You Don't Have to Have the Whole Plan: How Meridith Picarelli-Khattar Built a Leadership Career She Never Saw Coming

Meridith Picarelli-Khattar, General Manager and COO of Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte, went to college for physical therapy, stumbled into restaurant work to fund spring break, and found herself still there after graduation — until the restaurant closed without warning and forced her to figure out what came next. A resume sent to dozens of places landed on the desk of a GM at Round Hill Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the rest was a 20-year arc through private club management that nobody planned, two advanced credentials, an adjunct teaching career at NYU and Sacred Heart, and a seat at one of the most prestigious clubs in the Southeast.✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn:Pulling into a private estate by mistake on the way to her first job interview at a country clubWhat her first GM did the night she moved in that set the template for her entire leadership philosophyWhy she pursued a master’s at NYU and two CMAA credentials in an industry she entered by accidentTeaching private club management at NYU, Norwalk Community College, and Sacred Heart UniversityThe heart-to-heart with her board president that stopped her cold and reshaped her first year at Myers ParkWhy a bus with no passengers isn’t leadership — it’s just someone driving aloneHow Myers Park members can use the club multiple times a day without it ever feeling like a destinationThe golf course renovation closing for 10 months and what the club is doing to keep members engagedWhat it took to build executive presence as a petite woman in a male-dominated industryThe quality over quantity framework she applies to the one hour a day she has with her four-year-old🌟 Meridith’s Key Mentors:Her First GM at Round Hill Club: Showed up with groceries the night she moved in, enrolled her in CMAA education, and taught her what it meant to welcome someone into a community rather than just give them a jobHer Board President at Myers Park: Delivered the honest feedback that she had pulled out of the station without her team — the most useful thing anyone said to her in her first yearHer Network of Female Club GMs in Charlotte: Three of four local club managers are women, two of them firsts in their clubs, and they collaborate openly on challenges no male counterpart has to think aboutThe Endurance Racing Community: Where her competitive instincts go so they don’t run her work life — and where she learned the difference between destination and process👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it actually looks like to lead a club people come to belong to rather than be impressed by, why slowing down was the hardest and most important thing she did in her first year, and what a card signed by a GM means to a part-time rackets employee who’d never met her.🔗 Connect with Meridith Picarelli-Khattar:Website: myersparkcc.comSocial Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meridith-picarelli-khattar-ccm-cce-5515241b/📤 Transcript Available: You Don't Have to Have the Whole Plan: How Meridith Picarelli-Khattar Built a Leadership Career She Never Saw Coming 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com