Who is a professional?

Who is a professional? What is the clear cut definition? Is dressing up in expensive suits, wearing expensive watches and colognes the mark of a professional? Does being a ‘Yes man’ and shying away from criticizing make you a professional?

Lets first talk about the attitude of a professional. The corporate world dictates using any means necessary to find glory as a sign of professionalism. The worst part is, every talk and meeting start with these lines, “now please be open and forthcoming, we are here to understand your problems, so speak out without any fear”, so cliche! And what is the feedback if you do it, ask him to be more professional next time! Disheartening! Do companies want to know the real problems, or do they want to hear what they expect? Why do people even have meetings if so? Learn to accept the feedback, appreciate the work, and respect the customers, that should be the definition for professionalism in work.

Now let us talk about the attire. When did suits and skirts become the epitome of professionalism? The western world has a colder climate, coats are a necessity and we wear these in our hot, humid climate! I believe it has to do with the general misconception most of us have about the western culture, the belief the whatever they do is the best. Especially a country like India, where we worship fairness(the fair in fair n lovely), the western world will look like the abode of gods and we want to mimic them. It is high time we put a stop to all these pretences.It is time we take out the materialism in professionalism. Ensure the attire is neat and clean. Ensure it is comfortable and looks presentable. Stop these prejudices against the poorly dressed.

The corporate world was designed to present it as a dream world for the youth; fancy offices, suits, parties and whatnot. The policies and the definitions of professionalism have become a weapon to oppress and manipulate the employees. Discourage honesty, encourage politics, and exploit them. Another closely guarded tradition of the corporate world is the remunerations. You are not supposed to share your salary with your colleagues. It’s the highest level of unprofessionalism. What is the problem if the entire thing is made public? Tell the world why she or he deserves it, list out what they did, how the rewards are calculated. It can encourage people to give their best, make their path clearer and weed out bias.

The way forward should be an open culture. Why should we hide the setbacks? Why should people hold back their opinions? This is not gonna be an easy task of course. It will be hard to manage shift in dynamics, the more critical opinions, the unbiased views; an avalanche of the realities which were hidden till now. But it is for the better. Now if these sound impractical and too much of work, at least stop the masquerade.