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Ken DeHart
Volume 22 Issue 4
“Success Secrets”
By Pat Whitworth USPTA Master Professional
K
en has so many accomplishments and awards during his career that we will list just a few. The most recent is the recipient of the USPTA Lifetime Achievement Award. To list a few more are USPTA & PTR Master Professional (1 of less than 20 with both), USPTA 4-time Divisional Pro of the Year, PTR International Master Professional, PTR 2-time International Pro of the Year PTR Hall of Fame, 3-time USPTA Education Award Winner, and Wilson Premier Staff. Who were a few of your mentors? Thay Butchee. He helped me get the first director job in Nashville TN. I had asked him if I could work for him for free at his KY club. His brother came back and took over the job. He mentored me about the job and various aspects. He suggested we go check out this Van der Meer place in FL. Next is Bill Tym. He tested me, and he set such a standard that everyone would want to emulate. Dr. Jim Loehr was another since I wanted to work and learn about the mental game. Whenever I saw presentations, I liked to take a picture with the speaker and send him the picture and a note about how much I learned. It was a good way to be remembered. How important has reading and education been to you? 80-90%. I have over 1200 books on tennis. Going to seminars, meeting people, and watching other people. A lot of people are mentors in the way they interact, network, and treat others. Ed note: Ken mentioned that at the recent conference, many people came up to him and mentioned something from a past seminar that they still use. It is always the little things that stick. What are you reading now? Champion Mindset by Allistair McCaw. I really like his writing style. What was your breakout moment for both your career and as a presenter? As a professional, it was when I became the Executive
Director for the PTR. I had read In Search of Excellence and applied it during the interview. I felt I needed to improve my administrative skills, and this would be the opportunity. I hired Julie Jilly - the best hire ever! As a presenter, it was making things simple, and it carried over to my teaching. Over the last 20 years, my teaching has become much simpler. People learn when it is simple. Combo question: How are you using technology and what have you changed over the last 20-30 years? In the 80s, my dad built me a video box to video on court. I had the kids tell me their favorite music, and I created their Favorite Hits action video. Now it is so easy to take an Ipad Pro on court and video and diagram. The other thing is my use of Facebook. I have 7000 friends on Facebook. Learning how to present things that were not always about me is a good way to showcase, but not always be self-promoting. The DVDs came about because of Jorge Capestany. He encouraged me to put my ideas into a video format. I also like to give handouts at presentations. It lets people remember the key ideas, but they also remember me when they review the handout. Also important to keep it simple. A lot of learning has come from thinking “What would I like from this presentation?”. You have never been tied down to a job for 20-30 years. How have changing jobs benefited your career? I was never afraid to try something new, even when I had no idea what I was doing. Even though I have held a lot of jobs, most are 5+ years. One of my top skills is to re-energize a club, but in the process, I get to reinvent myself. It is also important to learn from past mistakes. Is there a difference between working an east coast club vs. a west coast club? Not really. All clubs are unique, but the underlying factor in dealing with people, building relationships, and staff training.
What advice do you offer to newer professionals? My specialty has always been large groups. I do a weekend clinic with 3.5-5.0 players, and it is a drop-in. We may have 20 people. I want everyone involved and nobody is turned away. One of the staff training is to have my under staff hit in the clinics. This way they will learn how I manipulate the timing and levels of players. They can help guide people through the drill as well as give me feedback on how different things work. This is much more effective than a mid-day staff training session. A bonus is they can give mini-lessons during the clinic. I tell them to steal everyone for a private lesson that they can. They are building a relationship, and I will not promote any private lessons for myself. I also encourage them to bring ideas and I will help them implement the idea. When you are hiring someone, what are you looking for? What questions do they ask me during the interview? Can they find out the information? What is the philosophy of the club and me? If they do not have the knowledge to ask the question, then I will ask them. They need to have high energy, and they need to be a learner. I cannot help if they are not learning. I also try to hire people that are good at the things that I am not good at doing. This builds the best team for our club. Maybe it is a person that is a great red ball person, court maintenance, stringer, etc. Anything else to add? One is, do you have a passion for the tennis business? This is still old school, but I work 50 hours at my club, teach 20 hours in the park, and I string racquets at night. It is important to have a vision or have someone that will guide you. It is important to continue to learn in person or online. Be on an education pathway and be involved in your professional association. Anything that you would have done differently as you look back? We are so lucky to be where we are, and this comes up during discussions at various conferences. The answer is NOTHING. Everything that I have done, including mistakes and bad choices, has made me who I am today.
