Aaron Dawson, CCM
About
Aaron Dawson, CCM
Founder, Viewpoint EQ | GM/COO | Leadership Coach
Aaron Dawson spent 30 years running private clubs and hospitality organizations at the highest level. As a General Manager and COO, he managed boards, built leadership teams, navigated capital campaigns, and sat at the table for every decision that matters in club life. He knows what the role demands because he held it.
He founded Viewpoint EQ not as a pivot from that career, but as an extension of it. The work he does now grows directly out of what he learned by doing, and the moment that changed the way he thought about leadership forever.
The Story Behind the Work
He was a GM with 15 years of experience who thought he knew how to read people. He was wrong.
At Miramont Country Club in Texas, Aaron was running a complex operation with eight departments and hundreds of staff. He was confident in his instincts. Then a colleague introduced him to the Birkman Method, and he took his first assessment.
What he saw in that report stopped him. Not because it told him something foreign. Because it showed him something he already knew about himself with a clarity he had never had before. He implemented Birkman across the organization immediately.
One of his most tenured managers, Jon, was quietly planning to leave. Aaron did not know. The two of them were wired completely differently. What Aaron considered a five-minute conversation, Jon experienced as an hour of stress. The friction was invisible to both of them until they sat down with their reports.
One afternoon Aaron was walking the grounds and noticed a dying tree at the nineteenth hole. His natural instinct was to send Jon a photo with two words: "Please replace." He had learned enough about Jon's Birkman scores to know that message would land badly. So instead he wrote: "I know there is no light at the nineteenth hole. I'm not frustrated or mad in any shape, way, or form, but if you get a chance, please replace it."
"I adapted my style and approach without thinking about it. That is pretty profound. I took a situation and did something different with it because I realized, subconsciously, that the person I was communicating with needed something different from my usual style. It dynamically changed our relationship."
Aaron Dawson, as quoted in the Birkman International Case Study on Miramont Country Club
Jon stayed. And months later he told Aaron: "Mr. Dawson, once you Birkmaned me, you lightened up on me." Aaron says he is still not sure Jon would have remained on the team without it.
That experience became the foundation of everything Viewpoint EQ does. The work is not about changing who people are. It is about helping good leaders see themselves and each other more clearly, so the friction that limits teams and relationships can finally be addressed.
Since then, Aaron has taken that same work beyond country clubs. He has coached students navigating the end of high school and the transition to college. He has worked with professionals at every stage of their careers. He has helped organizations resolve conflict, strengthen boards, and build the kind of leadership culture that retains great people. The through line in all of it is the same: clarity changes everything.
Career
Over 30 years Aaron served as General Manager and COO at premier private clubs across Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina, including Bentwater Yacht and Country Club, Chenal Country Club, Miramont Country Club, and Carmel Country Club, where he led a Platinum Club of America operation. He has managed boards, built leadership teams, directed major capital projects, and navigated every challenge that comes with running a high-performance, member-driven organization. Before moving into club management, he opened and operated high-volume fine dining restaurants in the Bravo! and Morton's of Chicago family, where the foundations of his service philosophy were formed.
Beyond the Clubs
Leadership has always extended beyond the operation.
Throughout his career, Aaron has served in leadership roles that go beyond the clubhouse. As a board member and Past President of multiple CMAA chapters, and as a board member at Allen Academy, he has navigated the same governance dynamics his clients face every day.
He has also spoken at the National CMAA Conference on implementing Birkman in the workplace, presented and served as a panelist at the Birkman International Conference, and facilitated leadership programs at CMAA state conferences in Texas and the Carolinas.
Credentials and Service
- Certified Club Manager (CCM) — CMAA
- Advanced Certified Birkman Consultant, Perspectives Certification
- Mindset (Perspectives) Certified
- Hospitality Quotient Certified — Danny Meyer / USHG
- Featured Speaker, National CMAA Conference
- Presenter and Panelist, Birkman International Conference
- Board Member, Carolinas Chapter CMAA
- Past President, Texas Lone Star Chapter CMAA
- Past Vice President, Razorback Chapter CMAA
- Board Member, Allen Academy
Work with someone who has held your role.
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