We’ve all met them.

There will always be those in positions of power who will shout needlessly, point out problems rather than offering solutions and ignore the successes to focus on the failures.

With an air of superiority, they are overly critical, oppressive to the point of dismissing alternative points of view and they stifle fresh ideas.

When the boss creates a fear factor among the staff and runs the show as a dictator, it can often be passed off as a leadership style and dressed up as a tactic to “gets results quickly”. But it’s simply not the way Blyth Reid operates.

With more than 30 years of experience behind him in the hotel resort and golf industry at some of the top clubs – both in the UK and abroad – he’s clearly doing something right.

Beginning his career at Turnberry, Reid worked his way up to the position of senior PGA professional but realised at a young age that his hopes of carving out a career in golf would be better served on the business side, rather than swinging a club.

He recalled: “I had a fantastic grounding at Turnberry and I was a good golfer. But ability is one thing – it’s the mental approach which is so vital in becoming a successful professional golfer.

“My emotional intelligence has definitely changed over the years and there are times I wish I’d learned some of those things at an earlier age. But I’ve certainly no regrets and I’ve enjoyed the challenges and opportunities that have come my way.”

After switching his priorities towards the business side of golf, in South Africa he held management roles at Fancourt, Pezula and Erinvale, bookending a four-year stint at Four Seasons Anahita in Mauritius.

And after returning to the UK in 2020 after a spell at The Grove earlier in his career, the affable Scotsman is currently overseeing an ambitious improvement project as general manager at The Hertfordshire Golf & Country Club, taking the resort’s facilities to the five-star standard the location and history warrants.

Although there is a natural, calm authority about the 51-year-old Scot, his approach to steering his team to success is not a formula he’s stumbled upon through chance. And while he admits he is still learning new skills, he relishes the task of rising to fresh challenges.

Asked what makes a good manager, Reid said: “I see some managers who create this fear factor among their staff, wrongly thinking that it generates automatic respect. I don’t see it that way at all. I’d much rather create a feeling of mutual respect.

“You see certain people with a different approach and it always makes me wonder why staff would stay there for any length of time. The truth is, they probably won’t.

“Where I may not agree with other people in my position is that they tend to make it about themselves and they can run into trouble. I believe it impacts on the overall experience for visitors, members and is generally negative.

“Some may disagree, but I guess that’s up to them,” added Reid.

“I like creating experiences to make other people happy – I see that as a win-win. And I’m the sort of person who would much rather use the carrot rather than the stick.”

With 550 golf members and a health and fitness membership totalling more than 1,800, it’s a thriving venue with high standards to maintain and an even higher level to aspire to – a task Reid views as a collective effort. He said: “The key is the team around you. The staff need to be enthusiastic about what they do, to be empowered to make their own decisions and to believe in the overall ethos of what you are trying to achieve.

“And if you do it, you do it 100 per cent – in my view, if your heart is not in it, there’s no point.

“Yes, as general manager, you need to make some unpopular decisions sometimes. But there is a way of doing it and if you do it the right way, it fuels that feeling of teamwork.”

As a venue, The Hertfordshire has found a sympathetic way to strike the balance between its rich history and relatively new golf course.

Value is a key part of the philosophy too with a green fee of £65 and Reid’s assertion: “Nobody wants to be ripped off or pay over the odds for a poor product.”

The par-70 course, designed by Jack Nicklaus II – who inherited his skills, talent and dedication from his celebrated father Jack Nicklaus – was opened as recently as 1995 and boasts a fabulous closing stretch of holes. While the course has matured, the venue oozes with its own history on the land which was once owned by The Knights Templar – and most notably the spectacular 18th century Broxbournebury Mansion, which is undergoing continued improvements as part of the bigger project.

Reid said: “It’s an old building which presents its own challenges when it comes to modernising the facilities a modern club requires, but it creates that romance and stature which is hard to replicate. We like to stay as authentic to the original as we possibly can and the investment needs to be planned carefully.

“There is an art to investing,” suggested Reid, “which perhaps means things move a little more slowly than some would like, but we are moving in the right direction and some of the recent improvements are not always visible but are essential to the preservation of the venue.

“In today’s world, it’s also vital that we all have an ethical responsibility. Sustainability has to be the way to go across the whole of the golf industry and we are very mindful of that in everything we do – even down to the food we sell.”

So what will the future bring? Are there enough challenges to remain at the helm of his current venue or is there another overseas adventure calling?

He said: “It’s hard to know what the future might bring. The past couple of years have taught us all that it’s difficult to predict the future and the huge uncertainty after COVID has probably had an impact on anyone making too many longer-term concrete plans.

“At The Hertfordshire, we’ve got the location which is not too far from London, and a great golf course with a fantastic design. It’s an exciting project to be involved with,” Reid added.

“Within a few years there will be a 36-unit residential project, new gym facility and a seven-hole golf course extension. There has already been major investment with a view to bringing some life back into the mansion and surrounding areas and there is plenty going on to keep me busy.

“I’m quite pedantic and I like the details of a project. It tends to drive me a bit insane when others aren’t like that. But I’m always open to learning new skills and I’m excited by different challenges – I hate being pigeon-holed.”

Those who have never been in the position themselves may never fully understand what it takes to be successful in management and the reality of the role is perhaps never quite as straightforward as the fantasy.

Meeting multiple demands and coping with so many different pressures on a daily basis is certainly no easy task. But perhaps Reid’s approach may just tempt a few more to follow his lead.