Improving Health & Wellness | Sean Todman | Renaissance Athletic Club

Commitment to excellence is an approach that demonstrates dedication to an organization and its employees. Committed leaders invest their time in pursuing the needs of the organization and other team members, forwarding the company’s values and goals. An essential quality of Sean Todman is his commitment to excellence. That commitment has helped transform Renaissance Athletic Club. His commitment to excellence drives his vision for Renaissance Athletic Club, and he began by building a first-class facility with state-of-the-art equipment and amenities. Sean maintains his commitment to excellence by creating a ‘never settle’ mindset. This mindset requires a constant search for improvement in the quality of services, the elevation of those services, and growth into new services. This excellence mindset requires focusing on all aspects of the business, including facility management, customer service, and community involvement. The impact of Renaissance Athletic Club on the community is significant, providing a platform for health and wellness, and fostering a sense of community. Though these changes can vary in significance and company impact, their collection has transformed Renaissance Athletic Club into the leader in fitness and wellness in its local and regional markets. 

Sean’s other qualities include excellent communication (with team members, customers, and community leaders), high consistency, and, most importantly, leading by example. “I do not ask any team member to display qualities and competencies that I am unwilling to lead by example. This is crucial to setting the company’s culture, which has been central to the company’s transformation,” explains Sean. “These qualities have fostered buy-in within the Leadership Team, partly by inviting those who do not want to commit to excellence to self-select out of the organization. What is left is a strong and committed Leadership Team that understands and embraces the pursuit of excellence. I lead the way, by example, in exhibiting what excellence looks like day-to-day.”

Sean believes great ideas can come from anyone within the organization, and he has created and supported a company culture that encourages originality, creativity, and communication at all levels. This starts with open discussions within the Leadership Team, ensuring members can share their thoughts, ideas, and vision for their departments and the company based on their vantage points, previous experiences, and conversations with other Team members and customers. “I provide supplemental material on ideative processes, such as design thinking, to further educate, encourage, and support creative thinking,” elucidates Sean. “I encourage this same openness in department heads with respective teams. I also encourage direct customer feedback, understanding that some of the best ideas come from customers. Finally, I ask each member of our Leadership Team to engage in professional development to continue their learning journey, and I ask them to remain open to new ideas and perspectives, with the expectation that they bring new insights to leadership discussions.”

Culminating into A Leader

As a child, Sean’s passions were sports and sports. “I was very active, and I loved getting lost in competitions. My biggest role model was, and continues to be, my father, who I called ‘a businessman’. I would walk around the house on weekends with his old briefcases, doing my best impersonation of the businessman I understood my dad to be,” recollects Sean. “My passion for sport and athletic competition took me to college and beyond, where I played football and pursued a professional career. Though I did not focus my undergraduate studies on business, I took as many business courses as possible, culminating in ‘Entrepreneurship,’ the most coveted class in Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.”

After finishing college during the economic recession of 2008, Sean thought it best to move home to focus on his athletic pursuit and next steps. After graduating high school in Massachusetts and college in Washington D.C, he knew that his hometown in St Joseph/Benton Harbor, Michigan, did not have the resources, facilities, and talent to support Sean’s needs in his pursuit. “I’ve always believed that the best entrepreneurial opportunities are born out of pain points, and this was a personal pain point I was struggling with. After encouragement from my father to ‘do something about it,’ I took the first step in my entrepreneurial journey,” adds the talented leader. “I used the principles I learned in sports to co-found a full-service athletic club, understanding that solving my personal pain point would solve pain points for many others in our community as well as provide a wide range of opportunities. Renaissance Athletic Club opened its doors in December 2012 and has seen immense success.”

Sean has gained numerous awards and accolades owing to his brilliant work ethic and pioneering leadership qualities. After his company’s first full year of operation, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the local Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the Renaissance Athletic Club Team. Two years later, a Renaissance Athletic Club team member and a military service member nominated Sean for (and was awarded) the Patriotic Employer Award for supporting the employment of servicemen and women. On numerous occasions, Renaissance Athletic Club has won the Platinum Stake Award from their local economic development non-profit, Cornerstone Alliance, for its significant contributions to the local economy and community. Finally, Sean is very proud of Renaissance Athletic Club’s accomplishment of navigating the Covid pandemic, a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the team.

The transition from the pandemic was a turning point for Renaissance Athletic Club. The year 2019 was the most challenging in Renaissance Athletic Club’s history. They lost sight of the importance of their company culture, core values, and ultimate mission. Team members lost sight of their purpose, and the customers felt and responded to it – by leaving. Though Covid had tremendous negative impacts on the community and its ability to operate, it did provide an opportunity for Renaissance Athletic Club to hit the reset button. “The hardships of the pandemic reminded us of our why and helped us appreciate the critical importance of our culture in being able to fulfill our ultimate mission of improving the health, wellness, and quality of life for our customers and community,” expounds Sean. “The hardships helped us regain the attitude we needed to work through the challenges presented by the pandemic. We leveraged the local, state, and federal support available to businesses like ours. We ensured we provided our customers the safest space possible, reigniting our commitment to them and their experience.” Lastly, Sean and his team were reminded that for the customers to enjoy their time with Renaissance Athletic Club, each one had to enjoy their time with customers and their time with each other. This gave Renaissance Athletic Club the positive energy they needed to have the welcoming, supportive, and compassionate environment required to meet the commitments made to the customers. “We got back to our core values and culture, which allowed us to navigate the pandemic as positively as possible. When customers returned to Renaissance Athletic Club, they returned to the business they had come to know before 2019, and again, they responded to it – this time by coming back.”

Offering the Best

One of Sean’s core focuses is to instill this attitude/perspective within all members of his Leadership Team. He frequently uses the term ‘embrace the challenge.’ He uses this phrase to constantly remind his team that if they don’t push themselves to grow and reach their potential, the company will never grow to its potential. “Pushing ourselves to reach our potential is a risk – and many fear falling short and failing’, so they don’t even try. As members of my Leadership Team have embraced ‘accepting the challenge’, it has created an attitude that embraces thoughtful risk taking, pushing the boundaries of what they thought was possible, and pursuing ideas that may seem unattainable,” says Sean. “The result has been great, because it has led us to offer our customers better products and services. But, more importantly, the result has been the building of confidence that encourages continued thoughtful risk taking and the continued pursuit of growth benefiting each member of our Leadership Team, their Teams, as well as our customers. The experience of all involved is elevated.”

Renaissance Athletic Club’s mission is to provide the best support to its customers in the fitness and wellness spaces. This is very important in its local market, where physical and mental well-being resources still need to be improved compared to what is available in many other U.S. communities. Data shows that the community’s overall health ranks near the bottom of all communities in Michigan. As Sean best describes Renaissance Athletic Club, “our main aim is to have people feeling better when they leave than when they walked in our doors.”

The company first works to improve its community’s health by prioritizing physical and mental wellness. They lead by personal example. Second, they work to improve the community’s health by learning about and replicating strategies that have proven successful in other communities in other parts of the country. Third, they talk to and listen to their customers and community members to understand what they need and where they can have the most significant impact in supporting their customers and delivering on their mission. Fourth, they collaborate with businesses with similar missions to create synergies and maximize their impact on the community. Finally, as they have done, and continue to compel a collection of stellar services and programs and a culture that is truly unique to their market. “All of this has enabled Renaissance Athletic Club to hold a truly unique position in our market – a first of its kind with the collection of services, collaborations, and the steadfast commitment to providing the best, most needed, and historically lacking services to our customers and community,” says Sean.

Towards A Healthy Future

One of the services Renaissance Athletic Club has provided is a well-rounded weight loss management program for local businesses through collaboration with their HR departments. This program has a fitness, nutrition, and wellness component that helps participants track their journeys, giving them more profound insights into the factors that kept them on or knocked them off track. Most participants have been able to improve their health, measured through standard medical tests, as well as their responses to the changes in how they felt. “We have had several athletes in our program who have gone on to play their sport at the collegiate level, earning their degrees and setting themselves up for bright futures,” states Sean. “Finally, I have had numerous customers and Team members talk to me about the impact Renaissance Athletic Club has had on them, from reshaping their self-confidence, to saving their marriage, and even saving their life. This impact is not as much about unique services as it is about the value of an affirming, supportive, and empowering culture.”

Two significant achievements of Renaissance Athletic Club include, firstly surviving the COVID pandemic, where they could not operate for over seven months. “Many single-facility fitness businesses like ours were forced to close their doors. Some secretly remained open and operated against public health guidance and state law. We always prioritized our customers and team’s health and well-being, following state and federal guidelines on closures,” says Sean. “When we reopened, the lost membership dues revenue, our main revenue line, was 70% of our total dues revenue the month before closing. Suffice it to say, we took a significant hit.” But, by proactively navigating and leveraging the local, state, and federal financial and other support, keeping the entire team engaged from Leadership down, and communicating with their customers, Renaissance Athletic Club was able to reopen and slowly grow their revenue lines to a level that allowed them to continue to operate. Though it was not revolutionary, they navigated a unique situation in a way that local competitors were unwilling or able to do, allowing Renaissance Athletic Club to continue operating and growing. 

The second achievement was related to building a solid and vibrant company culture. This culture, which supports their Team members and the customers, has been a core driver of Renaissance Athletic Club’s success. The culture was so exemplary that it was recognized in two significant ways. “First, on behalf of Renaissance Athletic Club, I was named entrepreneur of the year in 2014 after our first full year of operation by our local Chamber of Commerce. Second, and more meaningful, a service member and Personal Training employee nominated me for the Patriotic Employer Award in 2015, which was presented to me, in person, by a Department of Defense representative,” says Sean proudly. “These recognitions are validation that our approach to company culture was having significant impact and is valued within the Renaissance Athletic Club team and community alike.”

Renaissance Athletic Club’s welcoming, supportive, and accepting company culture has resulted in one of the most diverse customer bases in the market. Historically, racial and socioeconomic barriers have had a significant negative impact on the community for multiple generations. “I am proud to say Renaissance Athletic Club has brought people together who otherwise never would have been in the same space. This is one of the proudest accomplishments of my business,” concludes Sean.