364: Pick Your Boss, NOT Your Club w/ Alfredo Hildebrandt, Lakewood Country Club

This episode is a doosey and we have the wonderful Alfredo Hildebrandt, General Manager and COO of Lakewood Country Club. 
Discover how honesty, a fun yet productive work atmosphere, and choosing the right boss can transform your career. Alfredo's inspiring journey from the hotel industry to a leading role in private clubs is packed with valuable insights and practical advice, emphasizing the power of mentorship and strategic career moves.

Explore the art of building world-class hospitality teams with insights that go beyond traditional hiring practices. Learn from personal experiences and the invaluable mentorship of Chris Hampton, as we discuss the importance of recruiting compassionate and genuinely hospitable individuals. Understand how we managed to hire exceptional mid-level managers without even advertising, leveraging the strength of connections and fostering a legacy of excellence.

Get ready to be entertained with the unique "Lakewood Pride bling" tradition that awards employees with a large, spinning chain for outstanding achievements. This motivating and fun initiative not only enhances staff morale but also creates a welcoming environment for club members and their families. Alfredo shares his wisdom and key lessons learned over his impressive career, making this episode a must-listen for anyone in the hospitality industry. Don't miss out—like, share, and subscribe, and sign up for our newsletter at privateclubradio.com for the latest updates and exciting content.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

But the other thing is I'm honest to them too. I paint a picture pretty clear when they come into my program. I go listen, I want to show you some tough love. I want to give you all the tools and resources that I can give you to make sure you become a world-class human, but, above all, a great leader, a great manager, and you're going to be in a great position and I'm going to do everything in my power. But it's not going to be easy and I'm up front with them and everybody who's in my program since I started is doing fantastic, great things in the club industry and I think it's just a top-of-the-luff situation where it's honest and also I provide a good environment. It's a fine environment where I go. I like to have fun. At the same time, I like to get stuff done, but it's all about having fun and that's my mentality. It's a hospitality industry. We're not saving lives, we're not doing anything, we're just making people happy and this is supposed to be easy and it's supposed to be fun.

Speaker 2: 1:01

Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show Podcast, the industry source for news, trends, updates and conversations all in the world of private golf and country clubs. Whether you're a consummate club professional or brand new to the industry, welcome. I'm your host, denny Corby. Thank you all so much for being here. We have a fantastic episode today. We have all the way from Westlake, ohio. We have Alfredo Hildebrandt, general manager, coo of the Lakewood Country Club.

Speaker 2: 1:30

We are going to talk about something I loved that he mentioned when he and I chatted, which was picking your boss and not the work. I thought that was fantastic. We're going to go over that in a moment. If you have not done so already, make sure you sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date with all of our new episodes and content, because we don't always announce all the ones we release. So we have some good stuff over there. Plus there's also some nuggets I drop in the newsletter as well.

Speaker 2: 1:58

I want to give a quick shout out to some of our show partners. We have Golf Life Navigators, the only resource for golf enthusiasts to discover experience and ultimately secure their ideal club membership and golf community. Their search engines are free and provide instant results and connectivity to match golfers with their dream clubs, because there's an overwhelming number of club options and they assist in helping members find their dream clubs and help clubs find members who fit their club. Truly an amazing platform. If you want to learn more, head on over to golflifenavigatorscom. Fill out the form, set up a call with Jason Becker and find out how you can be a part of that amazing platform. We have our friends Member Vetting Kenneth, because the member vetting process really hasn't changed much in the past 150 years, almost relying solely on social relationships and casual interactions, but it lacks in factual data. The traditional application process tells very little about someone's behaviors and characters, and that is until now, because Kennis created an innovative, confidential and comprehensive applicant information gathering process that provides an unrivaled depth of information. If you would like to learn more, head on over to membervettingcom. Set up a call with Paul Dank and I guarantee you're going to be one of the best calls you can have for your club. Also, make sure to check out our episodes of Member Vetting here on Private Club Radio. And we have our friends Concert Golf Partners, boutique owner-operators of private golf and country clubs nationwide. If you, your club friends, club enemies club is looking for some recapitalization, head on over to ConcertGolfPartnerscom. Set up a confidential phone call with Peter Danula and see if you guys are a good fit.

Speaker 2: 3:40

And finally, since we're talking about magic, in the Magic Castle myself, I'm one of the show partners, me I have my show. It's a magic mind reading, comedy and crowd work show the Denny Corby experience. It is one of the most fun member event nights your club is going to have guaranteed. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic. It is so much crowd work, so much banter, interaction and engagement with the club. Your members are going to leave going. You just had to be there. That's how they're going to describe it. It's so much fun. I am a bit biased, though. If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorbycom and hit me up and we'll chat. I'm also very active on LinkedIn as well, but the show is not about me.

Speaker 1: 4:26

It's about you all, the listeners, and today we have Alfredo. Alfredo, welcome to the show, thank you, danny.

Speaker 2: 4:29

I appreciate you. I'm really excited to be here with you. I love your energy. I love your passion. I love your story Now. You started off at Disney in college and you wanted to work in hotels, and then your frat brother worked at a club, roped you in and the rest is history. That's correct.

Speaker 1: 4:45

I wanted to travel all over the country ended up with in clubs and since then I'm not going anywhere else now what other?

Speaker 2: 4:52

now, you've worked at a bunch of clubs um, plenty of clubs, uh and for like solid amounts of time. How many clubs have you worked at?

Speaker 1: 5:01

uh, my whole career, five clubs, clubs. So I started at Congress Lake Club, then moved to Portage Actually four clubs then Portage Country Club and right after that I took a job at Lakewood Country Club as a food and beverage manager. That's when I met my life coach mentor. I picked my boss, I would say, at that point, and I worked for him for five years at Lakewood, then transitioned to assistant general manager position at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana and again, I follow my boss, know my job and it brought me back to Lakewood Country Club where I'm now the general manager CEO.

Speaker 2: 5:40

It all comes full circle, full circle. Where are you from?

Speaker 1: 5:44

I was born and raised in Lima, peru, in South America, and I moved to the United States when I was 16 years old and I grew up in the Akron area here in Ohio.

Speaker 2: 5:55

Very nice, very nice, and you have a beautiful young family. Now, what do you have? A two-and-a-half-year-old, a five-month-old, Correct.

Speaker 1: 6:05

I'm a busy man. I did all my grow in the last five years. I got, I got engaged, I got married, build a home with my family and my wife, Jennifer, who was the rock of the whole family, and you know she's an angel. Everybody who's in the industry and is married to it there's, or spouses, would become or or or rocks for this industry, and she's just an angel for me and you've been doing a lot during these past couple of years, or even just in recent right, the past, even six, seven, eight months.

Speaker 2: 6:33

you've done so. You've had a kid. There was a big capital improvement project. You have new positions at the club, new professionals. You had a lot going on.

Speaker 1: 6:43

Listen, my last six months has been a crazy story Well, a great story as well. I moved from Florida to Cleveland, I took a new job, we had a new baby and now we're undergoing on a $6 million golf course restoration program. And as we keep going and keep growing, we're also adding more capital projects to the list. So it's all gas, no brakes firing, all cylinders right now.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Now, have you always been this passionate and always had this drive in this like want to do, must do, or was it kind of like learned as you went on?

Speaker 1: 7:28

of like learned as you went on. I always have the drive, since I moved to the United States, to be as successful as possible. I could be as I did. If I dig into the hospitality, my mentality change, no more of the success, or then just focusing on people and really what drives me every day is my family, of course, but just making a difference in this world through my employees, through the members. So my passion is always making people happy. I think that's my ultimate goal. I want to make sure that, whatever any way I can do to impact people's life in a positive way, I want to do that and that's my biggest driver, and I think hospitality is just the perfect way for me to make that impact.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Now, when we first chatted prior, I was gathering all my notes and stuff. You had so many good lines and one of them it relates to the topic which is what we're talking about today, which is picking your boss and not the work, and you said it killed me. I'm looking at my notes now and it's like underlined and I actually wrote down. Ha ha ha. But you said you came from a lineage of studs. Yes, Can you talk about picking your boss and what that meant, coming from a lineage of studs. Well, first off, where, where did this even come? Like? Where did you pick this up?

Speaker 1: 8:48

at that, you were like I'm going to pick my boss and not your work you know, my first year when I was I I I'll say like, oh, he was a blessing from this guy. Um, I got hired the general manager. Left and right after that, the club hired a young general manager, chris Hampton, who was a good friend of mine, a mentor, a life coach, but, above all, a good friend. He came along the way and we really connected. He always says that he felt in me the energy, the passion that I want to do and he gave me all the tools and resources just to be the person I want to be and just be able to give me a platform to keep growing. I worked for him for almost 10 years and picking almost 10 years in two different clubs and both clubs would turn those clubs around.

Speaker 1: 9:37

I say that I'm in the business of making people happy and also in the business of fixing clubs, but it was 10 years and we went through everything. And Chris Hampton if you don't know Chris Hampton, he's a fourth-generation club manager he worked for, under the great managers, tom Wallace again 10 years. I was in the same. He called me the school of hardness with Wallace. He worked for 10 years for Tom Wallace, who was a leader in his industry and then came from Algamon to here to Lakewood and he put me on the same path. He showed me some tough love but above all, a lot of grace, a lot of compassion and just the willingness to make sure that I'm growing as a human being, as a leader, and eventually be able to make some good money and you're, you're, you're a young buck, um.

Speaker 2: 10:28

How old were you when, when you started at clubs and working at clubs?

Speaker 1: 10:32

when I started, I was um 20 years old 20 years old and you're, and you're what.

Speaker 2: 10:38

32, 33, 34 yeah, 33 I forget. As soon as you get like over 30, like you're very specific, you're like almost 34. Nope, don't want to say that I'm still 33. Yeah, 33. I was just talking to somebody. They were like, oh, I'm almost 50. And I was like, so how old? They're like 45. I was like you can't say almost. I was like that is don't do that, no, that is don't do that, no. So, and I remember when we chatted as well, you said creating bomb teams.

Speaker 1: 11:18

What does that mean and how do you create your bomb teams? For me, I try to recruit and retain world-class humans. I'm a believer that you can teach anybody what to do a day-to-day on the hospitality industry. But finding a world-class human that's going to have compassion for your team is going to have the eager of teaching, coaching. That's a really hard part and above that is even that sense of hospitality, of making somebody feel at home. Hospitality of making feel, make somebody feel at home. Finding those people is key and I've been privileged through my years that we I was able to create some, some bomb teams, some some great, and create the buzz around the club from lake with my first stay to second, more to here, I do believe, through a team. We left a great legacy behind.

Speaker 2: 12:08

And correct me if I'm wrong, but you just hired. The club is going through an expansion of you're bringing on. Is it some? You have a new HR program that you're bringing on, I believe.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Yes, we are exploring that option. We just hired last couple of months a new director of special events. I also are new assistant food and beverage and everything has been through the connections and I like to say that great people make great places and also attracts great people as well, and I had the privilege through my 10 years in the industry I was blessed to work with some incredible people.

Speaker 2: 12:51

So you hired two new mid-level managers without advertising. That's correct. That is wild, I know. It's wild, especially today, because people are salivating at trying to get talent and they have positions open and they can't fill them. And you did it without even advertising. That is, can you? Can you explain that a little bit, so like you know what was that process Like? Did you just put out feelers? What was? What was that whole whole thing like?

Speaker 1: 13:20

I always like to go back to my alma mater, kent State University, and the hospitality program, the teachers. I do volunteer, I do everything I can to help out the next leaders in the hospitality industry be successful, so that's always paying dividends for us. But by speaking in classes and showing and them following me on LinkedIn and seeing the amazing things that we are making in the club industry and providing, I feel like that's also a big pull for these young managers. But the other thing is I'm honest to them too. I paint a picture pretty clear when they come into my program. I go listen, I want to show you some tough love. I want to give you all the tools and resources that I can give you to make sure you become a world-class human but, above all, a great leader, a great manager, and you're going to be in a great position and I'm going to do everything in my power.

Speaker 1: 14:16

But it's not going to be easy and I'm up front with them and everybody who's in my program since I started is doing fantastic, great things in the club industry and I think it's just a tough love situation where it's honest, um, and also I provide a good environment. It's a fine environment where I, where I go, I like to have fun. At the same time, I like I like to get stuff done, but it's all about having fun and that's my mentality. It's a hospitality industry. We're not saving lives, we're not doing anything, we're just making people happy. And this is supposed to be easy and it's supposed to be fun.

Speaker 2: 14:54

You know and and you know not to toot your own horn, but I mean technically, I mean who's to say you aren't saving lives? You know whether it's you know a member could be having a bad day and you just happen to come in and your staff is so good it just makes them feel better. You don't know. You know mental health, health. Health is a big thing that could be. You know you could hire somebody who could be not in a good place and you bring them into this warm culture and now they have a sense of belonging and culture and feeling and appreciation. So you know, I would say I think you're definitely saving lives too.

Speaker 1: 15:24

Yeah, I want to echo on that real quick. You know, through my 10 years I had the opportunity to work with some incredible people, world-class people, and sometimes I will say 80% of my job would just become a life coach and give me some advice and help their 16, 17 and all the way through 21, 22. And it's incredible seeing them grow in whatever profession they take or they chose to go, and always remembering that their time at Lakewood, sycamore, it was a great experience because I was part of the growing process and have you started or you're planning on, you know talking about culture and you know really being part of the employees.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Have you started the new employee area or is that just like up in the air, some higher, higher level conceptual stuff still?

Speaker 1: 16:18

It's higher level. My last project that I accomplished at Lakewood before I left in 2019 was employee lounge, and I was happy to see that it's still going strong. There's some areas that want to make it better as we are growing and we get into these days of big capital projects, but it's something that we want to explore and definitely implement it here. I'm all about culture. That's like I said great people attract, make great places, and culture is key in any business, let alone in the hospitality.

Speaker 2: 16:51

Circling back. You just, you know, brought that up again. You know, picking, picking, picking your boss, picking your people. What are some? You know? Maybe three things, three key traits, three attributes, attributes three, three things that people can look for, or that they need to look for when picking their boss and not their work.

Speaker 1: 17:14

You definitely want to check out their track record, right? I think when you look at a great manager, the first thing I look is what is their track record they have in developing managers, leaders in this industry, that's number one. Also, if you can connect with that manager above just assistant general manager to general manager, but as a human being can you connect with that human being, do you see that that person can give you some life advice? Can you see the person would become your partner in crime, right? Like when I was a number two for Chris Hampton for so many years. We're the one and two punch. I help him when he has some tough times and back and forth. So be able to be somebody you can relate to and then also see somebody that's willing to give you all the tools and resources to the willingness of teaching, the willingness of going above and beyond, to making sure that you become the best person yourself. I think that's key too.

Speaker 2: 18:13

I remember when we were first chatting, I made the joke because you were just saying how clubs are great and I was like you know, they're adult playgrounds. Like it's where adults go to have fun, and you mentioned working for I believe you worked for him one of the happiest people alive, greg Patterson.

Speaker 1: 18:33

I never had the chance to work with him. It was more of I always admire him because you can walk through any room and just feel his energy and I, you know, just feel his energy. And when I met him my first year as a club manager, I had the opportunity to go to a conference and that was my first session. It was like you know what I want to be, like him, that energy that he projects, the sense of community, that's what I want to create, and create something special and those intangible things are the hardest things to get on a club.

Speaker 2: 19:09

It is, it is and, and creating that culture, creating the culture for for both sides, the people, the, the members and your staff and your people, and you do a really good job at that. Can you, can you talk to us, tell us about the bling bling?

Speaker 1: 19:28

Absolutely so. We created our Lakewood Pride bling, bling for any employee who goes above and beyond and does something incredible here at the club. And now it's an ongoing tradition that employees want to just wear it. Of course we don't go on the members' sides, but it's something ongoing tradition that employees want to just wear it. Of course we don't go on the members' sides, but it's something inside between that. It just creates the fun environment that we want to create here.

Speaker 1: 19:56

Again, my demographics are high school kids and college kids and seeing it from the general manager that he's having fun and also accomplishing stuff is incredible. But even for younger kids and members, you know, here at the club I'm a believer that you got to make everybody feel at home, from the main person on the account to the spouse, to their kids, everybody. And for me the kids are the best way to attract members. If the kids choose to come here and eat at the club, they want to come to the club every single time and here at the club you walk through Lake lake. We're giving high five to kids, we're giving the rock, we're talking about our baked potato French fries to the kids.

Speaker 1: 20:36

I learned that from Greg, but kids just love it. You know, even the parents. Sometimes they just give me the fist bump, you know, like just recognizing that, hey, I see you, you see me. Thank you for coming to the club. It's a different environment. Probably they don't get that at work, probably they don't get that somewhere else, but they get it here at the club.

Speaker 2: 20:54

That positive reinforcement, that energy is so important. Where did that? That's such a good shame. It's incredible. Where did that idea come from? First off, how big is that quick? That thing is massive. That is some flavor flave. That is ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 21:15

It is, and that was the idea to come out with something really big that exemplifies what we're doing here. The Lego way. Does that middle thing spin? It does spin, and it's not cheap too. It's a pretty expensive chain.

Speaker 2: 21:25

Where did that come from? Where did that idea? Where did all that come from? Where did that idea? Where would all that come from?

Speaker 1: 21:29

when we were, when we're looking for awards and we saw different awards for for tournaments and through the golf actually um, we saw the chain and we thought our first idea was how about somebody makes a hole-in-one, you get that chain. And I was like maybe that might be a little bit too aggressive, going in front of the members of that. But you know what? My employees don't enjoy it. So I did not hesitate, I just bought it, brought it back to the club and it's a big hit. It's a big hit. The chain is a big hit here at the club.

Speaker 2: 22:01

I love that. And what does somebody have to do to earn that chain? And do they wear it all day? Is it like? What's the protocol?

Speaker 1: 22:11

No, you got to go above and beyond, do something extraordinary or something out of the ordinary, or you accomplish something out of the extraordinary in your personal life. We have a perfect example. One of our high school kids that plays hockey got drafted in the Canadian League and as soon as he walked into the club I said you're wearing the chain today, and we took a picture, sent it to his family. He happens to be the third, actually is the fourth kid of the family to work at the club and they all worked for me, so it was a lot of sense of pride. When I sent that email to their parents, they were so happy and you know we were able to celebrate their, their huge accomplishment, but also in a fun way, to a lakeway real quick what's, what's?

Speaker 2: 22:53

do you? What are? Oh, how do I phrase this? So you, you hire a lot of members, kids we don't.

Speaker 1: 23:01

We don't hire member kids, okay, um, I hire, no, no member kids, sorry gotcha.

Speaker 2: 23:07

no, no, no, no, no. So I I think I just miss miss understood there. Gotcha, Now do do the. Do the members, though? Do they? They recognize the chain, so do they then talk to the? So does that create conversation and banter and relationship between the staff and the members? It's like, oh, like, what did you do to earn yes?

Speaker 1: 23:27

So I took it a couple of times for the members like, oh, like, what did you do to earn? Yes, so I took it a couple of times for the members kids and you know they love it because all the football players, basketball players are wearing their games and you see on tv, um, but to be honest, it's just starting the momentum we started internally and now we're thinking outside to the members to see it as part of our culture oh, that that is is awesome.

Speaker 2: 23:49

That is awesome. Alfredo, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for sharing some knowledge, some wisdom, just things that you've learned. This is so, so special. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me and have a blessed day.

Speaker 2: 24:04

Hope you all enjoyed that episode. If you did, make sure you like, share, subscribe. Any and all things you can do to help move the channel and content forward means the absolute world. If you have not done so already, please sign up for our newsletter. Head on over to privateclubradiocom. Stay up to date with all of our news and episodes and content and all the things that we have going on. It's wild over here. It's a wild wild west. I'm your host, danny Corby.