Professionalism is Highly Over-rated

I nearly didn’t go to see the movie Morning Glory this weekend because of a review that bemoaned the handling of the subject – hard news versus entertainment. The reviewer likened it to 1987’s Broadcast News, which pitted looks against talent in the news biz and was filled with lots of angst. Except, said this reviewer, Morning Glory’s characters had given up fighting the good fight. Bunk!

I did go see the movie, which was basically a cute romp through a morning news show, starring a curmudgeonly Harrison Ford, who hangs on to his highly regarded reputation as a tough news man, against the wishes of Rachel McAdams’ character, a producer who needs him to lighten up and do a few fluff pieces; the basic professionalism versus fun dilemma.

First of all, the movie wasn’t great, but it was likable. A lot like the premise of the story.

I’ve always had a problem with the term “professionalism.” It means many things to many people, but the one that bugs me the most is the idea that professionalism is the key to good business, profits, etc. Bunk!

Let’s look at this rationally. You go to a restaurant – coffee shop or gourmet eatery, it doesn’t matter – and sit down. Your waitperson is highly competent, asking all the right questions, bringing everything at exactly the right time. However, he is completely without warmth or personality. Most people are going to go away unsatisfied. Why? Because, although he acted completely professional, we want to enjoy our interactions with service people and this waiter didn’t fill the bill.

In fact, this is true in every business that exists in this world. We expect to have some level of human contact that goes beyond professionalism and THAT is the key to good business, profits, etc. Let me give a few examples.

Medicine – yes, we want competent doctors and nurses, but just as importantly, we want to feel comforted, connected. Sales – we want the best deal wrapped up in a feeling that we are more to this salesperson than just a number (whether that’s true or not, studies show that the feeling is extremely important to whether we buy or not). Accountants and attorneys really have to go deeper than professionalism to truly win our trust, if nothing else to counteract their “professional” reputations as stiffs or sharks.

Rather than touting professionalism as the Holy Grail, why don’t we, as a society, acknowledge that it is the skill of highlighting our humanity that is the true key to success in business? In Morning Glory, it is when Ford’s character shows us his humanity that he wins over his new audience. I know it’s just a movie, but I think it makes its point very well. Professionalism is highly over-rated.