hello i am dr james brown obtaining a degree is an important step in becoming a professional in your field of study however it is just a step and there is much more to becoming a professional establishing a reputation as a professional than finishing school and getting a good job it is interesting to listen to professional athletes talk about their career and how they learn to be a professional and who taught them how to be a pro yes they were a gifted athlete but they had to learn how to be a professional regardless of your talent or skill level or gpa or degree a lack of professionalism is career limiting and reflects poorly on you and your company we're going to talk about professionalism more than meets the eye professionalism what does it mean you can be an expert but will you say the wrong thing to the customer give a bad presentation write an unprofessional document dress inappropriately can you answer questions with grace there are many people in the work environment who do the majority if not all the work on a task or project yet the organization doesn't trust some aspect of their professionalism so they are kept behind the scenes and others frequently end up getting the credit for their work expertise without trust is useless this is our agenda two primary aspects of professionalism your area of expertise and your image we will talk about them separately but they are intertwined and they both require you to invest in yourself areas of expertise recognize knowledge in my opinion a professional has a certification when i choose a doctor i just don't look for the type of doctor i think i need i look for a doctor that is board certified i am an engineer therefore i chose to study and earn the professional engineer's license i am a project manager therefore i chose to study and earn the project management professional designation i was a professional speaker therefore i chose to earn the certified speaking professional designation when people are making hiring decisions certifications matter once hired performance matters but to get hired or promoted certifications matter certifications often require some work experience and if you do not have that experience yet list the certification as a goal with an expected date of achievement on your linkedin profile and resume note almost every discipline has a specialized certification if you are considering a company or they are considering you look at the employee profiles on linkedin and see what certifications they have when it comes to being well informed you should understand the theory of your discipline and the current best practices understanding current best practices means you are reading the latest information on your discipline and attending professional society meetings just like you can look at older people and marvel at how they don't understand or use the latest social media or technology people will look at you with regard to your discipline if you don't keep up your credibility will be questioned if you don't know the latest finally when it comes to being well informed you must know how your company does it and be able to contrast that with the theory and current best practices to make recommendations for improvement continuing with areas of expertise recognized knowledge a professional is a trusted problem solver and that means they can be given a fuzzy situation without defined boundaries and you are able to define boundaries structure the complex problem and break it down into smaller components with root causes and symptoms this means you know more than your job you know what happens in the process before it becomes your job you know what happens in the process after you have finished your job you have an understanding of the big picture of the company and you know how you your department and organization fit into that big picture and add business value this knowledge creates trust with leadership trust that indicates you can do what's best for the company and all of its stakeholders because a professional looks at problems through a variety of perspectives with thoroughness additionally a professional characterizes problems and situations with data to minimize emotional reactions and justify decisions and plans with numbers and judgment now we'll talk about image and appearance the old adage dress for success has gotten more complicated as companies have relaxed dress codes and more people work remotely i recommend two simple rules one always be dressed up enough that you would be presentable to your company's best customer this varies by customer and industry in some cases it might be a full suit and in others it might be a polar shirt and chinos pay attention to your leadership and how they dress for the customer and how they present themselves on social media the second simple rule is when it comes to business casual be dressed up business casual and this means expensive there are chinos and there are chinos there are polo shirts and there are polo shirts expensive implies you are used to money and success they are not strangers i don't like this but this is how people judge you when it comes to social and etiquette skills take the time to learn them when they take you to dinner they are trying to get to know you but often the objective is to see if you know how to handle yourself with the customer in social situations are you presentable to the customer are you comfortable and can you make others more comfortable through your relaxed demeanor the higher level of the position the more important these skills become another part of image is written communication you are smart you are a certified professional you are a trusted problem solver you look good and know what fork to use and what glass to drink out of at a table of ten the problem is your written work products are filled with grammatical errors or are too wordy or contain circular logic everything you write represents you everything you write represents you you also have to know the proper mechanism for written communication you must know when to text when to instant message when to email when a written letter or something more formal is required continuing with written communication your writing must be powerful it must cause people to have a strong opinion or take action this means you purposefully and expertly use data and psychology in what you write i can't speak for you but i will speak for myself i like to get my way i like to get my way all the time and it was rare when this did not happen in the work environment this is because i use numbers and psychology together for psychology i recommend these two books how to get people to do stuff and influence the psychology of persuasion for data the book understanding variation the key to managing chaos is a good book because it is readable and doesn't overwhelm anyone with the math yet it transfers knowledge of key data management concepts from the point of view of making decisions based on process and results continuing with written communication you want to be capable of writing a professional report early in my nasa career a technician while following procedures damaged some space flight hardware and caused millions of dollars in damage and a major schedule delay a team was formed to evaluate what happened and when i read the official report i was impressed with the organization and the structure so i followed the advice of a mentor and filed it away the mentor's advice was this whenever you come across anything great or exceptional keep a copy a few years later someone damaged some flight hardware causing million dollars of damage and i was one of three people tasked to investigate the incident i pulled out the report i had filed years ago and we use it as a template after submitting the report we received lots of accolades for producing such a high quality report and a job well done good writing requires good structure when it comes to writing a report do not reinvent the wheel look at previous reports and structures analyze them pick one and follow it you want consistent structure and appropriate headings and subheadings as mentioned also for a report or any business communication assure that there is adequate context for the reader that may not be familiar with the situation for a report this means this a high-level leader outside of your organization could read it without having general questions because you have provided enough context finally when it comes to written communication in general when it comes to any kind of business writing do not reinvent the wheel as mentioned save time by purchasing books on business communication that provide writing and responses for every business situation they not only save time but increase your creativity should you want to be creative one of the books i use is perfect phrases for business letters there are many books like this and ultimately they save time and the price is cheap compared to your time let's talk about verbal communication we want to make sure that we are proficient effectively running a zoom meeting or physical meeting for that matter is a reflection of your professionalism always make sure you have the right people in the meeting don't waste time discussing if the right people are not there have an agenda set so expectations are are there and use it to keep the meeting on track people will blame you if the meeting gets sidetracked not the person who's sidetracked it that means you know when to take a discussion offline also to end the meeting recap all decisions all actions and all open items indicate who has responsibility for specific items and get their agreement for assigned tasks groups have to be led and when you are the leader you need to do it with confidence and skill so also you want to make sure that you are very good and confidently deliver presentations and we will discuss that shortly here it is verbal communication professional presentations you should be highly proficient in preparing and delivering presentations having presence and confidence are key as to how people receive you and your message questions addressed not only means you answer questions but the structure and the content of your presentations answers most questions so they don't have to ask them you know you have done well when the objective of your presentation is achieved finally becoming a professional is an enjoyable journey that is filled with challenges and rewards and i encourage you to make the commitment