At a private club, culture and brand are not two separate forces. They are two sides of the same coin, and together, they define how your members experience and perceive everything about your club.
General managers and boards often invest heavily in facilities, programs, and communications, but overlook a crucial truth: your internal culture is your brand.
It’s beyond what you say. It’s what members feel every time they interact with a staff member, step onto the grounds, read a club update, or attend an event.
The good news? Culture and brand are not fixed. They constantly evolve and they are both leadership-driven and leadership-shaped. With intention, clarity, and action, general manager/COOs have the ability to strengthen both. And, in doing so, create a more vibrant, loyal, and thriving membership experience.
How Culture and Brand Are Connected
”We often describe a brand as the perception of your club in the eyes of members, staff, and the broader community. Culture, meanwhile, is the reality of how your people interact, communicate, and deliver experiences every day,” explained Derek Sussner, founder/creative at Sussner. “Together, these two forces create the club’s atmosphere, identity, and reputation.”
When the internal culture is strongly aligned around shared values, consistent service expectations, and authentic member interactions, the brand becomes more compelling, more trusted, and more magnetic.
”Strong cultures don’t happen by accident,” confirmed Thomas B. Wallace III CCM,CCE,ECM, partner at KK&W. “They are built intentionally by leadership. Every club has two distinct cultures: the membership culture and the team culture. The most successful clubs we see working across the private club industry invest in both, ensuring that staff behavior and member expectations evolve together toward a shared vision.”
Ultimately, the strongest and most admired club brands are the ones where internal culture and external brand are indistinguishable. Where what members are promised and what they experience are one and the same.
Where Misalignment Happens
Culture and brand begin to fall out of sync when leadership assumes that one will naturally follow the other, without ongoing clarity and reinforcement.
“At Sussner, we see misalignment when member communications, visual identity, or marketing tell one story, but the member experience tells another,” explained Sussner. “For example, a brand that looks highly formal and traditional may confuse members if the actual culture is warm, casual and charismatic.”
These gaps between perception and reality create distrust, dilute loyalty, and ultimately weaken the club’s position in the market. KK&W has seen similar disconnects operationally.
Wallace agrees, “Breakdowns happen when leadership sets a vision, but the team hasn’t been properly equipped with the tools, training, or clarity to deliver it. Poor communication, inconsistent onboarding and a lack of day-to-day reinforcement lead to friction between what leadership intends and what members experience.”
Often, surprise is the first warning sign. When members or guests say, “I thought this club was different,” whether positively or negatively, it’s a clear signal that culture and brand need to be realigned.
How Leadership Can Operationalize Culture
So, how do GMs and boards move from concept to action?
It begins with the recognition that culture must be made operational, visible, understandable, and reinforced on a daily basis.
“KK&W guides clubs to shape their internal culture using what we call the Six Cs,” shared Wallace:
- Clarity: Clear purpose, clear roles and clear expectations.
- Communication: Extraordinary, transparent dialogue across leadership, staff, members and the board.
- Collaboration: Teams that work together toward shared goals, not silos.
- Collegiality: Mutual respect across all levels of the organization.
- Cultivation: Ongoing investment in team development and club improvement.
- Challenge: A dynamic environment where constructive challenges lead to continuous growth.
“When leadership intentionally nurtures these six elements, culture evolves naturally and powerfully,” Wallace continued.
Sussner complements this approach with brand-building tools that bring culture to life for staff.
“Rather than relying on lengthy mission statements tucked away in an employee manual, we encourage clubs to create simple, actionable brand guidelines that show, not just tell, what living the brand looks like day-to-day,” added Sussner.
Some of the most successful clubs use storytelling to make brand values tangible.
During onboarding, they share real-life examples of how staff members have delivered on the brand. They introduce simple rallying cries like internal credos or brand mottos that are easy to remember, and even reward staff for demonstrating them.
KK&W brings this to life with tactics like branded coins or bracelets engraved with a club’s credo. Staff who can recall and demonstrate the credo in action are rewarded on the spot, reinforcing that culture isn’t just talked about, it’s lived.
The key is consistency over time. Orientation is important, but it’s what happens after orientation, when leadership isn’t present, that determines whether the culture thrives.
A Call to Action for General Managers
Culture is not a side project. Brand is not just a marketing exercise. Together, they are the most powerful tools you have to shape member satisfaction, team performance, and long-term club vitality.
The encouraging reality is that you don’t need a full rebrand or a massive cultural overhaul to start making an impact.
- Clarify your expectations internally.
- Refresh your onboarding process and reinforce the club’s values with staff.
- Align your operations, communications, and leadership behaviors with the brand story you want members to experience.
Every step you take to strengthen your culture strengthens your brand. And, every step you take to clarify your brand reinforces your culture.
In today’s evolving club landscape, where member expectations are higher than ever, the clubs that thrive will be the ones where leadership doesn’t leave culture and brand to chance.
They will be the clubs where culture and brand are one, and where every team member understands their vital role in delivering it.
Sussner – July 2025
Sussner is a Minneapolis-based branding firm specializing in helping private clubs define, design, and deliver brand clarity. With a strategic and creative approach, Sussner partners with clubs to modernize their brand identity, strengthen member engagement, and elevate their market perception.