Messages matter

Effective communicators enter presentations, formal conversations, hallway discussions and interviews prepared to deliver a calculated message. They anticipate follow-ups and adapt quickly when unexpected topics are introduced, yet they stealthily guide dialogue toward a purpose.

Using words to convey purpose helped Brian Zimmerman land one of the most desirable jobs in public recreation. Since becoming CEO of Cleveland Metroparks, a 24,000-acre, 800-employee operation in 2010, Zimmerman has controlled enough conversations to keep the job for 13 years as the beloved park system expands without wavering from its core goals, a word palette consisting of “conserve,” “connect,” “welcome,” “engage,” “sustain,” and “innovate.”

Quality and affordable golf fits the mission. Cleveland Metroparks will add a ninth course when the purchase of family-owned Ironwood Golf Course closes later this year. The transaction protects land supporting portions of the East Branch of the Rocky River from being converted into housing. Cleveland Metroparks also has purchased the defunct Donald Ross-designed Hawthorne Valley Country Club. Returning Hawthorne Valley to a playable condition would be costly, but Cleveland Metroparks will at least preserve the suburban site as recreational greenspace. Ironwood and the former Hawthorne Valley cost nearly $7 million combined and increase the park district’s footprint by around 300 acres.

Zimmerman’s roots are in agriculture and golf course maintenance. He developed an ethic on a family-owned dairy in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, worked at Nakoma Country Club as a teenager, and studied turfgrass management at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He learned from influential superintendents and directed the golf and overall operations for Milwaukee County Parks before being recruited to lead Cleveland Metroparks. He shows the heights a turfhead can reach through honing a “soft” skill like speaking.

Earlier this summer, I met Zimmerman at Big Met Golf Course in Rocky River, Ohio, to record a podcast episode for Superintendent Radio Network. As a Northeast Ohio resident who enters Cleveland Metroparks-managed land hundreds of times annually to walk, run, bike, hike, paddle, swim, observe snow leopards and sloth bears, and, yes, play and practice golf, I was curious how the organization’s leader handled a recorded conversation. He confidently and rapidly answered my questions, showing no angst or confusion in 45 on-the-spot minutes. I left Big Met thinking Zimmerman possessed the credentials and polish to lead a major golf organization if he decided to reenter golf full-time, although earlier this year he agreed to a contract extension through Aug. 31, 2034.

Zimmerman arrived at Big Met clutching two sheets of paper with handwritten talking points. He wanted to discuss topics I never considered asking him about, including public and municipal courses disappearing from major championship rotations. Despite golf occupying a small part of his duties, Zimmerman speaks more representatively about public golf — which accounts for 74 percent of the U.S. golf supply — than leaders of industry associations.

“I say every four years that they have to rotate to a public golf course,” Zimmerman says. “I would also challenge the USGA and GCSAA to get together and invest in one of those properties and help bump the ecosystem up. That’s how you grow the game. You can tell you hit a nerve. I’m so passionate about that.”

Skilled communicators harness passion. Zimmerman conveyed his message without disparaging venues selected to host future major championships. Challenges can be issued without nettlesome criticism.

This month’s cover story (page 28) explores why New England is the industry’s “Land of forever jobs.” Steve Murphy, the co-owner Golf Facilities Management, Inc. who spent 40 years as the superintendent at Gannon Municipal Golf Course, says keeping a good job requires, “Knowing how to dance. It’s all about playing the game.” Somebody doesn’t keep the same job in a politically charged region like New England for four decades without being a proficient communicator.

Speaking with a purpose is a proven route to landing — and keeping — a leadership position. Unlike the weather, words can be controlled. Communication requires the same preparation as guiding turf through harsh conditions. Zimmerman and Murphy’s tremendous careers are examples of the possibilities when words aren’t fumbled.