Ep. 6: Farmers Insurance Open CEO Marty Gorsich on Creating a World-Class Golf Event
In this episode, Darren Reinke chats with Marty Gorsich, CEO of Century Club of San Diego, a non-profit that puts on the Farmers Insurance Open. Marty shares his insights about creating a world-class customer experience, what makes the Farmers Insurance Open special, creating a great culture, building a top-notch team, and lessons learned from working in the sports industry.
The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament, played at the Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, that is one of the marquee stops on the PGA Tour.
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SHOW NOTES
How the Farmers Insurance Open Has Evolved Over Time [1:02]
How The Event Has Attracted a Wider Audience [2:10]
Source of New Ideas to Integrate into the Event [6:55]
What Makes the Farmers Insurance Open Special [9:30]
Tips to Create a Broader Appeal to Customers [12:00]
How to Tailor How You Motivate Team Members [13:50]
How to Develop Your Team [18:55]
How Farmers Insurance Open Impacts the Community [23:40]
Lessons from Sports about Leadership [31:47]
Tips to Aspiring Leaders [36.07]
SHOW LINKS
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Darren: Today's guest on the Savage Leader podcast is Marty Gorsich. Marty is the CEO of the Century Club of San Diego, a nonprofit that puts on the Farmers Insurance Open, one of the leading Professional Golf Association events in the world. Marty, thanks so much for coming on today.
Marty Gorsich: Thanks for having me, Darren.
HOW THE FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME
Darren: So, to start off just tell people what that Farmers Insurance open is not all the listeners are golfers. Can you talk to me a little bit about the event and how it's evolved over time?
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely. Yeah, we are starting with us as an entity. The century club is a nonprofit, we were the host organization in San Diego that hosts one of the PGA tours, professional stops. So, we support the local youth charities and other sorts of charitable endeavors we do primarily through the funds and exposure regenerate operating this tournament. So, a lot of ways it is like I formerly worked for the San Diego Padres. We were a local franchise of Major League Baseball. Here, we are kind of the local franchise that lets the PGA Tour run their entity for all of their players at places ready to play. So, we host it. While the backdrop is golf, it really is a large social and lifestyle event aimed at appealing to a broader audience. So, while we definitely have our diehard golf fans and like golf centric viewpoint, we also need to really be broader based and appealing to folks who just want to take advantage of all the different things we actually have to offer when you come out.
HOW THE FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN HAS ATTRACTED A WIDER AUDIENCE
Darren: Yeah, it is interesting is, and I know so many leaders are thinking about how do they broaden the appeal of their organizations, whether it's going after new customer segments? How have you gone about doing that? Because obviously, it started as more of a golf centric event based on what you've said in the past, but how have you evolved the organization, the event to be broader base?
Marty Gorsich: Well, when I first came into this particular organization, their board was a lot of folks who play golf and focused on golf, their staff was a lot of people with a golf background. And the reality is we don't work in golf, we work in the entertainment business and viewing it through too much of a golf lens can make you tone deaf to what's really going on out there, to revert to some of my baseball or basketball days, you know, if your team was winning, you could have served frozen hotdogs and boiling beer, and the diehard fan keeps coming back. But you cannot guarantee winning and kind of in golf, you know, we had an opportunity with Tiger Woods and others where people would just come no matter what. But the reality is people are coming for an entertainment experience, and you need to share that with them.
So, as I came to the organization, and inherited a lot of a mindset from others have we run a golf tournament had to demonstrate our ability to show them a broader appeal. So, one of the first things we did was a Scarborough study and analyze the data in our market of people who identified themselves as diehard golf fans, golf interested, or non-golf interested. And when you look at how that carved up the market, it was very small percentage of diehard golf fans of the only around 4%. Then you got about 16% it was golf interested, you might tune in to the Masters, you might play from time to time, and then you had 80% of the market that was not golf interested at all. But then when you looked at other data within those breakouts, you realize that 80% had a lot of people who liked to go do social things, get out in the sun, go to the beach, look at the ocean, have a drink with friends, enjoy good food, go to festivals. And we were leaving those people out when really, we had a lot of those things to offer and just were not bringing that appeal to them.
You also found that a lot of the direct golf people still enjoy those sorts of things. We looked then at that 16%, which again, was four times larger than the four who were passionate. And those people were not necessarily coming to our event. Because golf was not the only reason they were interested. But they needed more. So, we needed to focus on some of the more important aspects of our event that more people could enjoy. It might be the thing to push people over the edge. So, one of my very first meetings with our board, they wanted to talk about some golf related topics. And I said, Hey, I looked at what we did last year, I looked at our budgets. I looked how we are doing things I want to talk about upgrading our restaurants. Well, the organization was in a little bit of a tough spot. The idea of spending any more money did not make a lot of sense at that time. And the thought of spending money on restrooms really was something that did not appeal or connect to them and ask the question about each of them did spouses like to come where their spouse is golf centric.
And in many cases, they said their spouses would not come and I encourage them to go home and bring up the topic of restrooms, and the thought about temporary restrooms when attending outdoor events. And I think they kind of thought I was crazy grudgingly went away. And by the next meeting, we had kind of elbows on the table, people leaning forward, saying, Wow, I opened up Pandora's box. When I asked that question, I did not realize that upgrading something as simple as restrooms makes it far more appealing for a different demographic.
So, if you wondered, why are there aren't more ladies out there, why there weren't more of just kind of that general fan base, the food, the drink, the parking, the access, it really comes down to your objections and where your mind goes first in that guest experience. And we were not focused on those areas, we only took cash, we did them credit cards on course at the time. Again, we were cutting corners on things like the restaurant experience, we had a perception that an old golf mantra of not using your phone out there. It no longer existed, but it was still in people's mind. And if you were close to the sun, you thought everybody knew that.
But as you got a little further away, you realize there were a lot of things that people assumed about our event that weren't accurate, and a lot of things people had no idea about, they really could come enjoy so shifted our marketing, to be about signature food and drink, about enjoying the views of Torrey Pines in the ocean about the CNBC and social event of the first quarter really dove in with our corporate clientele, to understand what their guests were looking for. And they similarly have a lot of guests who like to be entertained, did things that were not necessarily golf fans, but would enjoy a lot of the things we had to offer. So, it had to start with an internal mind shift, and then how we push that message out to our existing potential customers.
SOURCE OF NEW IDEAS FOR THE FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN
Darren: It is interesting, and I know so many organizations are looking to broaden their appeal to focus on that customer experience. Where did you go for that inspiration about creating the broad-based appeal to be more than just a golf event to be a truly lifestyle, entertainment event, anything that would that inspired you or any other types of activities or resources or companies that really sparks some new ideas?
Marty Gorsich: I'd say part of it was lessons learned over time, as I looked around, in my previous jobs in the sports industry. And I should say, again, in the entertainment industry, your season ticket holders came but you have a lot of seats left. And so how you can get those other people to come knowing that you were not going to win every game, the odds are somebody wins, somebody loses, you are only going to win half the time. So, understanding that you had to focus on those other areas was something I learned with a couple other organizations. I also learned it through some of our partners, we worked with a lot of kind of Indian casinos. And as you talk to them, often only go gamble, the odds are we are going to lose our money. That is not a great experience. And yet people lined up to do it. It is because the customer service the food and drink the rest of that entertainment dollar being spent is essential.
So, as we said, how do we give people a great entertainment experience to make them more well-rounded and robust? That is kind of what I came in looked at. I also did not come in as a huge golf fan. I was not in that 4%. So, when asked, would I even come to the events that I was coming into to help run and help sell and out market, I was able to look at it and say, probably not in its current form. And I knew the people around me and as I kind of asked around and got that feedback heard similarly, as we evolved our staff and brought in people with no golf background, and people who were not in the 4% were not even in the 16%. It made our social media look different. It made our marketing look different. It made the customer engagement over a sales call different you did not ask; do you play golf? And the answer was no.
That was kind of the end of the meeting. It was not the first question was how do you entertain your customers? How you engage with the people around you? Hey, what do you look for when you decide how to spend your personal or business dollar for entertainment? Those broader questions really proved out to us our belief that we needed to change and then even here in San Diego, a great example I looked at regularly was opening day at Del Mar racetrack and the horse races is one of those mark your calendar in advance CNBC and civic events. But if you were to walk around and really ask people who were horse racing fans are really tuned into it. It is a pretty small percentage. But it's an extremely successful event. And there is no reason why that could not be laid over what we were offering of. This is just one of those signature things you have got to be at. You have got to experience you want to be there you feel like you are missing out if you are not golf happened to be the backdrop but really was not the primary reason.
WHAT MAKES THE FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN A SPECIAL GOLF AND LIFESTYLE EVENT
Darren: So, what else makes that event special? Obviously, it is a one of the marquees stops on a PGA Tour but like what else is he talking about that experience and what a spectator what a customer would experience from that?
Marty Gorsich: I think you have to start with what are your opportunities and what are your challenges, and we knew an opportunity. What is our backdrop? People come to San Diego they want to travel here they want to live here. What is kind of the epitome in your mind's eye of San Diego. It's things like those cliffs and Torrey Pines with the gliders in the background, the ocean views, beauty, the scenic you know between the grass. The cliffs the ocean, that's aspirational experience type of thing that the Golf is in key to walk around with friends and family and clients and have that backdrop with a cocktail in your hand, and good people and good times. I mean, that was really what we focused on is showing people that because it's so broadly relatable, who doesn't want to take that in who doesn't want to watch the sunset, over the cliffs of La Jolla, as we really dug into that, that was something we tried to put forward a lot more because we could guarantee that experience, I couldn't guarantee who was going to win, I couldn't guarantee who was going to play or play well, but I could guarantee that experience.
And so, showing that to people and getting that in their mind, having some great food and drink offerings, again, understanding what reasons you would not go and what might make you hesitate. Versus once that is removed, the fundamental question, do I want to go out and have a great time today? It is always Yes. What gets in your way is your schedule, the logistics, the other things? So really tried to remove those and focus on our advantages, and to your question, Torrey Pines, and that backdrop, really was our number one thing to offer to people that everyone can relate to.
Darren: As it is a spectacular backdrop and event.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely. And other events have their advantages, you know, they are surrounded by fields and tons of parking or tons of space. And the event the week after us in Phoenix, they do not have the great views and their courses in quite the same they may not get as prominent field, the players, they have chosen to take advantage of their opportunities. They are surrounded by desert, which means they are surrounded by parking. So, they do it on volume, they bring tons of people in and it is a very wild, raucous, great time. But it's very different from our event where we're limited with 180 degrees of ocean, that's an opportunity in the views, that's a challenge and the access and the parking and the other thing, so we do ours, probably with a little more elegance, and a little bit more limitation about the volume of crowds and others and to some people, they prefer that they don't want to take on kind of an experience that's as grand as the other one as far as how can the crowds can get and what comes with that.
HOW COMPANIES CAN APPEAL TO A BROADER AUDIENCE OF CUSTOMERS
Darren: So, what would be your advice be to leaders in terms of if they are thinking about how to either broaden their appeal or really to look to enhance their customer experience any tips from a practical perspective you might have for them.
Marty Gorsich: But a good tip for business as a tip in life, if you have got to own your challenges, you got to own what you are not. And so often we shy, we focus on what we are what we want to be, but we also have a look at our limitations. And I think that is where we started with us. Before we even started, what do we have is it is where are we do not, we have and that Scarboro data showed us some digging, or fans showed us some that we are not doing a great job in these areas. And we focused on owning and working on what was not good about us before just trying to continue to focus on lift up what was good. So sometimes the hard exercise, some folks are not always as comfortable talking about what they are not doing well, versus prominently talking about what they are. And advice I can always offer is having that self-awareness. And that business. Self-Awareness starts with knowing what you are not before you can start to really talk about what you are and figure out how to close the gap in any way you can.
Darren: Yeah, similar in terms of what I think about with leaders in terms of being more authentic, and it is about accepting or owning what your strengths are. And putting aside the things that you are not do not have that strengths and being really lean into what you really do well. And then in this case, from a leadership perspective, partner with people that can be complimentary. So, there is partnering with people in your organization, hiring consultants, just a great way in terms of to be the best leader you can be?
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely, if you know where your gaps are, you are going to be able to cover them or work around them. If your blind spots are left blind, you are always in danger of having an accident.
HOW TO MOTIVATE TEAM MEMBERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS
Darren: Definitely. And one of the things actually is reflecting back on our last conversation. And something I think about from a leadership communication perspective is adapting and tailoring your communication to the audience. You had a really interesting point about what you have done, from a motivation perspective and recognizing and acknowledging and tailoring your motivation to individuals. Can you talk to me a little bit about that, and how that is played out to create that really vibrant culture within your organization?
Marty Gorsich: I think a key to culture is understanding your people but taking some ownership of who you are and where you want to go. And that awareness as well. What do we have to offer? What don't we have to offer? And who are we going to be as an organization and making sure you put that forward to people or organizations specifically, we are nonprofit. So, you are never going to have massive salaries, you are going to get a lot of benefits personally for the person who finds value in those in working for nonprofits. Similarly, we are a small organization. So, your potential for growth from a title standpoint or other things may or may not be as fast, but there is some security that comes in that smaller group and you can really control your culture when you are smaller if done properly, and that can be advantageous or challenged to others as well. So, one thing we really focused on as we look at new people, and we look at our own people is what is important to you now. And we created an exercise with 10 different items ranging from compensation and title and growth, to culture, acknowledgement and recognition, and other kind of what some might consider touchy feely things.
But as we go on through our career, and through our life, and how things change, how we would rank those 10, things in order changes as well. And we've found that to be a great way to be in tune with, where our people are at and what's important, as well as the potential people you bring into organization to understand we can fulfill those people, and if they're going to find value in what we can offer, but it also identify some of the things that we aren't as an organization, and if their goals are strong in those areas, being honest, whether it's somebody from the outside that may not be a fit, or somebody internally who has their goals change, we can own it, and work with them and say, hey, you've been great for us. But we want to help you fly and grow into that next thing, not hold you down and try to talk you into these other advantages of ours, where maybe you're not getting fulfilled in the certain areas of your life that you feel you need.
Darren: Can you provide a more tangible example of what that might look like how you might use that insight about someone in terms of what specifically motivates them, how you coach them, how you manage them, how you might advise them?
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely, yeah, a very poignant one that stands out to me regularly is before we started this exercise, I had a sales team of three others, and I have a sales background. And then we had another young lady who was a part of the team who really focused on activating and bringing each of our sales to life. So, we would have a weekly sales meeting, we had our normal process we would go through each week, relatively consistent. But we were always nailing those meetings. When we did this exercise, ranking everything one through ten. And I got the results back, myself and my three salespeople actually listed in order recognition as number 10. On our priority list, our least important thing of all the things I listed. And as salespeople you always have in your numbers, you're constantly seeing how you're doing, whether that's good or bad, so you're pretty in tune with it. But to all of us, not only was that not important, but we also almost shied away from it, this young lady was a part of our team and essential and all that we did listed recognition, number one, which blew me away.
But to see that above earnings above culture, above title, but everything, something so simple that we could provide organizationally as throwing a few bouquets, giving a little bit of credit, not completely changing and making a scene in recognizing her but making a point to adjust within those meetings, a little more appreciation a little more acknowledgement for what the customer might have said about her positivity, what we were seeing, it was an easy thing to incorporate as a leader into those meetings and seeing her blossom and seeing that impact kind of our whole group and our whole group got better because of it, because you just saw a sign of a person that just lit up even more. And it just added a level of cohesion, I did not even know we were missing until at simple exercise, that simple acknowledgement and was able to incorporate something that did not cost the organization financially, anything did not cause a great shift in how we operated. It was just a minor adjustment in how we ran a meeting. And its paid huge dividends, who is still with us, she is grown within our organization, she's a rock and essential and all that we do. And if we miss that, over the years, we may not have given her what she needed, and who knows if she would be with us today.
HOW LEADERS CAN DRIVE CHANGE ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION
Darren: It is such a powerful point. And as leaders, the more I live my life and the more I really learn from it, it is all about that nuance, and it does take extra effort, it does take more time to think about someone else. But recognition that we are not all the same. I think about that often from a communications perspective is how I want to receive information is not the same way that someone else wants that and how you tailor your approach to that. But I think this is a beautiful example of looking even beyond that and saying, okay, people are motivated by different things. And actually, how do you do that as the leader? So beyond just yourself? Obviously, you are a natural coach of your team. How do you infuse that within the rest of your organization to take things into account? Like, what motivates them? Whether it is recognition, title, growth, mentorship, like what do you do beyond just yourself to infuse that within the team?
Marty Gorsich: Well, again, you take the learnings from something like that. But as you have a team and those team members, manage others, helping them create their own self awareness and understanding and their management styles may be different from mine, Tony Dungy, I heard in a speech talk about you have to treat them all fair. But you do not have to treat them all the same. And as he coached his players, he talked about how you got to be good to all of them, but they are motivated in different ways. And some of them need to be coached motivated daily, some need to be given their space because they are self-motivated, or they work their own way. Even with my own team, one of my kind of my right hand is management style that he believed as he was learning management was, I'm a great manager because I let people have space and I don't get in their business. I do not micromanage, and they can come to me they know I'm here when they need.
Well, that was a technique and tactic that worked really well for him as he was growing because he was a self-starter, and he was motivated. And just because that worked for him, does not mean that as he brings on three reports, that that is the best technique to utilize for three others, some of those other people might say, they need more, some might need more, but not realize they need more. So, my push away and say, Oh, I love that technique. I love that let me do my own thing. It does not mean they are professionally mature enough to actually respond and be their best without maybe needing a little bit more management a little bit more guidance. So, you know, as I talk to my team, I try to find the balance of giving them space, to bump their nose a little bit, because we all learn through the mistakes and the things we go through. But also providing any insights. Or maybe another way to look at the world and exercise I often do that many of them used to go crazy over but now they understand where I am coming from is, as we had hit in a direction, where we had some degree of agreement, I would swing out to the far end, and basically the opposite viewpoint for a moment and talk about it.
Not to be the devil's advocate not to be challenging, but basically of, hey, while I'm out here, if you can bring me back to where we were at quickly and comfortably and confidently, then we're in the right place, if there's hesitation or there's something about what I said that makes some sense, or it's, you know, we're finding a frustration and we can't get back to the center, then we probably haven't looked at this from all angles. So constantly trying to find my own balance as a leader in giving the space to let them lead and learn to lead and providing any insights I can that they can take and incorporate and how they are going to do it because they are going to do it differently than me. And my way is not always right or perfect. It is a fit for me and who I am as a person where my traits and skills and aptitudes work. I think there is a lot of it that can be incorporated by others, but they are also going to need out their own measures of space within that too.
Darren: And that just really underscores the importance of having that diverse set of perspectives on the team. So, whether it is just looking at an issue from different ways, looking at new opportunities give you brainstorming just gives you that diverse set of inputs that can really help you be more successful as a team and as organization as well.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely, I love where my executive team is at the three of us, in some ways could not be more different. And yet, us all appreciating our differences. And how that round this out, it makes us perfect because we can bounce things off of each other, we can determine in some cases who is best to handle something or whose viewpoint might make us look at it differently. But it really, as we come and take these three angles and put it into the middle, it really balances out our decision making and thought processes really well at the end.
Darren: Yeah, I think people can overlook that early some people do in terms of they make the assumption of Hey, we are creating this quick strike team. To get this new initiative off the ground. We all got to be quick risk takers, moving really fast, but can really be helpful to buttress that perspective and experience with people who are really more analytical process focused people oriented, more collaborative, just so you can bring that better team and ultimately get better results.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely, respect and trust are the cornerstones of that. Because you've got to get that collaborative environment where you're allowed to speak up, the team knows that you're not coming after anybody who has a strong personality and a more meek one need to be able to be in the room, they each have something to say. And they need to have that appropriate environment where you can get each of them to contribute and put forth their thoughts. Otherwise, you let those overpowering personalities take over. And it is never going to lead you to a good place.
Darren: Absolutely. Respect and trust are such a foundational element of creating a strong team.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely.
HOW THE FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN IMPACTS THE COMMUNITY
Darren: Let’s switch gears a little bit and go back to something you mentioned, I think a lot of people coming in would not realize that the Farmers Insurance open is put on by a nonprofit. So, I think it's also interesting because companies can be a vessel for values and in terms of embodying that within their customers and so forth. But what are some of the missions? What are some of the philanthropic goals of the nonprofit? And how does the Farmers Insurance open advanced those?
Marty Gorsich: We really like to focus on our local community and how we can make a difference like so many do. But we learned especially as I came on, and we reevaluate what we are doing, if you're trying to help everybody, you can't be very targeted in the way you truly help them. And in the charitable space, you are hearing the word impact a lot more often writing a bunch of checks. There is really no accountability in that there is no advancement in that. And sometimes, you know, you hear expressions about giving the man fish versus teaching them to fish, or, you know, your ability to one plus one equals three anything along those lines. We have really focused on how can we make something truly better than the way we found it? And that has been diving in into greater depth with each of those charities, each of those nonprofits and saying what are your needs and as we did that, we found we could not help a whole bunch of them and be nearly as effective as fewer and really getting in deep and saying how can we make that impact in a variety of ways. And so, we have taken that to focus on six locals, kind of at-risk youth-oriented charities.
We also do support first responders, but in a very specific way, some military support similarly, but trying to be a little more specific in what we can provide enough space. And then our fourth pillar is around creating opportunities within golf to those who may not have access. And that's not just playing the game, it's really the broader message through working with pro kids, which is a great local charity that has a national presence, where they create opportunities for less fortunate kids to get access to golf, but also it's the manners the respect the principles in and around golf, and use that as a way to mature but also as a motivator towards focusing on making themselves better doing their homework, learning life lessons, etc., earns them time in and around golf. So, got more focused on those four pillars and have found great success each year as we dig a little bit deeper and understand how we can really make an impact, not just sit back, and say, Oh, we gave this much money away.
Darren: It's fantastic how much you're doing for the local community. But I think you also make a bigger point, which is, organizations can do a lot more than just cutting a check. And whatever that looks, I can just drop it in the bank of a local nonprofit or national nonprofit, but really integrating their work in connected more directly within some of that nonprofit, some of that philanthropic work.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely. You take an example, like we did some work on our own board, and found an expert out there provided some great insights into what board work is, what is board governance, how to effectively support an organization. And we invested some dollars and a lot of time in that and put us in a much better place. Then we looked out at our charities and their boards as we interacted, and they were in equal to greater need in most cases than we were of that same exercise.
Well, if bringing this expert was going to cost $10,000, that is something none of those charities ever would have done for themselves, because they would have felt the need to put any money into their programs. There is a great podcast out there called the overhead myth, Ted Plotkin talking about this very belief that if they get $10,000, the belief is they need to go put that money into their charitable organization and give back to their cause. We said okay, we can bring this expert let all of our charity let each charity come here him spend that $10,000, which again, we could have broken that out into approximately 12 $100 each, which would not have gotten them far. Instead, we brought them all in. And with that investment of $10,000.
Each of them got to hear this, learn a great deal, take that back, make their boards better their organizations better and pay massive dividends for them not just now but into the future. And its impact was far greater, we invested a lot of time we had to put that together, we had to create the PowerPoints, we had to organize each of the groups, I was using my staff and people and their time to pay them for to go out and make this not just one exercise this constant education very successful. And so, on paper, it may not look like a large financial output. But when you look at the hours and the focus and the man time, and then the result at the end of the impact was far greater than that original financial figure ever would have borne to them.
Darren: A great example of amplification of your purpose and how it can impact so many different people around the community.
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, absolutely.
NONPROFITS SUPPORTED BY THE CENTURY CLUB OF SAN DIEGO
Darren: Do you want to give a few shout outs to some of those nonprofits in case people want to get involved with them?
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, I mean, we've, it's so hard when I start to call them out because you hate to leave anybody out of the space. And even year over year, we have had a few come in our program and part of our goal, as we change some in and out and I will touch on a few of those. But when you talk about teaching a man to fish, the goal is when they learn to fish, they can go on and fish on their own. And rather than us I take monarch school who's not one of our charities now, but was for a few years they've grown and they're so self-sufficient now and they're in such a good place we like to think of part of that is we kind of took them when they were much smaller and supported them almost like startups, and you want to help them really get on their feet and get to a place where they can go on and do great things on their own. And we can actually shift our focus to some new ones.
So annually, we will open up a submission and evaluation period for a new charity or new charities. We will also look at the ones we're with a are they putting in as much effort to take advantage of all we've got, and we hold them accountable to that. And then also if we feel they've grown, their number of donors, their sophistication and things to a point, we kind of want to let them go fly off on their own and find someone new, we use what we have to offer. So that has been a really successful program. So, as we look at some of our charities, like "Just In Time For Foster Youth", for example, "Support The Enlisted Project", some really great charities to talk about how they have grown with us over the past few years learning how to use our programs.
Learning how to use the tools that we have embracing those bringing them into their organization, they are in a much better place. And really, we should both aspire to them actually leaving our programs in a good place, where they say, hey, we have taken so much here, go help at your level, someone else, we have got these new donors were really ready to run on our own. So, we feel a lot of pride in that rather than just kind of saying, let us do the same thing year over year, pick it up, copy it and do it again. It is a great program that both provides benefits but creates accountability for those nonprofits as well as tracking with the goal of them kind of graduating from our support.
Darren: There's so much good work to be done out there. And I am just personally really appreciative of all you guys are doing, I try to give back to different organizations with time and efforts. I really do appreciate that. It is neat.
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, I think we're always looking for ways to contribute to our own lives and where we're at. And it is not always fiscal. So yeah, great. You're you know, as you talked about giving time, people don't realize how much time can be valuable in whatever that time is whether you're just operating, standing behind a bowl and scooping soup into somebody's bowl, or whether you're mentoring and giving valuable time with whatever skill set that might be that you have to offer, there's such a need out there, and dollars won't buy people's time won't buy these things. It is giving your own time is truly valuable to a lot of these charities that are out there.
Darren: Yeah, I often say that if we all gave back four hours a week or whatever, four hours a year, even, we could probably cure so many issues that are out there and lingering.
Marty Gorsich: It's a very valid in some ways, it's a lot easier for a lot of people to just write a check and turn the page that actually commit and give their time. And yet, in many cases, again, that time is really where the value comes from.
Darren: Time and money are both helpful, of course.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SPORTS INDUSTRY
Darren: I'd love to switch gears and you're someone who's been successful for a long time in the sports business, or as you're saying, even beyond that the entertainment business, what have you learned in terms of a career at the Padres and then the Trailblazers. And now, as part of the involvement, the Farmers Insurance open, like what have you learned from a leadership perspective, from all those stops.
Marty Gorsich: One of the broadest things I picked up in I think, I got into this, I know, and I mentor and talk to so many people who say I want to work in sports. And it always starts with that. And I've learned to really dig into the thing behind the thing, which is, I want to do something that I enjoy, I want every day to feel like the same day, I don't want to have Hump Day, I don't want to get to Friday and say thank God, the weekends here, I don't want to get to Sunday and have a pit in my stomach that I have to go to work the next day, I want to be excited about my work. And what I do and feel fulfilled. It is not a job. It is a career. It is really fulfilling. And so many of us think that sports are going to make that fulfilling. And then as you get into working in sports, it very well may not. And there is a lot of ways to work in sports, whether that is with the team, whether that is with an agency and organization.
But often people do not find that degree of fulfillment they were looking for, because they were looking for something that really wasn't going to bring that fulfillment, do you think checking the box of I worked in sports is going to bring it and again, I've learned and seen both personally and then watching others that what we're really trying to do is find passions, find things that excite us. And so that's why I'm always careful to say working in I do work in sports, but it's really entertainment and business as the backdrop, What I enjoy most isn't the baseball, it wasn't the basketball and it's not the golf. It's a team environment. pulling together in the same direction finding and celebrating successes together. I've enjoyed getting into a smaller organization because I can get my hands into multiple things and be effective and that really kind of turn your brain on have great ideas and drive towards common goals and be successful in those.
And so, as I've led its really helping people, especially those obviously, who work for or with me understand what is it that's really motivating you? What are those things that you're really trying to do and let's put you in opportunities to be the most successful? And as we said, help them understand maybe what they do not find joy in what does not make sense and do our best to steer them away from those areas. So again, I get asked, which was the favorite sport you worked in? I enjoy the sports. The question might be, you know, what was the better culture? What was the better environment? Where did I learn the most? Who were the best mentors? I had? I learned that that would be my answer where the younger me would have sat here and if when I was wearing a team logo and at the ballpark every day you told me I'd be working for a nonprofit in the golf space, I would have at that time probably said what happened.
And now the maturity looking back, who has the life balance and the time to spend with my son and explore other ventures and give my other things looks back and I would say to that younger me, everything happened perfectly and everything happened for a reason because I love where I'm at and I wouldn't have had that perspective or I would have probably questioned if I'd be as happy as I am back when I was the younger me without having gone through those different steps.
Darren: Definitely it just highlights the importance of purpose and purpose and passion, as you mentioned, and just how much more fulfilling that can be. And of course, people are, you know, want to chase the paycheck or whatever it is fame and glamour. But I think purpose is so much more enduring.
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, absolutely purpose. I mean, as much as I enjoyed the other areas, the ability to give back now and know that this work has meaning beyond just turning the lights on and paying the athletes, but actually helping and making difference is really meaningful. It had meaning to me before but as I evolved in my life, it's very meaningful when I was younger and didn't have a child and other things. Being at the ballpark, every night was exciting. Where else would you want to be where I'm at in my life now, and I look at that life balance and the things I enjoy doing in my personal time, and others, having the ability to go explore those things, and choose if I want to go down to the ballpark and check a game out versus having that kind of be where I was all the time, I just do that very differently. And that's how my lifestyle and in life situation has evolved.
Darren: They would definitely grow and change. And it's important to stay self-aware and open to new opportunities, for sure.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely.
TIPS FOR ASPIRING LEADERS
Darren: Any final tips or advice you give, for leaders across all walks of life, just based on your experience working in entertainment, just a lot of the self-reflection that you have done over the years, and how you have learned from lessons from the past.
Marty Gorsich: You know, one thing that I talk with folks a lot is many are always looking for a tactic, or a way, or what is that business book that I'm going to learn this magical formula from. And these business books all differ, because there's a lot of ways and a lot of tactics, but so many of those things are not just about what that technique or tactic is, it's who you are as a person, and what your traits are, what comes easy without trying, there's certain things out there styles that just don't work for me, I might learn a little something from it. But there's others that just come easy to me that fit who I am. And it just comes off genuinely, I have learned that even in my sales background, some folks need a script, and a number of calls in a day and a technique and a plan. Other folks just naturally connect with people. And they may not have the same call volume, but their output gets higher because they have that endearing natural connection with folks. It is not really something you can coach up or learn. It is who you are as a person. And being in tune with that is helpful. Again, do not read tons of the business books, but one that spoke to me was "The Go Giver". It is a book that is really a parable. And it is not preachy. It's a story. And in the story, it is basically a young man who wants to go out and learn what is the successful sales technique? What is this magic thing that I am going to do that is going to make me successful? And as he goes around, looking for techniques, he kind of asks, who is the most successful salesperson we have? And they say, well, it is that guy. And so, this gentleman goes to shadow, basically this other person looking for a technique. But all he observes following him around throughout his day, as there is no technique, he basically goes and does the right thing. With no expectation of anything in return.
He treats people with respect, he engages people, he talks, there is never a sale, there is never a hook, there is never a thing, and yet things somehow work out for this guy. But as you really read through the parable and realize that it is the baristas, brother-in-law is very successful. The barista builds a relationship. And he makes a reference to his brother-in-law, who ends up buying things or doing things or whatever. And again, it is all no expectation of return, no tactic, no strategy, no underlying goal. It is just believing in yourself believing you are doing the right things. And not just blindly trusting it will work out there has got to be a little thought in there. But knowing that if I believe in the direction I am headed, others will follow where things are going to get there. You got to have that self-belief. And not everybody can have it. Not everybody can read this book and understand that way. Because that just does not come easy for people, they may need a much more tactical way of managing their life, whether they have discipline or do not other things. But again, putting it out there to your question on anything I'd offer to others is being true to who you are, what comes natural, and what makes you strong and thrive. And letting that be a part of who you are as a leader. And like we said in the very beginning, knowing where maybe your gaps or your holes are, and owning those and embracing those and saying how do we make sure that those will come back to get me to?
Darren: It just always comes back to authenticity.
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely. And that is not easy for everyone.
Darren: It is definitely takes a lot of hard work. I know for me, it takes a lot of reflection and a lot of time, frankly.
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, yep. I hear you on that.
Darren: So where can people go to find out more about the Farmers Insurance open how to engage but also with the nonprofit work that you guys are doing?
Marty Gorsich: Absolutely, yeah, our primary website, farmersinsuranceopen.com, talks about the event, and the variety of things within the event. There's volunteering, we over 1200 people who volunteer their time to help execute the event. There's obviously general tickets and programs and other things along those lines, ways to entertain clients. It also does talk about our charitable endeavors and ways to support those are ways we support those because of people engaging in attending the event, so a lot more information about tournament a lot more information about our charitable endeavors, and then those groups and charities we support. So, plenty more to be learned by just going to the farmersinsuranceopen.com.
Darren: Well, Marty, thanks so much for coming on today.
Marty Gorsich: Yeah, absolutely. My pleasure.