The New “Title Wave”

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

When it comes to job titles, I’ve always been from the school of “You can call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late for dinner.” We’ve all seen, worked with and encountered people with titles that would indicate they are supreme rulers; but then when we peel away the fancy wrapper, we find out they’re just supreme fools. On the other hand, some of the smartest and most accomplished people I’ve known have had very unassuming titles, simply because they haven’t seen any need to change them as they’ve worked their way up the pay and importance scales.

But in the club and resort industry, job titles clearly seem to be of growing importance to a lot of people. First there was the big push earlier in this decade to move beyond the General Manager or Club Manager title and get the top person designated as Chief Operating Officer. Now there’s a new movement to go one step further and establish Chief Executive Officer as the proper description for the top job in club and resort properties.

The thinking here, from the manager’s perspective, is that CEO does a better job of embracing and reflecting the strategic responsibilities that GM-types need to have, in addition to full operating authority, to properly run a property as a business. Just as importantly, but not always stated, it’s also felt that the title of CEO will do a better job of commanding the respect needed to send a message to members and owners to back off and let the person you’re paying to run the property have full rein to call the shots.

Noting that our Contributing Editor and Editorial Advisory Board member, Don Vance, took the CEO/GM label for the first time in his 37-year career at the club he just moved to earlier this year, I thought I’d get his take on all this. Interestingly, Don says the “message” being sent through the CEO “code” is, at least in his case, directed the other way.

“The developers of my new club brought it up. They wanted me to have the title,” Don reports. “I asked them why, and they said it was their way of telling me, don’t bother us with trivial day-to-day matters or the business of the club. It’s your responsibility to make all financial and business decisions. They have so many other business interests, they said they would only be able to spend one hour per month on this business with me, which is why they hired me to operate it for them. Plus, they  said, we don’t know the business like you, as a professional in club management.

“And having the title has given me more to think about as it relates to every decision I make,” Don adds. “It does help to create more of a true ownership attitude. In the end, I believe that will help our operation run more efficiently. We’ll be able to focus on member services and decisions consistent with being a top-level club, operated by a team of professionals with titles that help to hold us accountable for what our roles really are.”