To Mock Them Only Makes Them Stronger

by Joe Barks (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
April 2007
 

I was in the room at the Anaheim Marriott where this year’s Club Managers Association of America Idea Fair entries were on display during the Golf Industry Show. A few other people were in there with me, all of us quietly taking notes or pictures, or dictating into tape recorders, whenever we saw something we thought was worth remembering.

Then some other people burst into the room, which had been sectioned off in the back to provide stations for checking e-mail. These people were clearly in a hurry to get to a computer; it was pretty obvious they didn’t have much time for anything in the aisles of Idea Fair posters.

But on his way through, one of them did make a point of stopping at one submission and then loudly proclaiming, “Oh, what a surprise! Another ‘great idea’ from [here, he mockingly named the club that submitted it].” And yes, it was one of the three clubs featured in our cover story on page 14 of this issue.

“What did they come up with this time? Let me guess,” Mocking Man continued. “Maybe a new ‘traffic light’ system, to make sure people don’t get hit by swinging doors when they come out of the kitchen or the bathroom?”

Then he and his companions laughed uproariously and went on their way.

In three years now of attending Idea Fairs, this was by far the loudest expression of disapproval about the whole activity that I’ve detected, but not the only one. Each year, I’ve picked up other rumblings of resentment about how certain clubs seem to dominate the submissions (and awards), and suggestions that perhaps their motives aren’t pure and don’t come from the true spirit of collegial sharing that the Idea Fair is supposed to foster.

I don’t always know for sure (as in the case of Mocking Man), but I have to believe most of these objections aren’t entirely random; it would seem to be a pretty good bet that they come from people who work for competing properties (and are threatened by the ones with all the ideas), or who once worked for (or maybe didn’t get a job at) the properties they now find so worthy of contempt.

Whatever the reason, the mockers and grumblers clearly don’t buy into the value of ideas, and feel compelled to try to tear the process down.

But as I think this issue makes clear—as does every other issue of our magazine, for that matter—the winners in this business, going forward, are going to be the ones that never think there’s a dumb question or stupid idea, even if it’s just about how to avoid getting hit by swinging doors.

By the way, one of the “Idea Regulars” (Country Club of Virginia) even submitted an idea this year about how it shares its ideas (as part of a formal exchange program with other clubs).

Can’t wait to hear what Mocking Man will have to say about that one...