S3 EP 05: The Top 10 Lessons They Didn't Teach You in School w/ Robert Sereci, Medinah C.C. Part I

As young professionals working in the golf business, often times our focus is on developing the set of what I call “vocational skills” that are specific to our industry...the teaching, playing, merchandising and event administration skills, among many others that our jobs require from us.But as our careers continue to evolve, success or failure can hinge on a new and different skill set.  Often referred to as soft skills, they should more properly be referred to as success skills.  These success skills include the ability to build and sustain relationships, developing emotional intelligence or EQ, learning how to lead and why that matters, becoming a mentor to your team, and many others.  I feel these are so important, it’s what motivated me to develop golfprofessionalgrowth.com to dig deeper into how to develop these skills.Our guest in this episode has summarized these skills so well, I had to have him on to discuss this further.  Robert Sereci is the GM/COO at the renowned Medinah Country Club. You know Medinah from it’s storied history in major championship and Ryder Cup golf, but ironically Robert came to Medinah with little to no knowledge of that history.  And he’s used that to his advantage.  You’ll hear how being a “non-golf” guy has allowed him to view Medinah through a different lens that allows him to lead and strategize without any bias.  Robert is known as an intelligent businessman, a calculated risk taker and a mentor to many in our business.  The result for Medinah has been a thriving club atmosphere which is now a leader and innovator in the industry.  In part one, Robert walks us through the first five of his “Top 10 Lessons They Didn’t Teach you in School”.  These lessons are universally applicable to golf professionals and general managers alike...and even if you’re not in a leadership or management position yet, you’ll want to take notes and know where you can begin to develop the critical success skills that will help you down the road.Robert's Top 10 Lessons:The difference between passion and purpose.You don’t know what you don’t knowUnderstand that your success is determined by others.How to manage and lead in a world of greyUnderstand how your club keeps scoreUnderstand that your success is determined by othersYour technical skills will become less important as you climb the ladderStop Coaching and start mentoringYour club governance model is more important then you realizeIt’s not about you. It never was.GBN is the leading private network for today's most successful PGA Professionals. Exclusive events at premier facilities, vendor partnerships to grow your business, education to increase your knowledge, and access to the top Professionals in the industry are just some of what membership in Golf Business Network will get you. Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com to find out more and become a member.