By Thomas B. Wallace, III, CCM, CCE, ECM, Partner, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE
If you’ve watched the hit TV series, The Bear, you know it isn’t really about a restaurant. It’s about people. It’s about pressure. It’s about purpose. It’s about the beautiful dysfunction that exists inside every great hospitality team.
Anyone who has spent time in hospitality can recognize the characters almost immediately. The perfectionist. The quiet workhorse. The rising star. The veteran who struggles with change. The young employee looking for confidence. The leader carrying the weight of everyone else’s success while quietly battling their own doubts.
That’s hospitality.
From the outside, members and guests see polished service, beautiful dining rooms, and flawless events. But behind the scenes? Its controlled chaos packed with emotions, budgets, stress, long hours, miscommunication, staff challenges and deadlines. Yet somehow, a team comes together to create experiences that look effortless.
That’s what makes hospitality so extraordinary. The best teams are rarely perfect. In fact, they’re often wonderfully imperfect. They disagree. They challenge one another. They make mistakes. They frustrate each other. But they show up every day because they believe in something bigger than themselves.
One of the greatest leadership lessons in The Bear is that excellence doesn’t come from eliminating dysfunction. It comes from learning how to channel it. Every organization has conflicts. The difference between average organizations and exceptional ones isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s whether trust is strong enough to survive it.
Hospitality is emotional work. We ask people to care deeply about guests while caring deeply about teammates while simultaneously managing budgets, staffing shortages, demanding customers or members, impossible expectations, working long hours and chasing the relentless pursuit of excellence. Stress exposes personalities. But it also reveals character.
The strongest cultures aren’t built because everyone thinks alike. They’re built because people with different talents learn to trust one another enough to pursue a common purpose. Every successful club I’ve worked with has experienced moments that looked remarkably similar to The Bear.
There were heated conversations. Impossible deadlines. Unexpected setbacks. Staffing shortages. Equipment failures. Events that changed at the last minute. Member complaints. But when the doors opened, the team came together and delivered an experience the members never forgot.
That’s hospitality.
Leadership isn’t about finding perfect people. It’s about helping imperfect people become an extraordinary team. The best General Manager/COOs understand this instinctively. They know when to push. When to listen. When to challenge. When to encourage. When to step in. And, perhaps most importantly…when to step back.
One of the most powerful messages from The Bear is that people don’t become family because everything goes smoothly. They become family because they’ve been through difficult things together. The pressure. The disappointments. The victories. The impossible weekends. The celebrations after surviving another successful event.
Shared adversity creates uncommon trust. That trust becomes culture. That culture becomes excellence. In hospitality, we’ll never eliminate the chaos; nor should we try. Because somewhere inside the beautiful dysfunction is where great teams are born.
But as much as I love The Bear, there is one important difference between Carmy’s world and the world of a private club General Manager/COO:
Carmy has one restaurant.
A General Manager/COO has an entire community.
Imagine asking someone to be the CEO of multiple hospitality organizations operating simultaneously, each with different customers, different employees, different financial models, different personalities and different expectations.
That’s the modern private club.
Before 8:00 a.m., the golf operation is already running. The superintendent has been on property for hours preparing the golf course. The practice facilities are opening. The tee sheet is filed. The golf shop is busy.
And at the same time…
Fitness classes have started. The spa has appointments beginning. Tennis and racquet professionals are hosting lessons and clinics. Pickleball courts are full. The aquatics department is preparing for another busy day of activity. The maintenance team is solving problems most members will never notice. Housekeeping is preparing every space for the day ahead. The accounting department is closing last month while planning next year’s budget. Human Resources is recruiting for positions that turned over yesterday. Membership is selling the club’s future. Marketing is telling its story. Security is protecting the campus. Technology is making sure everything works.
Meanwhile, the executive chef is preparing hundreds of meals to serve multiple locations. Banquets are setting rooms for weddings, board meetings, golf outings, and member events. The à la carte restaurants are preparing for lunch and dinner.
And that’s when everything is going as planned and there’s no unexpected challenge such as…
A pipe breaks.
A member walks in the office with a complaint.
A key employee resigns.
The weather changes.
A wedding moves indoors.
A board member calls.
An employee needs clarity to complete a project.
A guest has a medical emergency.
A tournament schedule changes.
A refrigeration unit fails.
A social media post goes viral.
Welcome to Tuesday!
Unlike almost any other hospitality business, private clubs don’t operate one business exceptionally well. They operate dozens simultaneously. Every department has its own culture. Its own financial realities. Its own staffing challenges. Its own definition of success.
The golf professional thinks differently than the executive chef. The superintendent faces challenges unlike those of the membership director. The spa director measures success differently than the controller. The racquets professional leads differently than the food and beverage director.
Yet somehow, every one of those departments must feel like they belong to one club, one mission, and one team. That’s where the General Manager/COO comes in. The best General Manager/COOs aren’t the best golfers. They aren’t the best chefs. They aren’t the best accountants. They aren’t the best agronomists. Their greatness comes from something else.
They make all of those talented professionals better. They create alignment where competing priorities naturally exist. They build trust across departments that could easily become isolated. They help members think like owners. They remind employees that members don’t experience the club one department at a time…They experience it as one organization.
One brand.
One culture.
One promise.
That’s why leadership matters so much. Members don’t remember organizational charts. They remember experiences. They don’t care whose department made the mistake. They simply know the club either delivered on its promise or it didn’t. That is why the General Manager/COO must think differently than almost any leader in hospitality.
Every day requires balancing member expectations, employee engagement, financial stewardship, long-term capital planning, board governance, strategic vision, operational execution, and culture. All while ensuring every department feels supported, respected, and aligned.
It’s one of the few leadership roles where you are expected to be strategist, operator, coach, diplomat, mentor, financial steward, crisis manager, communicator, and culture builder…all before lunch.
Perhaps that’s why The Bear resonates so deeply with so many of us. It reminds us that excellence is never really about food. Or golf. Or tennis. Or pools. Or clubhouses. It’s about people choosing to pursue something extraordinary together.
The greatest private clubs are not built because every department is perfect. They are built because imperfect people learn to trust one another, challenge one another, support one another, and unite around a shared purpose. That is the beautiful dysfunction of hospitality.
And nowhere is that more evident, or more inspiring, than inside a great private club. Because in the end, the greatest achievement of a General Manager/COO isn’t delivering a perfect meal, a perfect golf course, or a flawless event. It’s building a team that continues to deliver excellence, together, long after the applause is over.
That’s the real story behind The Bear. And that’s the story of every great private club.
To every chef reading this, consider this article my sincere chef’s kiss, because before anyone else can serve excellence, you have to create it.
Sponsored content by Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace
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