“Peace Is About To Cease, and All Hell’s Gonna Break Loose”
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Chapter 11: – The Most Hated Man in Minneapolis
December 2008. Snow blanketed Minneapolis when CSM President Rob Dann walked into my office and said something I’ve carried with me ever since:
“I’m glad you’re here. You’re going to shake us up. Do me one favor while we’re together—get it right 51% of the time.”
That landed strangely with me. I had always lived by the rule that success meant winning, not just scraping by. But Rob explained: if we were right more than half the time, we were winning. If we were right too much, it meant we weren’t taking risks. We weren’t innovating. We weren’t pushing.
Good thing he believed that, because we were about to walk headfirst into the winds of the Great Recession.
The CSM portfolio stretched from Seattle to Naples and Boston to Phoenix. The good news? There was a corporate jet. The bad news? The recession. I walked into CSM leading a strong Marketing and Sales team. Dar Johnston ran Revenue Management with an iron fist. Aimee Cheek brought fresh creativity in social media and marketing. And my Regional Directors, Andrew Claude and Joel Danko, couldn’t have been more different—but both were smart, successful, and loyal CSM leaders.
And peace? About to cease.
Rob’s first charge to me was clear: measure the Return on Investment of the entire Marketing and Sales organization. That meant no more fuzzy metrics, no more vague feel-good reporting. We dove into Smith Travel Reports (STR) to measure occupancy, rate, and market penetration. Then we went granular—tracking every salesperson’s performance. If they were thriving, we celebrated them. If not? They had to “step up or step out.”
We set sales targets, bonus plans, and even put cruises to the Caribbean on the table for top performers. For the rest, Performance Improvement Plans became the new reality. And if the numbers didn’t improve, change was coming.
That’s how, for the better part of a year, I became known as:
“the most hated man in Minneapolis.”
Andrew and Danko carried the weight with me. CSM had always been a warm, fuzzy sales culture, but now we were becoming clinical. Calls poured into Peggy Olson—sales managers crying, “CSM has a new VP of Sales and he fired me.” And sure, I signed the papers. But every single time, I heard my mother Bertha Carver’s voice in my head:
“You’re about to change someone’s life and take away their livelihood. They have families and children to care for. Are you making the right decision?”
That voice never left me. It kept me grounded even in the hardest calls.
And make no mistake, it was hard. We were deep in the Great Recession. Banks were collapsing, unemployment was rising, and hotel performance across the country was in free fall. Yet, somehow, we were winning.
Every month, we sat with Rob, reviewing hotel by hotel: who was green, who was yellow, who was deep in the red. Regional Directors Claude and Danko partnered with Operations VPs Dan Peterson and Steve Schulndt—pairs as different as could be, but strong together. Until the end of the year, when Rob challenged me to “shake it up,” rethink portfolios, and reassign support. It was bold, uncomfortable, and exactly what the moment demanded.
And during that period, I made a hire that would change my life. I was looking for a task force sales pro—someone who could fill gaps when managers were out or struggling. Dozens of interviews later, one candidate blew me away. Enter Charlene “Charley” Carter. A Georgia native, she walked in from a Minnesota snowstorm in a pinstriped suit and three-inch heels. If she could handle that, she could handle anything. Hired on the spot. I had no idea then she and I would later co-found a company together. But that’s for later.
For now, I was in the middle of the storm—recession, accountability, and hard choices. But we were clawing our way to market share gains while others slid backward. We were proving risk and discipline could pay off.
Then it happened: a resignation. Rob Dann—the president who hired me, who taught me “51%,” who I respected deeply—was leaving. Just like that, peace was gone again.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Peace Is About to Cease and All Hell’s Gonna Break Loose isn’t your typical business book, nor is it a straight-line memoir. It’s the story of growing up in rural Mississippi, stumbling into the world of hospitality, and then learning—sometimes the hard way—how to navigate change, chaos, and the curveballs life throws when you least expect them.
From small-town beginnings to boardroom battles in the nation’s capital, Joel Carver shares a journey filled with humor, humility, and lessons forged in trial and error. Along the way, readers meet the colorful characters who shaped his path, the mistakes that nearly sank him, and the unlikely victories that kept him moving forward.
At its heart, this book is about resilience—the kind that comes not from polished theory, but from surviving the storm, rebuilding when it all falls apart, and laughing at yourself enough to keep going. It’s about learning that leadership isn’t about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions, treating people with dignity, and keeping faith even “while the trees are still in blossom.”
If you’ve ever faced moments where peace seemed impossible and all hell was breaking loose—whether in business, family, or within yourself—this book is for you. Honest, raw, and laced with wit, it offers both a mirror and a map: a reminder that no matter where you start, you can find your way forward, and maybe even inspire others to do the same.
About the Author
Joel Carver, a Mississippi-born CEO and entrepreneur, blends boardroom lessons with back-porch humor. A veteran of the hospitality industry, he transforms decades of leadership and hard knocks into stories as rich as pecan pie—equal parts wisdom and wit—proving business insight goes down easier with a little Southern charm.