Professions
I'm a member of a once-honored profession, so I often think about professions. A profession, as traditionally defined, is a vocation requiring some specialized learning and adherence to an accepted set of rules of conduct. Traditionally, the professions were respected members of the workforce, something to honor and aspire to. Recently, the professions have been troubled. I'm a lawyer, so I see the problems of the legal profession, problems of failing law firms, disgruntled young lawyers, the low regard many segments of society hold for lawyers, in a personal way. But the problem is broader: Doctors, accountants, engineers, lawyers- all have faced reduced respect.
In part the problem is that a few visible bad actors are believed to represent the entire profession. Also, we live in a time of mistrust, especially mistrust of authority. I see this mistrust in almost every movie or television program; the bad guy is very often an authority figure, a policeman, a manager, a professional. This is a time where honest mistakes are castigated, where professionals are presumed to be more interested in themselves than in the patient or client. The problems may differ from profession to profession: In the case of doctors, the problems are largely the result of failures in central planning. In the case of engineers, the problems seem to result from imbalances of supply and demand. For accountants and lawyers, the problems arise, in part, because of increasing disrespect for rules: Accountants' and lawyers' training and experience teaches them to strive to honor society's rules, the laws that should govern citizens' conduct.
But there's a bigger, broader problem that hits the professions harder than most occupations: the notion that the only source of respect, of honor, of worth, if you will, is pay. While professionals are relatively well-paid when compared to many jobs, most are not well-paid when compared to successful entrepreneurs, to business executives, to salespeople, to many in the securities industry. In a time of declining respect, which was the most important reward for professionals, many in the professions are willing to do anything to increase their pay. Some of the things they do further increase the generalized disrespect, not only for them but for all members of their professions, and the cycle continues.
The answer, as in so many things, lies within us, within the professions and the professionals. If we can look to self-respect as the reward, we will maintain the value of doing the job correctly. If we can avoid the temptation to look at pay as the only measure, we will enhance our self-respect and eventually regain the respect of society. And, if we can regain the respect of society in this way, we will again be well-paid.
6-23-03
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