Generational Membership Is Your Legacy — Generational Leadership Is Your Future
- Eric Ruehlmann
- Dec 18, 2025
- 4 min read
How modern club leadership creates clarity, recognition, convenience, and consistency across every age of member and team member.
Private clubs have always been generational institutions.
Members join because of family history, tradition, and the promise that what mattered yesterday will still matter tomorrow. This continuity is a point of pride and rightly so. Generational membership is not something to be “managed.” It is something to be protected.
What has changed is not the member expectation... it is the workforce delivering the experience.
The New Reality Inside Legacy Clubs
Today’s private clubs are often staffed by four generations working side by side. Each brings value, experience, and perspective. Each also brings different assumptions about communication, feedback, recognition, and leadership.
Most clubs, however, still operate as if one leadership approach fits all:
One training model
One communication style
One recognition rhythm
When expectations are implied instead of clear, leadership relies on presence instead of systems, and recognition is uneven, generational differences begin to feel like problems rather than strengths.
If friction exists, the member feels it immediately.
Where Generational Friction Actually Shows Up
Generational challenges in clubs rarely look like conflict. They show up operationally:
Managers repeating the same instructions shift after shift
New hires taking longer to reach confidence
Service quality varying by supervisor or team
Recognition programs resonating with some, but missing others
These are not failures of work ethic or attitude.They are signals that leadership systems have not evolved with the workforce.
Recognition Is the Common Language Across Generations
Every generation wants to succeed. What differs is how support is experienced.
Recognition-rich, service-strong cultures share common traits:
Expectations are visible, not assumed
Feedback is timely, not delayed
Effort and consistency are acknowledged daily
Standards are reinforced through systems, not personalities
Clarity is recognition. Consistency is respect. Convenience is leadership empathy.
Convenience Is Not a Perk — It’s Cultural Infrastructure
Most clubs invest heavily in member convenience. Far fewer apply the same thinking internally to their teams.
When convenience is designed into leadership:
Training becomes repeatable
Communication becomes clearer
Accountability becomes neutral
Managers spend less time correcting and more time leading
This is how leadership scales across generations without lowering standards.
From Leadership Presence to Leadership Platform
Legacy clubs were often built on visible leadership... leaders who knew everyone, solved problems in the moment, and carried standards personally.
Modern clubs require something more sustainable.
The most effective leaders today:
Design systems that reinforce culture daily
Create recognition practices that reach every generation
Reduce friction so excellence becomes easier to deliver
Protect the member experience by supporting the team experience
This is not a departure from tradition. It is how tradition survives.
A Leadership Question Worth Asking
If your youngest team member and your longest-tenured associate both want to do great work…
What systems have you designed to help them succeed together?
If You Want a Better Member Experience, Start With a Better System
Your members need a club that reduces effort and elevates comfort. Your team needs clarity, simplicity, and shared standards.
And you, as a leader, need a framework that gives you time back — not takes more away.
Convenience is the answer on both sides.
It’s how you create:
Predictable hospitality
Reliable service delivery
Happier members
Happier staff (across generations)
Higher retention (staff of all ages)
Stronger operational performance (no matter if Baby Boomer, Gen X, or Gen Z)
A club positioned for the future
And it’s exactly what the Club Convenience Playbook is designed to help you accomplish. Includes bonus chapter focused on how to deal with the generational divide in your teams: "Bridging the Generational Divide – Service Leadership Toolkit/Worksheet"
Ready to Make Your Club Easier to Run and Easier to Love?
Convenience-first transforms:
Member satisfaction
Operational consistency
Staff performance
Leadership bandwidth
And your overall club culture
Convenience isn't a luxury. It’s the new foundation of exceptional clubs.
If your leadership team is ready to explore this shift, Build A Better Club offers consulting, journey mapping, and strategy development to focus your club on this very important next era of member relevance.
Explore how a convenience-first approach transforms.
Get your FREE guide:
If you’d like practical examples, implementation models, and messaging language for bringing convenience to your club, get your FREE Club Convenience Playbook today!
#ClubLeadership #MemberExperience #ClubInnovation #ClubManagement #ClubBeyond #ClubBelonging #ClubLivingEasy #ClubConvenience #BuildABetterClub #GenerationalLeadership #GenerationalMembership
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About the Author: Eric Ruehlmann is a versatile business executive with over 25 years of service in the club management industry. Eric's knowledge and experience is broad having held advisory positions and worked on projects in a variety of fields such as; consumer research, loyalty & rewards, travel & leisure, and lifestyle products & services. Eric is currently focused on sharing his knowledge with club leaders and club boards about club innovation, enhancing the member experience, and loyalty & rewards. Eric Ruehlmann is the founder of Build A Better Club and a managing partner of Privat-VIP- Travel & Rewards.
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