The True Professional

I was asked this question, at a time when i least expected it. They say spontaneity brings out the thoughts that you have had on a certain concept or ideal, without superficiality, and succeeds in reflecting some of your inner values or thought-systems.

And that is exactly what happened.

I was blank.

You see, the truth is I've never really thought about what a true professional should be like. Being just in the first year of my college experience, I haven't yet had sufficient opportunities to be able to give a profound insight into that. But I had heard terms, terms like efficiency, reliability, time-management and integrity. I had heard these terms in speeches made by the fortune 500 CEOs and "How-to" books on developing your personality. These terms just simmered back to life in my mind, leaving a faded impression of what the true professional should be.

The good part is, that I was not really that dumbfounded and I did answer to the question. But what I did was blurt out all those terms that had sunk into my memory. It does help, at times, to be well read. :P

I was satisfied about my thoughts on some of the other ideas being discussed, like that of success, of ethics and the like. But i was unsatisfied with what I felt was a true professional.
I felt unsatisfied with the numerous terms that I shot back, pretending to be speaking them out from what I had thought, while I hadn't. And so you can probably predict what occupied my mind when I tried getting my three hours of sleep that night.

I've observed my father. I've read some really interesting books, written by Jack Welch or Carly Fiorina and what my limited horizon of thought could understand as being the most important aspect of a true professional, is self-respect and respect for others.
I vaguely remember one of my "Moral Science Class" teachers teaching us about "respecting oneself and respecting others," at a time when I was too little to understand the need of having to listen to a tall, grumpy lady talk while I could be home playing with my doll house.

I don't know if it requires several years of expertise, or a trail of leadership honors, or the title of an executive to understand what it takes to be a true professional, but I feel that respecting yourself and others plays an important role. Take any professional. And mind you, we deal with a lot of professionals through out the day like our professors, the store keepers, the bank customer service agents or even your phone service agents! They're all professionals, even though they might not be working in the tallest office building in New York.

Doesn't it put you off when a person doesn't respect you or your ideas? Forget ideas, doesn't it bother you when the person does not respect your time?
I'm sure there have been many instances in your life when you've been either stood up or kept waiting. Everyone is busy. No matter what his profession. Everyone is busy. Everyone might as well spend their time doing something else, other than talk to you. So respect does play an important part. I remember the times when I would have to hold onto the phone line for hours to get a simple roaming activation on my mobile, just to realize that either my call had been entirely forgotten or perhaps disconnected; and the times when I would have to wait in line for hours to see an adviser who was too busy discussing her shopping with her colleague to see any clients. A complete disregard for time. The first sign of a lack of professionalism.

Besides time, I feel that respecting someone else's idea, often works miracles as being a motivator. When you show respect for a person's ideas, you somehow elevate that person's own self-confidence and encourage him or her to bring out the best he or she's got. Each one of us like being respected, and we try hard to preserve that respect, even if some of us don't admit it. Most of us don't even respect our own selves and are very often insecure of some of our own ideas. Insecurity has its benefits, in that it provides a scope for change or expansion in perspectives, but it steals a good share of your self-respect with it too. And when you lose your self-respect, you lose a big chunk of yourself because you lose your biggest supporter: YOU

Start with respecting yourself for who you are, for what your capabilities are and then you'll find the ground for respecting others. Being a true professional, according to me, begins with coming to terms with yourself, not memorizing or scrutinizing the definitions of those lofty terms associated with professionalism.