Be Professional

There are no atheists in a foxhole

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The aphorism talks about people under extreme stress asking for a higher power to save them. Luckily, I have never been to war, but I have competed in sports for most of my life. There are many people that I have not liked socially in those teams, but when the clock starts and the ball is thrown in the air, none of that mattered, we were one team with a mission to win.

Leaving the court behind and entering the business world I have often heard people use the phrase ‘be professional’. It is a nefarious statement because it is implying that you aren’t currently being professional. But what being professional means in this context is essentially swallowing your pride and subjugating yourself so that your boss doesn’t feel bad.

The professional world is seldom professional. There are many stories of Steve Jobs yelling and abusing his staff. Yet, he helped make Apple so people think the leadership style worked. Then people take the wrong idea and don’t understand that his value was his vision, and he could have got so much more out of his staff if he wasn’t a tyrant such as denying his child.

In sports, there is a clear goal. Something that we all strive for. Be it a short term goal of winning the game, or a longer-term goal of winning the championship. Being professional in this sense is putting your own interests aside for a chance at achieving your goal because in a team sport you can’t do it alone, and sometimes to win, you have to let others be great.

Do as a say, rather than do as I do, allows the people in charge to not have to be professional and deal with their emotions. They can ignore or divert their own issues and project them onto someone else that has to “be professional” and take the bullshit.

Sports (and I guess the military fall into this as well) are wonderful because it is transparent and accountable. Everyone can see who is doing what, who performed well and who didn’t. There are many many stories of fights and problems during practice, but seldom do you want to ruin your success and the success of your team because of some petty issue, you know, being professional.