Clubs Made Meaningful

Hosted by Sussner

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Episodes

125

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

What transforms a private club from good to unforgettable? It’s more than facilities: it’s the meaning behind them. Clubs Made Meaningful explores how belonging drives member satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term value. Hosted by Derek Sussner, the podcast features conversations with club leaders and industry experts on the intersection of strategy, culture, and identity—and how both dimensions of member value work together: Access (tangible experiences) and Belonging (emotional connection that creates loyalty). Strategic clarity should guide capital decisions, not the other way around. When clubs align what they offer with what members feel, transformation becomes possible. For more on Sussner, visit sussner.com. Insights: The most important ideas from over 100 conversations in your inbox, for free. You'll receive w eekly insights on club identity, member belonging, and culture. Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/a675bd03875c/clubs-made-meaningful

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60 recent

October 6, 2026Episode 12336 min

Ep 123: Make Every Experience Unmistakably Yours

Every club has a handful of spaces and traditions that carry more weight than everything else on the property. Almost none of them have decided if that weight deserves its own name. Join Derek and Tucker as they get into the discipline of building brand sub identities inside a club, from a grill room that becomes its own culture to a golf course that finally needs an identity of its own. They cover the test for knowing when an experience has earned its own name, the risk of branding something that was never actually different, and what a club owes the places its members already love. Some experiences are worth claiming. Naming one is where the real work begins.

September 21, 2026Episode 12238 min

Ep 122: The Communication Gap with Jason Lisi of ClubLISI

Every missed event, every confused member, every call that should have been a click. That is the gap between what a club intends and what members actually experience. Join Derek with Jason Lisi, founder and president of ClubLISI, who has spent more than two decades building websites and communications systems exclusively for private clubs. Jason is also a longtime club member himself, which means he feels the friction he is trying to eliminate. His guiding principle is simple: make the club as seamless online as the best experience your members had anywhere else that same day. This conversation gets into where clubs overcommunicate and where they go silent, why organizational inertia is the real obstacle to better technology, what it actually means to sit in the member's seat before you build anything, and why the gap between a $10 million golf course renovation and a $50,000 website says everything about how clubs think about who uses what. For more information, visit www.sussner.com#PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

September 7, 2026Episode 12131 min

Ep 121: Reading the Room with Denny Corby of Private Club Radio

Most club events are planned from the front end. Pick a date, book the entertainment, set the menu, and hope the feeling takes care of itself. Denny Corby works in the opposite direction. Join Derek with Denny Corby, entertainer, magician, and host of Private Club Radio, who has performed at hundreds of private clubs across the country. Before Denny does anything, he asks one question: what should people feel when they leave? Everything else gets built backwards from there. That discipline is the difference between an event members remember and one they attended. What makes Denny's perspective worth your time is that he is not observing clubs from the outside. He has stood a few feet from your members, in rooms he was actively trying to win over, with their guard down. He knows what a connected room feels like and he knows within minutes of walking in whether a club has it or not. For more information, visit www.sussner.com#PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

August 24, 2026Episode 12035 min

Ep 120: What Clubs Can Learn From Brands that have to Earn Opt in - with Crosby Renwick

Clubs have something almost every other brand would want: an audience that already said yes. That advantage can quietly turn into a liability the moment it becomes a reason to stop asking whether a message is worth sending. Join Derek with Crosby Renwick, who spent 30 years in advertising sending messages that had to earn attention, and now sits on the board of Marrakesh Country Club. The clubs winning on communication aren't the ones sending more. They're the ones who know who they are, say it with restraint, and let every member know their message was written for them. If your team is buried in emails that members keep asking about anyway, this is the episode to start with. For more information, visit www.sussner.com #PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

August 10, 2026Episode 11937 min

Ep 119: A Conversation with Two Designers, Space and Story - with Howard Kuo of KDC Architects

Architecture and brand are not two separate projects — they're two answers to the same question. Derek and Howard are both designers working in different mediums, and when they compare notes, the process turns out to be nearly identical. Both start with listening, both are doing discovery, and both are chasing the same result: how a member feels when the work is done. The conversation covers where architecture and brand identity meet, why the sequence matters more than most clubs realize, what happens when a club tries to design a space without first knowing who it's for, and why less is more is as true on a floor plan as it is on a brand. The clubs that get this right aren't the ones who do design well and brand well in isolation. They're the ones who make sure the two are pointed at the same idea, and pointed there early. For more information, visit www.sussner.com #PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

July 27, 2026Episode 11829 min

Ep 118: What 170 Clubs Are Talking About - with Kate Scott of Carolinas Chapter CMAA

Nobody in this industry sees more clubs at once than a CMAA Chapter Director. Join Derek with Kate Scott, managing director of the Carolinas Chapter of the CMAA, one of the largest and fastest growing chapters in the country. Her job puts her in the room with club leaders across the Carolinas constantly, which means she doesn't just see trends. She sees them forming. Right now that story includes a labor market that isn't letting up, a generational gap between who's on the board and who's actually using the club, and the question of how long the Covid resurgence can carry clubs that haven't done the harder work of building for what comes next. Her words for it were familiar. Be there, be available, and the value compounds over time. For more information, visit www.sussner.com #PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

July 13, 2026Episode 11729 min

Ep 117: Strategy, Not Tactics - with Avi Olitzky of Olitzky Consulting Group

Most clubs think they have a strategy towards the future when what they usually have is a list of tactics to deal with the now. Join Derek with Avi Olitzky, president and principal consultant at Olitzky Consulting Group, who has spent his career helping membership organizations understand and close that gap. Avi came to this work not through club management but through years of leading congregations and advising nonprofits, and that vantage point is exactly what makes his thinking on belonging land the way it does. A congregation and a private club have more in common than most people realize. Sacred purpose, high emotion, legacy families, competing expectations, and deep questions about relevance. A club is never just amenities, it’s a promise of belonging wrapped up into an experience, and that’s exactly where the work sits. If your club is doing a lot but can’t quite say what it’s building toward, this episode is for you. For more information, visit www.sussner.com#PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

June 29, 2026Episode 11641 min

Ep 116: Putting Your Story Together - with Ed Heil of StoryTeller Club Marketing

Half of all clubs have a waitlist right now, and the difference between the ones that do and the ones that don’t usually has nothing to do with the golf course. Join Derek with Ed Heil, founder of StoryTeller Club Marketing, who has spent two decades helping clubs figure out why their story isn’t landing the way they think it is. Ed walks through what that disconnect actually costs a club, from the 18 month window when a new member is most likely to become an advocate, to the shift happening right now in how people search for anything, including a club. Google traffic is down. AI search is up. And underneath all of it sits the same problem he keeps running into in his own work: clubs with core values so safe they could belong to any club in the country, and content with nowhere real to attach to. If you’ve ever wondered why your communications aren’t landing the way they used to, this conversation is a good place to start. For more information, visit www.sussner.com#PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

June 15, 2026Episode 11548 min

Ep 115: The Data Behind Belonging - with Dr. April Seifert of Sprocket CX

Satisfaction tells you whether someone enjoyed their last meal. It doesn't tell you whether they feel like they belong. April Seifert of Sprocket CX on what clubs aren't measuring, and why the most important question isn't how members feel about the food. Most clubs survey their members annually. They track NPS scores, read comment cards, and walk away feeling like they've done the work. But a high satisfaction score can quietly mask something more concerning: a member who rates everything a nine and still doesn't renew — not because the experience was bad, but because the belonging was never there. Join Derek Sussner and April Seifert, president and data scientist at Sprocket CX, as they explore the difference between measuring what members think and understanding why they stay. April brings a PhD in social cognitive psychology and years of work at the intersection of sports fan loyalty and human behavior — and the parallels to private club membership are sharper than you might expect. Whether you're a general manager wondering why strong operational scores aren't translating to member retention, a board trying to make sense of survey data that doesn't point anywhere useful, or a leader ready to ask better questions of your membership, this episode reframes what it means to truly understand your members. For more information, visit www.sussner.com #PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful

June 1, 2026Episode 11430 min

Ep 114: Making a Milestone Meaningful - with Casey Newman of Lakeside Country Club

A milestone is only as meaningful as the intention behind it. A logo on a napkin and a one-night gala check a box. What Casey Newman did at Lakeside Country Club for their 75th anniversary was something different entirely. Join Derek with Casey Newman, General Manager and COO at Lakeside Country Club in Houston, as she shares how her team turned a yearlong celebration into something members and staff felt genuine ownership of. Lakeside has been through Hurricane Harvey, a pandemic, and a full golf course renovation. The 75th wasn't just a number. It was a chance to honor the resilience of a membership that rebuilt something together and look forward to what comes next. Whether you're a GM with a milestone on the horizon, a board member wondering how to make your club's history feel relevant to newer members, or a leader trying to build culture that outlasts any single event, this episode offers a grounded perspective on what it means to know your story and use it well. Because your club's story isn't something you make up. It's built every day through the people in it and the memories they make together. For more information, visit www.sussner.com #PrivateClub #ClubIndustry #LeadershipPodcast #Branding #BrandingStrategies #ClubsMadeMeaningful