Following is a series of little known insights that, once adopted, can help advance superintendents careers.

1. It Is far easier to get hired at top-of-the-line clubs than many think: Because it is not widely known that Search Committees at the top-of-the line clubs generally limit the number of job applications they will accept to fill vacant superintendent positions to less than ten because  by so doing they will be better able to focus on and identify the better candidates.

Furthermore, job vacancies at the better clubs are more wide open than many think since the better candidates often do not apply for the better jobs because they do not want their reputations sullied when they fail to get hired by search committees that consistently demonstrate that they are incapable of identifying the better/best candidates from within larger candidate fields.

Therefore, qualified applicants with representative career websites who submit masterful multi-year plans of action (see Aug 14^th blog) to premier clubs with job openings will be granted interviews virtually every time around and, furthermore, are likely to be put on the "short list" of qualified candidates every time around.

2. "Stress is an avoidable consequence of life" according to the American Institute of Health provided superintendents: (i) commit to a family-job balanced hard-working life; (ii) are willing to engage established consultants (see Aug 27th blog); and (iii) communicate effectively up and down their chains of command; i.e.- manage defensively (see Jan 05 blog).

3. Knowledge Is king in a bad economy: In a world where the media and too many elected officials will deliberately misinform the American people about the true state of the national economy -- superintendents should use Google to know/learn how the following indicators accurately define the economy: GDP, national debt level, true unemployment rate, number out of the work force, number living in poverty - because once employers sense that a superintendent is not tuned into the nuances of the national economy they will quickly lose confidence in him to manage +/- million dollar budgets.

Conversely, once it becomes evident that a superintendent knows the economy cold -- those up his chain of command will trust his decision making to a level not previously acknowledged.

There is nothing more satisfying than having your decision-making trusted by those you answer to in life and at work.

4. A commitment to excellence is a habit, not a happening: One of Vince Lombardis most repeated themes to his teams was that they would "continue to commit to the endless pursuit of 'perfection' -- realizing that while this was not obtainable, the process would catch excellence."

The key to building a personal and profession-wide work ethic is the "universality" of the commitment to excellence.

For example, it is not sound management to pursuit excellence relative to equipment maintenance but not bunker management, or to have an on the job commitment to excellence but not one at home. 

5. Players' pride in their superintendent supersedes their pride in their golf course: This is because pride in a superintendent is personal while pride in a golf course is analytic.

Once realized, player pride in their superintendent can help to cure any and all ills befalling an honest hardworking superintendent. How to best achieve this goal: communicate well and be visible as suggested in Oct 9^th blog.