Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about Thunder Canyon and the duties of your position.
Bill Gibson: I am the general manager at Thunder Canyon. We are a private golf club with a full-service restaurant and banquet facilities. It is my job to oversee the operations of all of the departments as well as manage the financial side of the business. I report directly to the Thunder Canyon owner, Gayle Block. With her support and guidance our team has been very successful.
Contrary to popular opinion, golfing is way down on my list of duties.
NNBW: How did you get into this?
Gibson: It came time for me to stop working a job for a paycheck and find a profession that I wanted to be in. I was very fortunate that Thunder Canyon had an opening and they felt that I was the right person for it.
NNBW: What's the most important thing you have learned in your career?
Gibson: It really goes back to two things that I learned in high school. The first was from my history teacher, Mr. Holland: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The second was finally realizing that all of the math Mr. Baldwin taught us and I thought I would never need does help. The numbers can really tell a story in a business. They can keep you from repeating history.
NNBW: How has the economic climate of the last few years changed the way you do business?
Gibson: We have experienced the same challenges in our business that everyone else has. The mantra of doing more with less has been our best way to overcome. I have to give credit to a staff that has taken on multiple roles within our operation. I have staff that work in three different areas but excel in all of them. Focusing on the personal service that we have always been known for has allowed our business to continue to move forward despite the economic hurdles.
Our biggest challenge came this year with the passing of Roger Block. He and his wife Gayle Block had owned Thunder Canyon for almost 13 years. It was Gayle who told me, "Nothing has changed," and it hasn't. I saw our team come together even stronger knowing that we had to move forward. Having a strong owner who believes in all of us and what we can do makes the task of managing this business much easier.
NNBW: What was your first job?
Gibson: I was a tutor for the local tribal school in Greenville, Calif., where I grew up.
NNBW: Tell us about your dream job. Why aren't you working it?
Gibson: The Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 car already has a driver, so I guess I will have to try and find a new dream job.
NNBW: Have any advice for someone who wants to enter your profession?
Gibson: Learn to hear what people say. Anyone can listen, but actually hearing what your members or guests say and then acting upon it will make you much more successful.
NNBW: What's the most fun you have had on the job?
Gibson: The time I get to spend on the golf course with the members or guests. I don't get to golf very often, so this is time that I get to enjoy the game but at the same time connect with them.
NNBW: What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Gibson: My father taught me that we all make decisions in life, and taking responsibilities for those decisions is most important. I am a big believer in personal responsibility.
NNBW: What are your favorite hobbies or pastimes? How do you spend your time away from work?
Gibson: I have always been a huge baseball fan and NASCAR fan. My uncle introduced me to golf when I was 10, and I have enjoyed playing ever since. Most of my time away from work is spent with my family. Being a father is the most fun, but it's also the greatest challenge.
NNBW: If you could live your life over again, what one thing would you change?
Gibson: I know it is cliche to say, but I wouldn't change anything. Everything that I have experienced in life has made me who I am today, and quite honestly I am pretty happy with who I am and the life I live.
NNBW: What has been your biggest professional accomplishment?
Gibson: Standing next to Thunder Canyon owners Roger and Gayle Block when Thunder Canyon was honored as one of the three finalists for 2011 National Golf Course of the year and was awarded the 2011 Nevada Golf Course of the Year award by the National Golf Course Owners Association. It's just a huge honor to be part of a team like the staff at Thunder Canyon.
NNBW: What did you dream of becoming when you were a kid?
Gibson: Like most little boys, one week I was going to be an astronaut and the next week I would be a fireman. Graduating high school, I was set on being an Air Force pilot. If not for an unfortunate knee injury, I think that's what I would have been.
NNBW: What can you do that someone else can't?
Gibson: My wife and my staff would say that I have the world's best poker face. I would add, though, that unfortunately I don't have the world's best poker game.
NNBW: If you had enough money to retire right now, would you? Why or why not?
Gibson: Another lesson I have learned from my not-retired 70-year-old father: "You can only go fishing so much." I can't see myself retiring, but I would definitely cut down on the amount of time I spent working and be with my family more.
NNBW: What's the last concert or sporting event you attended?
Gibson: I had the unfortunate experience of watching the Oakland A's defeat the Texas Rangers to win the American League West title in October.
NNBW: Where's your perfect vacation spot?
Gibson: Vancouver, British Colombia, is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever traveled to. With the mountains and the ocean, it has so many things that my family and I enjoy.
NNBW: Why did you choose a career in northern Nevada? What do you like most about working/living here?
Gibson: Twenty years ago I came to Reno to go to college. I discovered that northern Nevada was a place that you could raise a family and build a life. I left the area for about three years in the late '90s, but when I was offered the chance to return and help open a new business I jumped at the chance.
Our state has a great tradition of supporting business and allowing them to build their own success. Great business people like Roger and Gayle Block brought their first business from Florida to northern Nevada because of this. Northern Nevada has been and still is a place that your word and a handshake is just as good as any contract. Besides, who wouldn't want to live and work in a place where the governor flies coach and wears cowboy boots with a business suit? You can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon and if you wave to your neighbor, they wave back.
The basics:
Name: Bill Gibson Jr., general manager, Thunder Canyon
Number of years in this job? Five years
Years in this profession? Seven years
Education: Bachelor's degree in general studies from the University of Nevada, Reno
Last book read? My son is four, so it's all about the children's books. We like to read Native American stories; our favorite is called "If You Lived With The Sioux Indians" by Ann McGovern (author) and Jean Drew (illustrator)
Favorite flick? "Hunt for Red October"
What's on your iPod? George Strait
Spouse, kids or pets? Sylvia (wife), Nolan (son, 4), two dogs, two cats and a pond full of koi.
Know someone whose perspective you want to share with NNBW readers? Send contact information to: rsabo@nnbw.biz or call 775-850-2146.
