The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast

Baby boomers aren't universally heading for retirement in Australia's hospitality and club industry, and overlooking their experience is a leadership mistake, not a succession plan, says Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years' hospitality experience. Many senior team members stay for financial, social, and purpose-driven reasons, not ambition.

So if your senior team members aren't clocking out for retirement, what are they actually still showing up for?

In this solo episode, Michelle draws together four conversations from across the month, with Kenny Ridgell, Cassie Davison, Patty Aubery, and Phillipa Fuller...

Female leadership in hospitality grows when women stop waiting to tick every box before applying for senior roles. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the club industry, talks with Phillipa Fuller, Secretary Manager of Club Quirindi, about confidence, mentorship, and leading as a single mother in a regional club.

What if the only thing standing between you and that senior leadership role is belief, not experience?

In this episode, Michelle Pascoe sits down with Phillipa Fuller, Secretary Manager of Club Quirindi in the New England region of New South...

AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini are changing how members and guests find, research and book hospitality venues, often skipping a club's homepage entirely. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and 30-year hospitality training expert, explains why clubs need AI-ready websites, faster enquiry responses and new weekly metrics to stay visible in this shift.

So how exactly is AI rerouting the path your members and guests take to find and book your club, and what should you fix first?

In this episode, Michelle Pascoe sits down with Kenny Ridgell, founder of Ridge Media, to unpack...

Hospitality leaders often stay behind the scenes long after they're ready to step up. Patty Aubery, co-author of the billion-dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, joins Certified Speaking Professional Michelle Pascoe to reveal what it actually takes to move from doing the work to owning your voice and your title.

What's stopping you from stepping out from behind the scenes and into the role you've already earned?

In this conversation, Michelle sits down with Patty Aubery, who spent decades behind the scenes helping build Chicken Soup for the Soul into a billion-dollar publishing brand...

Hospitality leadership means protecting your energy, not working harder. On The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast, Certified Speaking Professional Michelle Pascoe talks with Kith & Kin Hospitality founder Cassie Davison about why sustainable leadership starts with clear purpose, defined values and genuine self-care, not longer hours.

So if working harder isn't the answer, what actually is?

In this episode, Michelle sits down with Cassie to unpack why so many hospitality owners equate hard work with good leadership, and why that belief keeps running them into the ground.

Sustainable hospitality leadership works because it treats energy a...

Community work fails in hospitality venues when it relies on good intentions instead of deliberate leadership habits. Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in hospitality, argues that community connection, generational culture, and crisis readiness only take hold through repeated, trained leadership discipline, not marketing or one-off compliance sessions.

So what does it actually take to make community work stick in your club, instead of fading after the launch event?

In this solo episode, Michelle draws together three conversations from across the month and names the pattern connecting them: none of it holds...

**This episode discusses domestic and family abuse, including references to physical and psychological violence. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know needs support, contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, available 24/7. Escabags gives hospitality venues a free, practical way to support domestic abuse survivors. Founder Stacy Jane tells Certified Speaking Professional Michelle Pascoe, how her own survival story became a charity now stocked in over 3,000 locations across Australia, including registered clubs, hotels and community organisations.

How can something as simple as a bag on a shelf save someone's life?

In this episode...

Clubs remain one of the few places where four to five generations meet face to face. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert, and Clubs New Zealand CEO Lucy Waterreus discuss how clubs are helping rebuild social fabric and address a growing loneliness crisis across every generation, not just Gen Z.

So if Gen Z is the most digitally connected generation in history, why are they also the loneliest, and what does that mean for the club down the road?

Clubs work as a fix for disconnection because they put people in the...

Gotcha4Life's Mentally Fit Primary School program is a whole-of-school, whole-of-community mental health initiative now running in 68 New South Wales schools, largely funded through registered club grants. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and 30-year hospitality industry expert, speaks with Gotcha4Life's Don Tilley about how clubs are building community trust and staff pride through genuine charity partnerships.

So how does a club grant actually turn into mental fitness support for hundreds of families?

In this episode, Michelle sits down with returning guest Don Tilley, who leads community partnerships at Gotcha4Life, to unpack what club-funded...

Building a hospitality leadership pipeline means identifying your next leaders before you need them. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience, outlines a four-step approach: identify internal talent now, have honest succession conversations with your board, protect your leadership development budget, and broaden your talent pool beyond traditional club experience.

Are the clubs around you already running out of leaders, and they just don't know it yet?

In this solo episode, Michelle draws on a month of guest conversations to address one of the most pressing structural issues facing...

Becoming a club CEO takes practical experience built from the ground up, not a straight line through university. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional, talks with Young Services Club CEO Lewis Butterworth about the journey from bar work in Manchester to running a growing regional club, and what it actually takes to get there.

So what actually separates someone who spends a career behind the bar from someone who ends up running the whole club?

Michelle Pascoe is a Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues...

Boards keep hiring hospitality leaders for operational experience instead of leadership capability, according to recruitment specialists Ian Stazicker & Grant Taylor of White Now, speaking with Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert. The right club CEO needs strategic thinking, critical thinking and genuine leadership, not familiarity with gaming machines or years behind the bar.

So what should a board actually be looking for when they hire their next CEO?

In this episode, Michelle Pascoe sits down with Ian and Grant, the new owners of White Now Recruitment, the long-standing recruitment agency for Australia's...

Managing Gen Z hospitality staff means offering skills and purpose instead of a career ladder, says business futurist Kim Seeling Smith on The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast. With 72% of Gen Z running a side hustle, old-school carrot and stick management only produces short-term compliance. Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in hospitality, says leaders who replace it with purpose, community, and AI-ready skills keep people longer.

So if the career ladder isn't the hook anymore, what actually keeps a Gen Z hospitality worker showing up on a Friday night?

In this episode...

Real hospitality leadership reduces staff turnover, lifts team productivity, and builds guest loyalty — and according to Eoin Clancy, Principal Associate at Galileo Hospitality Consultants and a 40-year veteran of Hilton, Marriott, and the Cheesecake Factory, the clearest measure of a great leader is simple: would your team drop everything to work with you again?

Would you pass that test?

Michelle Pascoe is a Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues build service cultures that retain staff and delight guests. In this episode, Michelle sits down wi...

Poor customer service keeps winning in registered clubs because the cost of inaction is invisible. Hospitality training expert Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the industry, explains that until club leaders build a single service liability number, training investment stays optional, budgets stay cut, and service standards keep drifting.
What would change at your club if the board could finally see what poor service is actually costing them?
In this episode, Michelle identifies the structural reason service training doesn't stick: the environment it lands in was never designed to hold it. Training works beca...

Is customer experience dead? No -- but the way hospitality leaders have been managing it is. Rick Denton, host of CX Passport and a 30-year corporate customer experience veteran, joins Michelle Pascoe to explain why CX as a discipline isn't dying, but the branding around it is -- and what hospitality leaders must do differently to stay ahead.

Are your venues investing in the right things, or are you cutting the very people who make the guest experience worth returning for?

In this conversation, Michelle and Rick get specific about what hospitality leaders are getting...

Guest loyalty in hospitality breaks down when operators rely on third-party booking platforms and treat checkout as the end of the guest journey. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience, explores how hospitality operators can own the guest relationship, reduce platform dependency, and build the direct connections that turn one-time guests into loyal repeat customers.

Are your guests leaving happy and never coming back -- and you don't even know why?

In this episode, Michelle sits down with Carlos Castillo, founder of DirectBookMe, to examine the service gap that...

Human connection cannot be automated away in hospitality. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience, sits down with Brian Vujnovic, CEO and Co-Founder of MIA Hospitality Management, to explore how AI is reshaping hotel operations and guest experiences while the human touch remains the irreplaceable core of the industry.

Can technology make us more human in hospitality -- or does it risk taking away the very thing guests come for?

Michelle Pascoe is a Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and...

Building a leadership pipeline in hospitality means investing in your managers' skills, confidence, and capacity before a crisis forces your hand. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the Australian hospitality industry, explains why promoting without a development plan sets managers up to struggle and clubs up for costly, avoidable turnover.

If your best manager resigned tomorrow, who would step up — and are they actually ready?

In this episode, Michelle draws on conversations with three of the sharpest leadership minds she has interviewed this month — Christin Marvin, Hanna Bauer, and Rich Ellis — to bring...

Burnout in hospitality teams shows up long before the dramatic crash — in dropped shoulders, extra coffees, and withdrawal from team conversations. Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years' experience in hospitality, and energy coach Rich Ellis share practical tools for reading early warning signs and embedding a simple 1-to-10 check-in system that prevents burnout before it becomes a resignation.

Are you seeing the signs in your team — or are you too busy to notice them?

If you have ever ended a busy season wondering how your team made it through, or found yourself mana...

Middle management in hospitality is the critical connector between leadership vision and frontline guest delivery. Certified Speaking Professional Michelle Pascoe and leadership expert Hanna Bauer of Heartnomics agree: middle managers who make daily trust deposits, hold non-negotiable service standards, and champion psychological safety are the primary defence against team burnout and high staff turnover in clubs and hotels.

What if the gap between your service vision and the experience your guests actually receive comes down to one overlooked role in your organisation?

Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.<...

Effective restaurant leadership means moving beyond survival mode into a CEO mindset built on three pillars: people, process, and profit. Michelle Pascoe, a hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues build service cultures that retain staff and delight guests, sits down with restaurant coach Christin Marvin to share how independent operators can scale intentionally, reduce staff turnover, and build culture-led teams that run without the owner present. 

Are you building a business, or building a trap for yourself? 

Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, an...

When was the last time your venue did something for your community because you decided it mattered — not because a grant required it?

In this month's solo recap, Michelle draws on four extraordinary conversations to make the case that community is not something you bolt onto the bottom of your annual report. Community IS the job.

Christopher Hill of Hands Up Holidays and Impact Destinations has spent twenty years proving that when you give people the opportunity to contribute to something beyond themselves, it changes them. His framework — that meaningful luxury means both parties leave bett...

Community engagement in registered clubs works when clubs go beyond writing cheques and build genuine relationships with the organisations they fund. In this episode, Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional with 30+ years in the hospitality industry, sits down with Club Rivers community engagement leader Jenny Holt to explain why showing up in person — and connecting your community stakeholders with each other — is what transforms a club into the true heart of its community.

Is your club writing cheques and waiting for acquittal reports — or are you actually getting in the door?

Jenny Holt has worked in the re...

In this episode, I’m joined by Debbie Dickson from The Ary Toukley for a thoughtful and deeply grounded discussion about what community leadership really looks like in clubs and hospitality. We talk about responsibility, visible leadership, staff education and why venues can play such an important role in helping people feel safe, seen and supported.

Debbie shares how her club responded to the reality of domestic and family violence in their local area, the steps they’ve taken to educate staff, and why culture and leadership inside a venue matter so much. This is not about gran...

When service pressure builds, leadership matters more than ever. In this episode, Michelle Pascoe speaks with Damien Schofield about resilience, calm leadership, communication and team connection in high-pressure environments. Drawing on his experience across security, military support and the Younger Heroes program, Damien explains why teams look to leaders for tone, stability and trust when things get tough.

For hospitality and registered club leaders, this episode offers practical insight into how customer service, staff culture and visible leadership shape team performance and community impact. From supporting people under pressure to building stronger internal culture, the conversation shows that...

Community is often spoken about as a brand value, but in this conversation, Michelle Pascoe and Christopher Hill unpack why it is also a practical strategy for creating better experiences, stronger leadership and deeper loyalty.

Christopher shares how his work in purpose-led travel was born from a life-changing moment in South Africa and how that experience shaped a business model built around connection, contribution and legacy. While his world is travel, the lesson for hospitality and clubs is clear: people want to feel part of something meaningful.

This episode explores the idea that connection starts inte...

What will customer service look like in 2026?

In this episode, Michelle explores how the future of customer experience in hospitality is being shaped by culture, leadership, employee wellbeing and meaningful measurement.

Drawing on insights from recent conversations with hospitality leaders including Andy Goram, Anna Sebastian and Danielle Richardson, we unpack the real drivers behind exceptional guest experiences today.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why customer service starts with employee experience and workplace culture
• The biggest challenges facing hospitality teams globally
• How leadership impacts guest loyalty and engagement
• Why training...

When we talk about customer service in hospitality, the focus is usually on the guest.

But the truth is exceptional guest experiences are created by teams who feel safe, supported, and respected at work.

In this episode, hospitality consultant Anna Sebastian joins Michelle to explore why internal customer service — how leaders support and care for their teams — is the foundation of professional standards and guest service excellence.

With more than 15 years of experience in luxury members clubs and Forbes Five Star hotels including The Savoy and The Langham, Anna shares insights from across the glob...

How do you create unforgettable customer experiences?

The answer might not be where most hospitality leaders are looking.

In this episode, Michelle sits down with culture and leadership expert Andy Goram to explore the powerful link between employee experience and customer loyalty. Drawing on decades of hospitality and leadership insight, Michelle and Andy unpack why the best guest experiences start behind the scenes — with engaged teams, strong culture, and leaders who remove friction for their people.

Andy, founder of Bizjuicer Consulting and host of the Sticky From The Inside podcast, shares how organisations can tr...

How do you modernise hospitality without losing its heart?

In this episode, I’m joined by Danielle Richardson, Joint Director of the Laundy Hotel Group and a fourth-generation leader in Australian hospitality. We explore customer service, community connection, brand positioning and the future of pubs in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Danielle shares how growing up in a family hospitality business shaped her leadership, why she forged her own corporate path first, and how marketing, brand strategy and supplier partnerships now influence the way Laundy Hotels operate today.

We dive into:

Is Gen X the most overlooked leadership generation?

In this episode, Michelle unpacks the powerful leadership insights from this month's conversations with Kimberly Malcolm, Karen Maher and Michael Kelly — and a surprising theme emerges: Gen X leaders are quietly shaping workplace culture, communication and the next generation of leaders.

From psychological safety and respectful workplaces to calm communication under pressure, this episode explores how middle managers and senior leaders are bridging generational gaps while carrying the weight of the “club sandwich generation”.

You’ll discover why leadership isn’t learned from theory — it’s built throug...

Hospitality careers don’t follow straight lines — and that’s exactly where the opportunity lies.

In this episode, Kimberley Malcolm, General Manager of Member Experience & Compliance at the Australian Hotels Association (Victoria), shares her journey from pouring beers behind the bar to shaping leadership, compliance and community across the hospitality and gaming sectors.

You’ll hear practical insights on:

Why “soft skills” are actually leadership superpowers

How women can confidently step into leadership — even when the room doesn’t look like them

The power of mentorship, sponsorship and genuine networking

How do leaders make a powerful first impression — before they even speak?

In this episode, Michelle sits down with leadership communication trainer and pitch advisor Michael Kelly to unpack the subtle (but critical) skills that separate confident leaders from those who struggle to be heard.

From body language and vocal tone to pausing, certainty, and executive presence, this conversation is packed with practical tools hospitality leaders can apply immediately — on the floor, in meetings, and under pressure.

You’ll learn why people believe certainty before content, how to avoid rambling, and how to communic...

Content warning: This episode discusses sensitive topics including sexual harassment and workplace safety. In this episode of The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast, we explore the leadership behaviours that create safer, more respectful hospitality venues — and why hope is not a strategy when it comes to workplace culture.

Michelle is joined by Karen Maher, founder of Smart Culture and a leading WHS and cultural consultant, who brings over 20 years’ experience working across hospitality, government, and private organisations.

In this episode, we discuss:

In this special end-of-year episode, Michelle wraps up the December theme of community and shares the most important leadership lessons from over 300 episodes and eight years behind the mic.

From heartfelt stories with guests Clare Pearson (Little Wings), Paul Allan (Club Taree) and Natalie Hawkins (Cronulla RSL), to Michelle's own reflections on leadership, resilience, and culture, this episode is a reminder that AI may be advancing — but human connection remains irreplaceable.

In this episode, Michelle covers:

What does real community leadership look like in 2025 and beyond?

In this powerful episode, Michelle sits down with Paul Allan, CEO of Club Taree, to unpack how a regional club created one of Australia’s most impactful community-driven cultures.

From raising over $1.6 million, to mobilising Gen Z teams, to conquering the Southern Alps and the Shitbox Rally, Paul reveals the systems, values and mindset that have shaped a decade of legacy-level impact.

In this episode, Michelle & Paul cover:

Where the Club Taree Community Team began — and why it worked

H...

What happens when community, leadership, and purpose collide? In this powerful conversation, Michelle sits down with Clare Pearson, CEO of Little Wings Australia, a not-for-profit providing free, life-saving air transport for seriously ill children across regional NSW and QLD. Together, they unpack the realities of country healthcare, the hidden impact on families, and the extraordinary volunteers who keep Little Wings in the air.

Clare shares the childhood experiences that shaped her purpose-led leadership, the evolution of her values-driven culture, and the emotional stories behind their 400% service growth.

Michelle & Clare cover:

How Little Wings tra...

In this episode, host Michelle Pascoe explores why community matters more than ever with Natalie Hawkins, Community Projects Manager at Cronulla RSL. Together, they unpack how connection, belonging, and local support networks have become essential in a post-COVID world — especially as loneliness rises across all generations.

Natalie shares how Cronulla RSL has transformed from a traditional veterans club into a vibrant hub for micro-communities, support groups, veterans, defence families and locals seeking genuine connection. From the Service Recognition Card to War Animal Day and Trees of Hope, the club is redefining what modern community building looks like.

Are you struggling to step back without losing control?

In this episode, Michelle breaks down the three pillars of scalable leadership, drawing on November’s conversations with industry leaders Sophie Paviour, Mark Condi and Chris Miller.

You’ll learn why clarity, capability and systems are the real engines behind consistent performance, sustainable growth and confident leadership.

Michelle shares practical ways to delegate without fear, elevate middle management, reduce firefighting, and build a team who think, decide and lead — not just follow instructions.

In this episode, Michelle covers: