WE TELL THE STORIES OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LEADERS FROM GREAT COMPANIES BRING GOOD IDEAS INTO THE CLUBS WHERE THEY BELONG.
Each episode is a 60-minute deep dive into a idea and how it worked in business, how it was adapted to the club, and what happened next.
We interview the leader behind the idea and explore the real-world details behind the decision-making, resistance, execution, and outcomes. The conversations range well beyond club operations. Leadership, hospitality, psychology, governance, culture, design, technology, sports, business — anything that might help clubs think differently and operate better.
The format is best described as a case study told as a conversation.
At the center of every episode is the same question: When does an outside idea actually make a club better? Some ideas translate easily. Others fail completely. Most become more interesting once they interact with the realities of club life: history, traditions, governance, member expectations, personalities, and culture.
That’s the part we care about.
The goal is not to chase trends or current events. It’s to create conversations that hold their value over time — focused less on headlines and more on decisions, leadership, and outcomes.
The Kinds of Conversations That Interest Us
We're interested in ideas wherever they come from. Some of the best conversations start with topics that seem unrelated to clubs altogether: sports psychology, creativity, systems theory, resilience, personal evolution, risk-taking, fulfillment, or the weird ways people act when emotion when emotion is more powerful than logic.
How to make decisions when everyone is a leader
Governance, authority, and accountability
Consensus, speed, and decision rights
Evaluating decisions when outcomes are uncertain
Leadership & Decision-Making
Hospitality and service design
Architecture and placemaking
Brand as a management tool
Creating experiences people remember
Experience & Design
Incentives and unintended consequences
Building resilient cultures
Talent, onboarding, and professional development
Change management in member-driven organizations
Organizations & Culture
Strategy & Performance
Capital allocation and long-term investment
Pattern recognition and trendspotting
Organizational structure and process
Signal, noise, and strategic focus
The role of curiosity in leadership
Creativity as a discipline, not a talent
Pattern recognition and unexpected connections
Finding new ideas in familiar places
Creativity & Discovery
Status and belonging
Interpersonal dynamics
Generational shifts
Identity, meaning, and purpose
Human Nature
Brett Posten is Principal and Co-Founder of Highline Partners. Over the course of a 30-year career, he has worked with leading brands and organizations on strategy, positioning, communications, and organizational alignment.
At age 14, his first job was stocking shelves at the Polo Store in Kansas City. Ten years later, he was working at Ralph Lauren headquarters in New York City before moving into advertising as a copywriter at McCann Erickson. Over the years, his career has spanned fashion, branding, entrepreneurship, hospitality, and real estate, including leadership roles as a Chief Creative Officer, Chief Brand Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer.
Today, Brett’s work focuses primarily on private clubs, luxury real estate, hospitality, and cultural institutions navigating growth, governance complexity, capital projects, and evolving audience expectations. He is particularly interested in how organizations borrow useful ideas from outside their industries while maintaining the culture and identity that make them distinct.
Brett is also a published writer whose work has appeared in national golf, business, and lifestyle publications including The Golfers Journal and Club Director Magazine. He has lectured on branding, entrepreneurship, and creativity within the University of California system and spoken for the Urban Land Institute on trends shaping hospitality, real estate, and member-driven organizations.
In addition to his professional work, Brett serves on the Board and as Chair of the Green Committee at Kansas City Country Club, where he has helped lead the club through a $34 million golf and racquets renovation project. His club leadership experience also includes service on strategic planning, facilities, and executive search committees.
Joel Livingood is the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota, where he leads the club’s strategy, operations, and more than 400 team members.
Since joining Interlachen in 2017, Joel has overseen nearly $70 million in transformative capital investments while helping guide significant operational and financial growth across the organization. Under his leadership, the club’s revenue has grown from $9 million to $25 million, and its membership waitlist has expanded from zero to several years.
Prior to Interlachen, Joel served as General Manager of North Oaks Golf Club in St. Paul and Oxbow Country Club in Fargo, where he led the development and implementation of a long-range master plan that included a new golf course, clubhouse facilities, and surrounding community development.
Joel is Vice Chair of the National Club Association’s Board of Directors and maintains an active leadership role within the Club Management Association of America. In 2025, he was recognized with the Mead Grady Excellence in Club Management Award.
Throughout his career, Joel has developed a reputation for operational excellence, organizational leadership, and thoughtful long-range planning. He is particularly interested in how clubs adapt new ideas without losing the culture, discipline, and service standards that sustain long-term excellence.
Together, Joel and Brett co-founded One Good Idea, a platform built around a shared belief that clubs become stronger when thoughtful leadership, operational experience, and outside perspectives work in collaboration rather than opposition
Brett Posten is Principal and Co-Founder of Highline Partners. Over the course of a 30-year career, he has worked with leading brands and organizations on strategy, positioning, communications, and organizational alignment.
At age 14, his first job was stocking shelves at the Polo Store in Kansas City. Ten years later, he was working at Ralph Lauren headquarters in New York City before moving into advertising as a copywriter at McCann Erickson. Over the years, his career has spanned fashion, branding, entrepreneurship, hospitality, and real estate, including leadership roles as a Chief Creative Officer, Chief Brand Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer.
Today, Brett’s work focuses primarily on private clubs, luxury real estate, hospitality, and cultural institutions navigating growth, governance complexity, capital projects, and evolving audience expectations. He is particularly interested in how organizations borrow useful ideas from outside their industries while maintaining the culture and identity that make them distinct.
Brett is also a published writer whose work has appeared in national golf, business, and lifestyle publications including The Golfers Journal and Club Director Magazine. He has lectured on branding, entrepreneurship, and creativity within the University of California system and spoken for the Urban Land Institute on trends shaping hospitality, real estate, and member-driven organizations.
In addition to his professional work, Brett serves on the Board and as Chair of the Green Committee at Kansas City Country Club, where he has helped lead the club through a $34 million golf and racquets renovation project. His club leadership experience also includes service on strategic planning, facilities, and executive search committees.