Passion & mastery in balance
Toward good work in the professions
Bibliographic Data
Whether or not people belong to a true 'profession' as sociologists de1⁄2ne the term, they usually consider profes-sionalism to be a quality worth striving for.To call someone a pro implies that the person knows what to do and does it well.Professionals don't act naively, make stupid mistakes, or get easily flustered.Professionals have staying power and can be counted on: they 'go on with the show' no matter how they're feeling.It is this attitude that journalist Alistair Cooke had in mind when he said, "A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel like it."Professionalism in any 1⁄2eld-medicine, law, sports, butchery, baking, or candlestick making-implies dependable work reflecting a solid mastery of occupational knowledge, standards, and methods.Mastery of this sort matters greatly to clients.Who would go into surgery with a doctor who had not acquired professional skill?Or hire a lawyer with an 'unprofessional' reputation?Or, for that matter, buy from a butcher who didn't know a pork chop from a short rib?Yet the prestige of professionalism, especially during recent times, has been tarnished by the indifferent, self-serving, and sometimes unethical work of some professionals.No doubt the high-pressure demands of today's professional 1⁄2elds have a lot to do with this.In a world of hmos, mandated billed-hour
Balance (ability · Economics · Management · Passion · Pedagogy · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |