Every Club leader has lived this story. 

The résumé checks every box. The candidate has worked at all the right clubs. The technical skill set is undeniable. References are glowing. On paper, it feels safe. And then the hire does not work. 

Six months in, the leadership team is frustrated. The culture feels off. The team is not following. Members sense inconsistency. The individual is not failing outright, but they are not elevating the operation either. Eventually, the club is back where it started, only now with more fatigue, more cost, and more skepticism about the hiring process. 

This is one of the most common and expensive mistakes clubs make: assuming that technical skills and brand-name experience guarantee success.  They do not. 

Why “Perfect on Paper” Often Fails in Practice

Technical competence is table stakes. Experience at respected clubs matters. But neither tells us how someone will actually operate inside your organization.

Résumés tend to over-communicate what someone has done and under-communicate how they did it. They rarely reveal how a leader shows up under pressure, how they adapt to different governance styles, how they build trust with teams, or how they respond when resources are constrained.

Many unsuccessful hires are not incapable. They are misaligned.

A leader who thrived in a highly resourced, committee-driven club may struggle in an owner-led environment. Someone accustomed to deep bench strength may falter when asked to develop talent. A technically gifted department head may lack the emotional intelligence required to lead through change.

The résumé did not lie. It just did not tell the whole truth.

Brand Names Do Not Equal Cultural Fluency

Working at a “great club” does not automatically translate to success elsewhere.

Every club has its own rhythm, expectations, tolerance for change, and definition of excellence. Culture is not necessarily transferable the way credentials are.

We often see clubs overvalue pedigree while undervaluing cultural fluency, or the ability to read the room, adjust leadership style, and align decision-making with the club’s values and realities.

When cultural alignment is weak, friction shows up quickly:

• Teams resist rather than engage.
• Communication feels transactional.
• Standards erode instead of strengthening.
• The GM spends time managing the hire instead of leveraging them.
• Struggle to uphold service standards consistently.
• Fail to connect with members authentically.
• Resist coaching and feedback.
• Create instability within teams.
• They slow the process just enough to get it right.
• They test assumptions rather than confirm them.
• They evaluate behavior, not just background.
• They define success in their environment before assessing candidates against it.

These outcomes are not the result of poor intent. They are the result of screening for the wrong things.

What Clubs Should Screen for Instead

If technical skill is the entry ticket, the differentiators are behavioral and relational. Successful hires consistently demonstrate the following:

Values alignment
Do their personal values mirror how your club actually operates, not how it describes itself on paper? How do they make decisions when values collide with convenience?

Adaptability
Can they succeed outside the environment where they built their résumé? How have they handled ambiguity, resource constraints, or changing leadership dynamics?

Leadership style
Do they build followership, or rely on authority? How do they develop others? What happens to team performance when they step into a room?

Self-awareness
Can they articulate failures with the same clarity as successes? Do they recognize how their behavior impacts others?

Emotional intelligence
How do they respond to conflict, feedback, and pressure from boards, members, and peers?

These traits do not surface through traditional interviews alone. They require intentional probing, pattern recognition, and discipline in the search process.

This Is not Just a Senior Leadership Problem

While the consequences are often most visible at the GM and department head level, this same dynamic plays out at every level of the organization.

Line-level and supervisory hires may look great on paper, but when they lack cultural alignment, the impact shows up quickly - through inconsistent service, disengagement, increased turnover, and added strain on managers who are forced to compensate.

The difference is one of scale, not substance. Poor alignment at the line level disrupts daily execution. Poor alignment in leadership ripples across the entire organization, affecting culture, performance, and long-term stability.

Hiring for longevity rather than urgency applies across the board—and when that discipline is overlooked at any level, the organization feels it.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

A mis-hire costs far more than recruitment fees.

It drains leadership time, weakens morale, disrupts momentum, and erodes trust, especially when teams sense that leadership prioritized speed or optics over fit. Repeated misfires create skepticism that makes future change harder, not easier.

For club leaders, the hidden cost is focus. Time spent managing around a misaligned hire is time taken away from strategy, member experience, and team development.

A More Disciplined Approach to Hiring

Clubs that consistently hire well do a few things differently:

Most importantly, they recognize that hiring is not about finding the most impressive résumé, but rather it is about finding the right leader for this club, at this moment, with these realities.

The goal is not perfection. It is alignment. Because when values, leadership style, and culture align, technical skills have room to shine. When they do not, even the best résumé in the industry will not save the hire. And every club leader knows how that story ends.

###

About the Author:  Paige Frazier
A performance-driven thought leader and transformational manager, Paige began her career in private clubs in 2001. Her progressive development has provided extensive and comprehensive training in Club operations and in team leadership. She has fostered her passion for hospitality and leading with a servant’s heart, beginning with food and beverage operations, continuing through to her most recent position as a General Manager. She continues to seek opportunities to learn and grow every day. She has demonstrated an ability to streamline operations, identify and correct inefficiencies, and deliver strategic direction and initiatives.