So, I got an email from a young man a while back. College kid. He was looking for a job over the summer and he wanted to know if I would hire him as an intern to satisfy a requirement for graduation. It took everything I had to NOT call his advisor at school.

147 words. Four capital letters. One period. It was a 130+ word run on sentence with no punctuation asking a potential employer for a job. I have had several terrible excuses for letters like this, but this one took the cake. It’s in my hall of fame.

I know the golf industry is a pretty casual, chill place to work, but… It’s not that casual. Know your audience. The person you reach out to may or may not care, but why chance it? My wife is an author. Bad grammar bothers me. You never know who might see what you send. Good grammar and the proper use of the English language doesn’t offend any one. Remind yourself to be professional however you communicate with a fellow business pro. Part of your image is defined by how you articulate yourself. The more professional the better.

As professionals, we take pride in our mentoring abilities. One way we can do this is to help our staff become more professional. They will take your queue and follow your lead. If you do it, they will do it. If you have a chance to be active in their mentoring process, your habits and thoughts will rub off on them, and will hopefully become permanent traits for these mentored professionals throughout their careers. Shame on the College (and High School) that this young man who wrote the letter above for not instilling this in him. It’s not too late. All is not lost. As professionals, we can turn the ship around. Monkey see, monkey do, right?

Your work, your way.

Happy Professionalism. Enjoy your work/ life balance.