Gary Burnison is excited for future of the Korn Ferry Tour

When Korn Ferry signed on as the new title sponsor for the Korn Ferry Tour in a 10-year agreement, CEO Gary Burnison knew that agreement just made sense. And now, he’s thrilled at what’s to come for both the Tour and Korn Ferry, a management consulting firm based in California.

Burnison, who is from Los Angeles but spent most of his life in Kansas before returning to the University of Southern California (“the great football powerhouse of all time,” he says) to get a business degree, admits becoming a CEO was never on his radar after school finished.

Growing up he played all sports (with a laugh he says he wasn’t good at any of them) and first picked up golf around 13 after his uncle took him out to play. He doesn’t play as much as he’d like these days after an injury has kept him sidelined other than a small handful of rounds every year.

He says, with golf, the thing that keeps him so interested is the mental aspect and challenge of the sport.

“With a lot of sports there is a mental component, but the time in-between shots your mind can do strange things. Your last shot is pretty irrelevant, whether it’s a triple bogey or a birdie, you have to look forward, which is the same around leadership and it’s certainly the same in business,” says Burnison. “Last week’s results or last month’s results really don’t matter it’s what you’re driving forward with the business. I found the mental aspect of golf incredibly frustrating but also mysterious.”

After Burnison got a business degree from USC he started working for what’s now called KPMG and became a partner there. He went into investment banking after that and many years ago he made an investment into Korn Ferry, which at the time looked vastly different.

Now Korn Ferry has offices in 50 countries and there are approximately 9,000 employees around the world.

It’s in business, says Burnison, to enable people and organizations to exceed their potential. That’s why, he says, the agreement with the PGA TOUR is such a positive one.

“We’re a company that changes people’s lives. But the reality is you never know your potential,” says Burnison. “I think it’s possible to exceed your potential if you’re only given an abundance of opportunity.”

With the Korn Ferry era now underway, Burnison spent a few minutes with PGA TOUR Digital to answer some questions about what he’s like away from the office, his favorite music, how he takes his coffee, and a little more about Korn Ferry giving golf’s next wave the opportunities they need.

Listen to our full interview with Burnison on Golf’s Next Wave, the official podcast of the Korn Ferry Tour.

(This interview has been condensed for clarity)

We understand you’re a fan of espresso?

Double espresso! That’s how I started the day. Then we’ll top it off with a latte. Then in the afternoon we’re going to have to have a double espresso. What’s crazy is that American’s drink “this much” liquid to get “this much” caffeine. The Europeans have it right. It’s the opposite.

Every summer we live in a different part of the world and run the business from there. It’s been fabulous. Last summer it was Europe and I got back into espresso. And it stuck.

What country has your favorite coffee?

Italy is great for Espresso. England is great for tea. China is great for tea. But you have to go with Italians. Anything with food, go with Italy.

What is the best part of your golf game?

It used to be putting. What’s surprising to me about golf is when you look at most people, when they practice they spend so much time on the driving range, but what they’ll invariably to is spend five minutes putting. That’s kind of crazy, because 50 percent of your score, or more, is putting and chipping. It’s the age-old saying ‘drive for show and putt for dough’ is absolutely true.

Did you have a favorite player in golf growing up?

You think about Gary Player and Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus. Arnold Palmer, obviously, who kind of defined the sport. Sam Snead, which was a little before my time, but my dad certainly talked a lot about him.

What other sports did you play besides golf?

I played basketball, football, baseball… I played all the sports.

What were you best at?

None of them (laughs). But it’s different today. Today you do one sport. We have five kids: one boy, four girls. My son played baseball. And we wouldn’t let him play golf because we were worried the golf swing would mess up his baseball swing, which probably wasn’t the case. It may have helped him. It’s crazy today. You have to be focused on one or two sports, which is definitely different

What is your favourite concert you’ve seen?

I saw Eric Church a couple weeks ago, now that was cool. He is a great performer. I see everything. I’ve been to Coachella. I’m into a wide variety of music. Coachella is an interesting place. It’s very diverse. You go in with a mindset it’ll be very rowdy but you come away with a totally different experience. It’s very diverse. It’s clearly a younger, in terms of the audience, but generally a lot of positivity. It’s hot, obviously when it’s done there. That’s a good experience for sure.