We love movies. Directors spend years, and Financiers spend millions making a great movie, and we get to watch it for free. How cool is that?!
City Club is fortunate to have a theater with a 10’ screen, Blu-Ray projector, surround sound, and a member like Scott Garen who has dedicated his life to making great films.
In 2003, when we first started to plan and envision building a “community," we had no idea what we were doing, but backed with an MBA in Organizational Behavior, I was certain the cornerstone of this community had to be a Securus Locus, or a Safe Place our members could relax and feel comfortable in.
Today we get a lot of compliments about Highland, its gardens, food, wine, art and people, but the most common thing we hear is “I feel good when I am at Highland.”
The heat of the summer finally got to the gardens, and the early morning chill is a reminder Fall can’t be far behind. This is a great time of the year for reflection, and throughout the ages, there has been no better way to think and reflect than by going on a Pilgrimage.
Since I have no idea what a pilgrimage is, I looked it up and learned "A pilgrimage is a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith, although sometimes it can be a metaphorical journey into one's own beliefs.”
Read MoreWe are Foodies and love to eat well, so we cook a lot, including lots of vegetables and Tofu. I used to tell my kids tofu has no taste, but takes on the taste of whatever sauce you cook it in.
Life’s the same. Life has no meaning, but we can give it one.
Read MoreGood ideas are dime a dozen. One can think and plan till the cows come home, but nothing good happens until one takes the leap of faith and tries to convince and/or sell the idea to at least one other person.
We spent most of 2003/4 thinking and planning for what today is known as Highland City Club. As ideas started to jell, I finally reached out to my dear friend John Moritz to see if he would be willing to join the club we were in the process of creating. I picked John because he was smart, sophisticated, belonged to other clubs, was tough as nail, frugal, and an ideal candidate for a member.
Read MoreThey say God created heaven and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day. For entertainment, God watched men make plans, laughed and was entertained.
For the past two years I have been making detailed plans to take a four month sabbatical starting October 1 of this year, hoping that during this time I could come up with a succession plan. As part of this strategy my son Dustin agreed to move back to Boulder and spend a year upgrading our brand, website, newsletter, operating platform, social media and technology.
Now that Highland City Club is a social and financial success, I figured I could emulate George Washington and go away before getting too feeble. So I started making plans to do a pilgrimage to Camino Santiago along the southern part of Portugal/Spain, and then borrow my daughter’s Mercedes Camper in San Francisco to see the northwest...
Read MoreI am often asked “Why did you start City Club?”
To be perfectly honest, at the time I did not have a clear answer, but 14-years and millions of dollars later, now that City Club is a social and commercial success, I can say, “to create a safe place to heal myself.”
Read MoreLife is short, so we use every excuse to celebrate. A while back we ordered an estate urn from a British company for the new “Temple” in our garden. Since shipping concrete is expensive, we also bought a lovely whimsical Pan, who is the Greek god of wild, nature and music; picked up both ourselves and placed them deep in the hedges as you can see in the above pictures.
Since the gardens are at their peak, we plan to party hardy and have planned the following Happy Hour theme parties:
Read MoreMy good friend and business mentor Jim Collins once told me “it takes twenty years of hard work to have an overnight success.”
We started the process of converting Highland office to Highland City Club in 2005, and it took us over a decade to pass the 100 member mark. This June we added 16 new business members, four new social members and signed four office leases, so for the first time ever, we have more Business than Social members; more younger vs. older members.
Read MoreOn this 4th of July it is important to remember America was born as a result of a revolution, and the need for revolutions is engrained in every red blooded American. As Thomas Jefferson said, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Read MoreWe are trilled to be in the final stages of converting our operating platform to Optix, and need your help to complete this project. Please go to the IOS or Google Play store on your phone and download the "Highland | City Club" app. This app will allow you to manage all aspects of your club experience and participate in community forums, while allowing us to centralize your monthly billing. Access to this app is by invitation only and is exclusively available to Highland City Club members.
It's been a cool wet Spring, but our gardens loved it and our new Kentucky Bluegrass feels right at home. Now that summer is here, we are ready to party hardy, so plan to join us for the following events.
Steve Smith is planning to take some time off this summer to recharge his intellectual batteries, so plan to attend his lunch on Monday to "reclaim your attention.” Steve plans to do one more lunch on the 24th before he closes shop for July and part of August.
Read MoreOnce again we are here to prove, "the only constant is change." A year ago we converted our clunky manual operating system to a state of art web-based operating system. We are now taking a giant leap forward by adopting a mobile-based operating system that allows a much better experience for our growing membership. To get a feel for how far we have come, please go to the IOS or Google Play store on your phone and download the "Highland | City Club" app. This app will allow you to manage many aspects of your club experience such as electronic entry door access, check-in, book a conference room, schedule meetings, participate in community forums, access full membership directory and much more as a seamlessly integrated experience on your phone. Access to this app is by invitation only and is exclusively available to Highland City Club members only.
Read MoreWe are fortunate to live in America, and privileged to participate in its politics. To maintain the health and vitality of our country and Highland community, we often invite our current and aspiring political representatives to visit and share their vision, goals and progress with us.
On Thursday June 20th we are hosting a meet-and-greet event for Democratic US Senate Candidate Mike Johnson from 5:30 to 7 pm. Mike did a great job running for Governor of Colorado, but lost to Jared Polis who did an even better job.
Read MoreIn case you have not noticed it, we are going through a major growth phase and radical transition, and as a result we are dealing with a lot of chaos. From trying to find good employees to support our growth to the premature activation of our new parking system; from transitioning our operating platform to installing an electronic entry door system, we are totally reinventing ourselves and striving for perfection. Meanwhile confusion reins and though stressed, we love it, because we know this is a lot of pain and suffering for a great cause.
Read MoreCity Club is growing and we are doing our best to keep up.
We recently completed a major garden renovation to allow 70+ members to simultaneously work and dine outside. Sometime this year we plan to expand our kitchen to keep up with demand.
Last year we adopted a state of the art management software program which is already outdated! Since Optix which is a more beautiful and sophisticated solution has come to market which is capable of running all the processes we need, from our complicated monthly billing and member check-in, to features like user managed conference room bookings and membership directory where you can chat with any member or learn more about what they are doing and what is happening in our City Club community.
Read MoreOur garden project is complete and we plan to celebrate on Friday June 21st, so please mark your calendar to join us for a special event including dinner, cocktails on the lawn, music in the amphitheater and the unveiling of the bronze plaque to dedicate our new symbolic temple.
Read MoreProgress is often the result of taking hundreds of small steps, vs. a giant leap forward. Here are three steps we are taking towards our goal of creating an ideal community.
Our garden project is almost complete, the Kentucky Bluegrass is settled in and looks like it has been here forever. Take a look at the picture below. It is hard to believe none of this infrastructure was here last Fall. We now have 72 seats outside along three fountains, with access to crazy fast internet, electric and phone chargers, to make working in the gardens feel like a picnic.
Read MoreWhen I saw the topic of last Member Monday lunch, I figured I better show up just in case the discussion gets heated and I need to remind folks City Club is a Securus Locus.
Over a 90 minute discussion, nineteen smart adults with diverse ages and backgrounds came to a general consensus that, in a way, each of us -- of whatever race, ethnicity, nationality, creed, culture, religion, economic standing or belief system -- can harbor some element of racism, but the real question becomes what, exactly, does that term even mean?…
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