When General Manager Joe Krenn, CCM, CCE, and Executive Chef Michael Matarazzo, CEC, CTACC, HoF, took the stage at the Chef to Chef Conference earlier this month, their session title drew a laugh: “How to Not Kill Each Other.”
Behind the humor was a valuable leadership lesson.
Clubs run on relationships between people who see the same organization from very different vantage points. The golf professional manages the tee sheet. The chef manages culinary operations. The membership director tracks engagement, growth, and retention. The CFO watches the numbers. The general manager sits at the center of it all.
When those perspectives align, decisions move quickly and the organization gains momentum. When they do not, even simple decisions slow down.
As Krenn put it early in the discussion, “Things aren’t as simple as they seem or as complicated as we make them.”
When he discussed hiring a chef several years ago, he said technical skill was never the deciding factor. He assumed the candidates could cook. What he wanted was something else.
“I was looking for a partner,” he said. “I want someone who is going to make me a better leader.”
That philosophy applies across a club leadership team. Department heads bring expertise to the table. Strong leaders also sharpen the thinking of those around them.
Krenn described the relationship in personal terms.
“I wanted someone to look past the warts,” he said. “I wanted a partner who could be on this journey with me.”
He also offered a framework for understanding where leadership relationships begin to strain. In his experience, the same forces appear again and again:
- Money
- Respect and care
- Communication
“It’s always easy to say it’s the other person,” Krenn said. “Think about it through the lens of a relationship.”
Matarazzo spoke about the importance of understanding the pressures the person across the table carries every day.
“It’s about us understanding each other’s worlds,” he said. “It’s all about the shared experience.”
Leaders do not have to do each other’s work, but they do have to respect what it takes to do it well.
That perspective becomes most important in everyday conversations. A general manager may ask whether something can be simplified. A department head may hear criticism instead of a question. A discussion about costs may sound like doubt about competence. What begins as a request for clarity can easily be heard as pressure.
Matarazzo addressed that gap directly.
“We spend way too much time talking about each other and not enough time talking to each other.”
He also described an approach he calls the qualified yes. Leadership discussions often move quickly toward definitive answers. Yes or no. Approve or reject. Many workable solutions exist in the space between those two responses.
“The qualified ‘yes’ speaks to the gray area that we don’t want to accept as reality,” he said.
That middle ground allows leaders to shape ideas into something that works operationally and financially.
Both leaders returned repeatedly to the importance of direct conversation. Strong relationships address problems early, before small issues grow into crises.
The partnership between Krenn and Matarazzo has also produced measurable results. Food and beverage revenue at Farmington Country Club increased from $3.8 million in 2012 to $7.5 million in 2025. The growth has supported a series of kitchen renovations and steady capital investment in food and beverage facilities.
For general managers, the lesson reaches beyond the kitchen. Clubs rarely struggle because departments lack talent. They struggle when talented leaders stop working as partners.
