What is a professional?

Sue Morem (www.suemorem.com) is a book author, president of training and consulting firm Premier Presentation Inc., a media columnist and an “authority” on career training. Below are excerpts from an article entitled “The Indisputable Character Primer for Work and Life,” published in her Web site.
1. Be careful
Your permanent record, for the rest of your life, begins NOW. Enjoy this clean slate. Embrace this fresh reputation...Take care to cultivate one that you can live with for the rest of your working life. Think of your reputation as your little shadow because it will follow you wherever you go.
2. Be grateful
No job is beneath you... Any job that pays you for a legal activity is an honorable job, and it probably pays you more in a month than people in many parts of the world make in a year. Appreciate the opportunity to work, and do your best regardless of the position.
3. Be appropriate
It does matter what people think of you. Maintaining your individuality is great. But a certain amount of conformity and maturity in appearance and behavior is expected in the work place... If you are adamant about looking and acting exactly how you want, consider self-employment.
4. Be prompt
There is nothing fashionable, cute, sexy or impressive about being late. So be on time for everything. Tardy is tawdry.
5. Be willing
Enthusiasm matters a great deal. Employers notice people who are regularly willing to take on the tough assignments and the boring but necessary assignments, and who are willing to stay late, come in early, skip lunch and do whatever is necessary to get the job done well and on time. If you can’t be enthusiastic about what you’re doing, get another job.
6. Be still
Work on your listening skills. There is a reason we all have two ears and only one mouth. Use them proportionately.
7. Same as no. 6
8. Be joyful
Find joy and meaning in what you do. Life is too short to have a job that makes you miserable... If you can’t decide to be happy in your job, then move on. Remember “Joy is contagious.” Yours will “infect” the people you work with and make for a more pleasurable, meaningful work environment.
9. Be nice
Take time to acknowledge and really see the people you encounter in all types of jobs throughout your day. Be courteous and caring to everyone, regardless of status or position. As you mature, you will come to realize that it’s not who you know, it’s who you are.
10. Be moral
Take the high road. The term “Business Ethics” doesn’t have to be an oxymoron. As a wise man—or cricket—Jiminy Cricket, once said, “Always let your conscience be your guide.” Listen to the cricket.
11. Be better
You are a work in progress. Your status quo isn’t good enough. Who you are today doesn’t have to be who you’ve been or who you’ll be 10 or 20 years from now. Strive to improve yourself professionally and, more importantly, personally.
12. Be patient
It’s essential to remember that “patience is a virtue”—especially as it relates to finding the ideal job, or awaiting promotions and pay increases. Like Rome, your career won’t be built in a day! Everything takes time, persistence, a game plan, a belief in oneself and the right attitude...
I did not quote the above to praise Ms. Morem nor to anticipate everyone nodding vigorously in agreement with everything she said. I quoted the above to dissect it and to make a distinction between professionalism and sucking up to make it in the corporate world. I have no quarrel with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 11. So, let’s leave them be.
Let me start with no. 5, the “Be enthusiastic” bit. Enthusiasm is an attitude— a positive attitude. It connotes willingness and openness. But when does an attitude cease to be merely enthusiastic and become something else?
A few years ago, I took on a job of managing a national professional organization. I saw a classified ad, I applied for the job and I was hired. Little did I know that there was an employee who had been promised the position that I was hired for. This employee, let’s just call her L, became my assistant.
L had been with the organization for over a decade. She knew the ins and outs like the back of her hand. Truth be told, in terms of experience, she was more qualified than I was. Why didn’t she get the job?
At the outset, the ostensible explanation was that she did not have the academic qualifications. But, after three months or so, I realized that the job did not really require academic credentials. All that it required, really, was the ability to play nice to the various personalities, boost their egos and that was it. I was hired because I was supposed to change all that by ushering in a new brand of professionalism that was not personality-oriented and did not require sucking up. The problem was that the organization, as a whole, was not ready for change.
L was an enthusiastic employee. She fit the description of Ms. Morem’s enthusiastic personality. She worked late hours, she was willing to skip meals, she willingly ran the personal errands of some of the bosses, she made them coffee, poured their drinking water... In short, she did more than her assigned tasks just to keep everything together.
Did it create a professional reputation for her that merited respect and opportunities for progress? No. In fact, some of the bosses stepped all over her and took advantage. The more willingness she showed, the more abuse she got. Working late into the night, and even on weekends, without overtime pay and night differentials. Toward the end of my stint with that organization, I taught L and the rest of the staff to fight for their basic rights under the Labor Code which I had already set out in an employees’ manual, and which I fought tooth and nail to get approved by the Board. Yes, I know, I was the manager and I was teaching the rank-and-file employees about labor rights. Well, sometimes, one has to choose between what is right and being enthusiastic about keeping the job.
What’s my point? Enthusiasm, especially the kind that requires extraordinary effort even beyond the normal working hours and conditions, is good if an employee is dealing with professional bosses.
There is nothing more lop-sided than a situation where the employee is willing to bend over backwards to get the job done, and to keep the job, while the bosses merely take advantage. In a society where there are far more qualified workers than available jobs, the situation takes on horrific proportions. That’s why we find office workers washing plates after the boss’ birthday party, taking and retrieving the boss’ laundry, helping the boss’ kids with his homework and projects... While all these are beyond the parameters of getting the job done, everything starts with willingness and enthusiasm to work the extra hour and mile.
Let’s now move on to the “Be still” part. The ability to listen is an asset but that is not the reason we have two ears and one mouth. We have to ears to allow us to hear things AROUND us; we have one mouth because the only people meant to hear what we’re saying are the one’s we’re addressing. The whole room is not meant to hear something being said to one person alone. Worse, two mouths and two speeches, well... that would be confusing. I just wanted to point out how ridiculous Ms. Morem’s illustration is.
“Be moral.” Right. But whose morality are we talking about? I know far too many stories of idealistic young employees getting corrupted by the “ethics” of the corporation they work for.
W, a new graduate, joins XYZ Corp., a food corporation that purports to sell hamburger patties that are 100 percent pure beef. As W rose up the corporate ladder, he eventually lands a position high enough to make him privy to the real ingredients of the burgers sold by the company. He discovers they are 40 percent beef, 30 percent pork and 30 percent extenders. But, as part of his job, he is required to approve advertising contracts that say XYZ’s burgers are 100 percent pure beef.
If W lets his conscience be his guide, he will either resign or go public with the information he has. If he resigns, he will be lying to the public by withholding the truth. If he makes a public statement, he will never be hired in another corporation. Professional suicide.
When one equates ethics with conscience, therefore, whose conscience is being referred to? If we go with personal professional ethics and it clashes with the corporate ethics, how can it be an asset to make it in the corporate world?
“Be patient,” says Ms. Morem. Patience to get a promotion or a raise... Well, patience works if every promotion or raise is based on merit. If moving up the corporate ladder is dependent on performance and skills, patience would be relevant. Under such circumstances, it is reasonable to presume that reward will come in a timely manner. But corporations are bastions of personal politics. Bosses have their personal favorites and promotions are as much a product of PR than performance.
Let’s say Ana and Juana are in the same department. In the corporate hierarchy, they are on the same level although they perform different tasks. Juana’s job requires focus for long hours and, after a day’s work, she is mentally exhausted and does not have the energy to perform extra tasks just to show her “enthusiasm” for her work. You know, exhibit “team spirit.”
Meanwhile, Ana’s work is lighter, leaving her time to help her boss’ school-aged son with his build-a-model-house project. Ana has the time to peek in to her boss’ office to ask if he wants coffee or a sandwich. She even has time to pick up his laundry and hang it neatly in a small closet inside the boss’ office.
Ana moves up the corporate ladder ahead of Juana. Is it really just to expect Juana to show patience under the circumstances? Oh, come on.
In the end, you know, that’s why I rarely read those books on so-called self-improvement written by so-called authorities.