CHAPTER 1
Principle #1
Being a Professional
I was recently meeting my good friend Pastor Doug Schneider over lunch,seeking, as always, his very sage counsel on a number of matters. Duringour discussion, he asked me what it meant to be a professional. I respondedthat it did not come with certificates or titles, but rather could simply beseen as the behaviours or competencies that all professionals demonstratein their day-to-day lives. At that point, the young lady who was serving usapproached and we put the matter to the test. I asked her if she consideredherself a professional. Without missing a beat, she said "yes." When Iasked why or what made her a professional, she answered, "I do my jobwith excellence and I enjoy what I do." It was so simple, yet so profound.What made her a professional was the quality of her work combined withher attitude, approach and pure joy of what she did. It warmed my heartto hear of it.
If all leaders need to act as professionals and all of us are leaders, then whatdoes it mean to be a professional? Unlike the waitress Doug and I spokewith, and without reflecting too long on the ramifications of this question,we might be inclined to describe a professional as someone who is goodin their particular field of endeavour. In fact, they are usually so goodthat they get paid very well for what they do. For instance, a professionalbaseball player gets paid to play while an amateur does not. In mostinstances, the professional is at the highest possible level of performancein his sport. Similarly, a professional actor gets paid while the amateurdoes not and, for the most part, professional actors are considered to bethe very best in the field. For others, the measure comes with education,experience and the passing of certain tests rather than delineation basedupon professional versus amateur. There is no such thing as an amateurdoctor, amateur lawyer, amateur architect or amateur engineer. Regardlessof how we measure professionals, by skill, ability, education or certificates,there are certain standards that will help to identify the professional withinall of us. No matter what our status, position, career choice or place in thecommunity, there are behaviours we can engage in to demonstrate a degreeof professionalism. Such behaviours apply whether you are a stay-at-homeparent, a neurosurgeon or anything in between. The following is a list thatprovides a sense of professional behaviours and values that are consideredby most observers to reflect a true professional. How do you measure up?
1. Be competent and always perform to the very best of your abilities.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "If a man is called to bea street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelopainted or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrotepoetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heavenand earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper whodid his job well.' Competence is not always measured by degrees,certificates or membership in an organization. It also doesn't meanthat you have to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in your field. Wecan't all be at the top. However, we can work hard to ensure thatwe are always competent in our role and are performing it to thevery best of our capabilities. A stay-at-home mom can take pridein being competent at what she is doing and in knowing that sheis doing the very best she can. That is what will distinguish herfrom Peg Bundy from the comedy series Married With Children.The same principle applies regardless of your career; be competentand always be the very best you can be.
2. We all have clients or customers in our lives. By definition, a clientis someone who pays for or is in receipt of services or dependsupon protection provided by another person. Be devoted to thebest interests of your customer or client whoever they may be.We need to see customers, clients and everybody we deal with, asindividuals and not just clients. For GM assembly line workers,the customer is the one who will ultimately buy the car he/sheis helping to construct. The children and their parents are theclients for the day-care provider, while the patrons at a hotel arethe customers for the cleaning staff. There is always someone whois the beneficiary of our efforts and professionals always keep thecustomer's best interests in mind. I provide consultation as a meansof generating income which, in turn, pays my bills. However, anintegral part of this equation is that my efforts are ultimately in thebest interest of the clients. If I engage in activities that are good forme but not for the client, in addition to making me short sighted,it means that I am not being professional.
3. Look after yourself and your responsibilities. If we fail to look afterourselves, we will be more likely to fail in our responsibilities to ourclients. It is important that we strive to look after all aspects of ourhealth—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. It will help usto remain ever professional. To that end, a true professional will:
• Get a proper amount of sleep each day. Contrary to what isportrayed about many types of interns (medical, legal andothers), working 24 hours a day is never healthy and mostcertainly increases the odds and risks that mistakes will bemade. Don't let that happen.
• Eat and drink well. Proper nutrition and balance in what weconsume can never be over emphasized. Learn everythingyou can about good dietary habits.
• Exercise regularly but don't over-do it. Just stay reasonablyfit. Keep active and busy; it is better than doing nothing atall.
• Strike a good work/life balance—more about this in thenext chapter.
• Practise slow leadership, especially as a role model forothers. So many people are trying to squeeze so much intotheir days that they forget how to enjoy quality in theirlives. They try diligently to do too...
