people would havemaybe heard it or whatever, and
plus, I don't want to.
You know, it's almost like theyou know doing like a magic show
.
I don't want to give away likethe tricks.
(16:00):
You know what I mean.
I want people to hear from youin person, like live on stage so
you know but.
But so I want to dive into moreof like the imposter stuff, like
when we were talking.
So as a, as a leader, are youable to now also almost see it
with younger people?
Can you see when somebody maybehas it and maybe they, you know
(16:20):
, you can kind of see not likeyour younger self, but you can
just almost see the like same.
I don't know if it'shesitations or whatever, but
like that same feeling, and youknow, maybe they don't always
say it out loud or ask for help,but like you know, how do you
kind of support those teammembers?
You know those, those youngerones or younger, older, cause
you know it could be any ageLike how do you see it, find it,
support it and like make themcomfortable enough to come out
(16:42):
of like a little bit there.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, I think, um, you know, there was an
experience at conference thisyear.
I met um, a young woman that umclearly had some confidence
struggles, um, and in hearingthis young woman speak you
realize just how incredible thiswoman is and the potential that
she has.
And so being able to just reachout and just say, hey, look, you
(17:08):
know, I believe in who you areas a person and you know what I
think that you know you can bedoing, and so on and so forth,
and being able to continue thatconversation and then having
this individual literally hadn'theard from them for a while.
And then I reached out, maybe Idon't know, six weeks ago or so
(17:29):
, had a nice conversation withthem and I got a text back maybe
a week or so later that says,hey, can I ask you a question?
And I said sure, and she said,would you be my mentor?
And so when you look at thosekinds of situations and I think
we could all hope that there'sgoing to be that one person or
two people that they're going tolook back on their lives and
say, you know, wow, whetherthat's you know through doing
what we do or you know just bytrying really hard to be a good
(17:50):
human most days yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What?
What conversations do you havewith you know team members or
just other people?
Like what are thoseconversations that you have when
you know people are doubtingthemselves?
Like how do you normalize thosefeelings for them without
letting it stall their growth?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
For me, it's a lot about drawing on past experience
having been into those and beenin many of those situations
that have zapped my confidencefor one reason or another, or
mistakes that I've made or,frankly, successes that I've
experienced and being able tomake those relatable to the
individual and trying to breakthings down in a way that are
(18:44):
that it's digestible and human,frankly, and you hope that
that's what has, that, that'sultimately what makes it, what
makes it resonate with thatperson.
Yeah, yeah, yeah Do you have anytools or habits that help you
(19:07):
kind of quiet that impostervoice?
Yeah, I just, whatever thesituation is, I just need to do
it and just be me.
And if I can do that and betrue to myself, then I find that
, you know, most things aregoing to be pretty good, and at
times you have to quiet thingsthe other way too, that says,
hey, look, you know, we've donesome really good things, We've
(19:28):
gotten recognized for somereally cool things, but you know
, don't forget all the thingsthat you did to get to where you
are, and so that's on bothsides of that, Right.
So, um, yeah, I mean absolutelyyou have to quiet the noise and
and just realize that you knowyou want to be the guy that
you've told everybody that youare and that you've spent your
(19:50):
entire life being that you'vespent your entire life being.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, I know, for me it's definitely probably
having that.
I was gonna say that that likeI-S, but then it sounds too much
like I-B-S and I don't wannasay that.
Got that I-S acting up again.
Yeah, no, I know, for me Ithink it's helped a bit because
(20:16):
you know, you know, after like ashow for me, you know it could
be a killer show, be like thatwas great, like the back of my
head, I'm like you have that onemoment you know I could have,
or like, oh, still so, and so isbetter.
Like whatever you know, do youever find it's helped?
You keep you humble and just,you know, for, for me, I know it
keeps me hungry, keeps melearning, keeps me relatable.
(20:36):
Do you think like the same?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Absolutely, um.
I mean, I think it's.
I think it wouldn't be normalif you just got off stage or did
whatever and didn't look andsay, oh my gosh, I missed making
this point or I missed thatpart, this trick was supposed to
go that way.
Yeah, 100%, I do that, and I'llkind of kick myself if there
(21:02):
are days that I didn't preparefor something as well as I
should have, but I also, at thesame time, I want to be prepared
, but I don't want to berehearsed, if that makes any
sense too.
So I think I think probably I'mhardest on myself, um, with
those kinds of situations, andthat definitely helps, helps
keep things in check.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, are you.
Are you a journaler, like, like, what do you?
What do you lean?
Lean into when you, when youneed it the most, like you know,
are you a journaler?
Do you lean to mentors?
You know you're like groups,like what's your, what's your
go-to muse, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, that allows me to sort them some things out,
just because you know you'resitting in a tree for hours on
end by yourself, so nothing withyour, but your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I just see, I just have a visual now of you in a
tree Doing like duck calls,sorry, doing like duck calls.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Sorry, no, it's kind of funny because, you know, if
you see the bowtie version of meright and then you see the
unshaven, camouflaged version ofme, and it's, it's a tale of
two individuals um, shannon andI get a good kick out of that
still wearing a camo bowt, butstill on brand.
Funny, I get that comment quitea bit.
(22:18):
Sorry, didn't mean to interruptno, no, no, no.
Um, you know, certainly withany struggles or you know
questions and things like that,I lean into Shannon a lot, who
is, um, she's successful in hercareer too, and and so she's,
she's.
She's a really good person tohelp help me reason through some
things.
And then you know there's anetwork of some individuals that
(22:41):
you know I can pick up thephone and call and say hey, how
would you handle the situation?
What would you do?
Am I thinking about this theright way?
And I find that I use that morefrequently than not to, and I
(23:13):
find that I use that morefrequently than not to and I've
talked about this in a lot ofthe talks and presentations that
I've given is easiest thing tocancel.
And so for the first year of theprogram, I don't think I
attended a single thing.
And then, finally, I was justI've got a little whiteboard
here in my office that keeps myschedule on it, and so I looked
up and there was one of theextraordinary leader calls.
I'm like, oh my gosh, let mejust, I've got some time, let me
get into this.
And so I did it, and I'm soglad I did, because I think that
(23:36):
has significantly helpeddealing with the imposter
syndrome, dealing with fear andsome of those things.
And frankly, I wouldn'tprobably be talking to you if I
had not been on that, beeninvolved in that program.
So I'm really fortunate thatI've done that coaching, done
that coaching too, and you know,frankly, the group.
You know you get on that calland you could be with GMs, you
(23:58):
could be with head pros, youcould be with, you know, servers
and bartenders and differentthings like that.
You just never know and I thinkthat's one of the most
rewarding pieces of that.
So I've counted on that groupin more ways than I can, than I
can tell you.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, and it's probably nice having such an
eclectic, wide range of thepeople in the club spectrum
because you get that perspectiveand and and you know it could
be, I could be wrong but it youprobably have had one of those
moments where someone who youwould have never thought like
the bartender just chimed in andmaybe said that one thing and
you're like SOB, that was reallygood, like that's exactly what
(24:34):
I needed.
You know, it's not always somesomething from like the top of
the top or the best of the best.
Sometimes it's from the personyou like least expect that gives
you that one little nugget orthat one thing and you're like
that was, that was exactly whatI needed.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, that's it.
I mean, you never know wherethe next great idea is going to
come from.
Next great idea is going tocome from right, or in some
cases there's a little storythat I tell there was.
You know, a lot of folks havewhat are called like comparative
shopping allowances, where youknow the club wants to go out
and experience what's going onin other restaurants, and so my
last club they had said, oh, yougot to go, you got to go try
this restaurant up in, likeHaverd or Grace or wherever it
(25:08):
was.
So you walk into this place andit's like where in the hell am
I Like this cannot be the placethat you know?
They felt that I should go andvery quickly it was confirmed
that it was not a place that Ishould have gone.
But I learned one very importantthing that I was able to pull
out of that.
There's one sandwich that hadblackened tomato slices, which I
(25:32):
thought was, you know, marylandis known for tomatoes and so on
and so forth, and blackeningwas just a different approach to
it.
So I'm like, oh, so that madethe trip kind of worthwhile and
got to laugh about some of theother things.
But you know, so you do younever really know in the
experiences of life where that,that thing that's going to help
you.
You know, learn something or dosomething differently than what
(25:54):
you do it, and so you just haveto be open to some of those
things at times.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, what do you?
You know you've, you've beenable to work with your own
people, people across theindustry, conference, what, what
when you're talking to youngmanagers and and and I should
young is young as an age, butyou know, maybe somebody who's
moving up the career ladder,cause everyone starts at
different points in their, intheir lives and careers what do
you tell somebody?
(26:19):
What do you tell peoplestepping into like that next
important role, so it could befrom banquet server to banquet
captain, or to banquet manager,or maybe it's AGM, uh, you know.
Finally, you know, to F&Bdirector, what do you tell or
you know, at least, like yourown team you know for for
experience, or just anybody,what do you tell, what advice do
you have, you know, to kind ofhelp them get through that next
(26:44):
level and maybe dealing withthose doubts, and that, you know
, is.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
It's one.
It's a lot of listening,because you do have to be able
to listen and you have to ask alot of questions, and so we do
try to make sure that we'regetting that point across as
quickly as we can.
And at times, like with, youknow, with our own leadership
team here, we have what arecalled huddles.
(27:09):
So those are things that occurevery three to four weeks that
will address goals and differentthings of that nature, and
that's a perfect opportunity forus to sit down with those
individuals and say, hey, tellme, walk me through, why you
made this decision this way.
Or if I have somebody that I'msitting across from that is
(27:30):
maybe struggling with something,it's asking them if I have
their permission to speak thetruth to them, and then just
kind of lay things out at thatpoint, because you know,
sometimes that's exactly what.
You know, what we need to, whatwe need to convey is you know
that there's, you know there's adifferent way, there could be a
better way, and you know wehave to be able to talk through
(27:50):
what those, what those thingsare better way, and you know we
have to be able to talk throughwhat those, what those things
are.
Um, and you know, I thinksometimes as leaders and I'm
guilty of this too we can have atendency to speak at people
rather than with people, and youknow, so just you try to make
that as much of a two-wayconversation so that you're open
to listening, but at the sametime, you know we have standards
(28:12):
and expectations that we, youknow, we expect are done in a
very specific way, and you know,giving them the tools that they
need to be able to achieve thatin that fashion.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
How do you talk with people instead of to them Like,
like, and how can you recognizeif you're talking at them, not
with them?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
just by how, pay attention to how much you're
talking, right, and I know thisis kind of like communications,
one-on-one, right, but makingsure that you're asking
questions, and some questionsthat you know maybe you're
asking because you want them torecognize why you're asking the
question, and some questionsthat you know, walk me through
why you made the decision thatyou made, some questions that
(28:52):
you know, walk me through whyyou made the decision that you
made.
And then you know listening,truly listening, and not just
waiting to respond.
And so sometimes it'll be justmaking sure that I'm jotting
notes down and so on and soforth so that I'm present in the
conversation.
But I mean, just you've got tobe able to speak the truth to
(29:13):
them and you know, sit back andunderstand that some days it's
not about you being the onethat's speaking.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, did you ever run into a scenario where it's
both people who are trying tolike ask the questions but no
one wants to like talk?
So it's just two people like oh, so what do you think about
this?
Like oh, what prompted you toask that question?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
it's just like it's the dance those are exhausting
right at the end of the day.
I mean, you know somebody's gotto make the decision or the
determination on what it is yeahand no.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I was just busted on that.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, it's true, though it's true, though it's
true.
Those can be really frustratingconversations.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
It's like you know, the last one to, or the first
one to speak loses, so everyonejust sits there in silence.
No, yeah I know.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I know I hope that at some point that I can be an
example of you know that youdon't have to be perfect to be
successful, right, and successis a relative term, too, right?
So everybody defines successdifferently and we choose to
look at that here says that youknow, success isn't what we can
(30:26):
achieve in our own careers, butwhat we can help others achieve
in theirs.
That makes the difference andthat really is the truth.
And so I hope that you know ifwe can truly inspire people to
think more about others righteven as they're you know, sort
of getting to the point in theirown careers where you know
(30:47):
they're right at the brink ofsuccess, and so on is never
forgetting the why behind.
You know what got you there,and I think that's probably a
pretty important message thatI'd like to make sure that
everybody of success and so onis never forgetting the why
behind you know what got youthere, and I think that's
probably a pretty importantmessage that I'd like to make
sure that everybody understandsis you know it's.
You know it takes a village forall of these things to work,
especially in clubs, and youknow when you look at some of
what the best run clubs in thecountry are.
(31:08):
You see, this connectivitybetween you know, between the
managers and the staff and theboard and those kinds of things
and those relationships, man,they're just, they're critical
and you know, truthfully, that'skind of where I think that you
know, when I look at the eightyears now that I've spent here
at BCC, that's why I don't thinkI see an end in sight, like
it's the relationships that youknow the way the club treats the
(31:31):
staff and rallies behind them,and you, the relationships that
you know the way the club treatsthe staff and rallies behind
them.
And you know and it's not thatthey don't hold us accountable
either, they certainly do, but Ithink that's that is probably
one of the best and mostrewarding things that I get.
That I that we see in clubsright Is.
That's just not something thatshould be taken for granted.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, and you've, and you've had substantial runs at
all your clubs, I think.
Well, you're like.
You know your shortest run wasthree years, like and so like
that's.
There's something to be saidabout that.
Like all of your clubs have hadsubstantial 10 years in runs.
It's really impressive.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, better lucky than good, I think, is the way
that goes right.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Better, what is it?
Better the devil you know thanthe devil you don't know?
No, we'll just keep on here,you know.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I mean, we don't know who else we're gonna get in
here and but that's, but that'sokay.
So think about this right, soyou can look to be in a club
where things are really reallygood and you can see that
there's, you know, job x, that's, you know, going to be down
wherever it is and you, you know, carries a bigger paycheck.
And so we sometimes get, youknow, we get blinded by oh my
(32:40):
gosh, I can do A, b, c and D andmy life is going to be
different if I take this, andyou know, then we forget to ask
questions about values and youknow the things that really
should be important to us inaddition to you know how much
money we're going to make, and Ithink a lot of times that's
what leads to failure.
And if you're not aligned withyour values and you know the
(33:03):
direction that the club wants togo, or any organization for
that matter, then I think thingshave a less than good chance of
being successful.
So I guess a lot of it for meis right place, right time and
right opportunities, and youknow, I certainly know, that
those are, you know, forces atplay that are bigger than me,
and you know I'm just incrediblyfortunate to have experienced
(33:24):
the clubs and the leaders that Ihave.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, yeah, definitely defining your own
definition of success.
Because it's one thing I thinkpeople it's like oh, I want to
be successful.
It's like well, what does thatmean?
Everyone's version is different, and this just reminds me of a
couple of like just previousguests I've had on who it's like
.
It's similar things.
It's you know what is yourversion of success, what do you
(33:49):
want to accomplish, what'simportant to you, and then that
helps you guide your decisionsand not moving around or not
taking that you know other club,because you're going to get
whatever X more, but you'regoing to be now an hour away
from work instead of 20 minutes,and now for all your kids'
sports games.
You know, I was talking withRyan Brennan from Manasquan
River and he's been at his clubforever because he knew he could
(34:17):
have taken so many otheropportunities, but he likes his
area.
He knew the progression, heknew he wasn't going to get gm
as quick as he wanted, but heknew the vision, the goal,
success, the, the vision of theclub, like he, the strategic
plan, like it was all there.
And then also going back, youknow, one of my favorite
episodes was with uh alfredohildebrandt, and it was I was.
Oh man, that is probably stillone of my top episodes.
When he said I was like Iforget, I forget the question I
(34:38):
asked exactly.
But I was like you know what,what got you to here, like you
know what was your progression.
And I was like he said uh, youknow, I came from a line of
studs picking my bosses, I waspicking my managers and I was
like damn.
I was like he was like I wasjust wanting to work for the
best of the best it didn'tmatter what, what club they were
at, it was about the managerand want to learn and be the
(35:01):
best.
And you know, the rest wasgoing to like find itself, so to
speak, and I was like geez likewhy and how wild.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
And his personal journey is an inspiration what
he's doing with his life and howthat's impacted everything else
that he's doing.
I mean it's really impressive,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, well, hey, I want to thank you so much,
genuinely.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing and being open and
for all you're doing for theindustry.
Thanks for being on here.
It means the absolute world,thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Well, I appreciate this too.
You know, I've seen all thestuff on LinkedIn and so on and
so forth.
I know it took us a while tokind of be able to figure this
out but I'm really thankful.
Is that what we're going to gowith, denny?
Yes, yes, all right.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Well, that's fair by me.
Kent, thank you so much forcoming on.
I appreciate your openness andwilling just to share, and not
just here on the channel, buteverything else you do for the
industry when you speak at BMIsand leadership events and the
mentorships that you give tomany.
So thank you so much once again.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Hope you got something from theshow from this episode.
That is this episode.
(36:16):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Until next time, catch you onthe Flippity Flip.
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