A Professional Joins the Competition—and Feeling Good About It.

A colleague friend of mine just recently jumped ships–having left one major accounting firm for another. He was very loyal to his former employer, having made significant sacrifices over many years. During his time with his former firm, he clearly had the firm’s best interests at heart—just as a professional would. Think: mind-set two.

Yet, he never made partner—the holy grail for most in these types of firms.

He’s one now! As integral to the offer, his new firm offered him a partnership. He followed his own self-interests, he took the job. Good for him.

As we pointed out in The Power of Professionalism, being a professional doesn’t mean being a door-mat. It doesn’t mean adopting blind, mindless, loyalty.  And it doesn’t mean abandoning your own self-interests.

Keeping balance between your own interests and your organization’s is sometimes tricky—it requires judgment and discipline.  It’s been said that “professionals create more value than they extract”. My colleague friend did just that while at his former firm. I hope he feels good about his decision. As professional, he should.

Minimizing Politics In Your Company

The topic of organizational politics is always a hot one.  I’m sharing a terrific article by Ben Horowitz which speaks to approaches that, when followed, will minimize organizational politics.

This particular article—now over three years old—is definitely centered around the executive suite, but the principles can be applied outside the executive suite as well.

Ben’s blog is one my favorites.  The quality of his writing—and the thinking that drives it—is just terrific. Enjoy.

When Recruiting Don’t Under-Estimate The Impact of Professional Values

The principles from The Power of Professionalism, of course, can be applied in a myriad of ways. Jennifer (Jenn) Schoenhofer, President and CEO of Atlanta-based Axis Teknologies, had a really interesting one.

She was recently hiring for a position that would be a part of her executive team.  Obviously, this is an especially important position.  And if you knew Jenn you wouldn’t  find it surprising she has adopted the ‘we only hire professionals’ philosophy.

She uses that philosophy and makes it integral during the interview process.  Jenn is  clear with each candidate….“Professional values are our north arrow here.  They’re integrated into every facet of how we go about our business.” She especially loves this aspect of the interview –and she reports the candidates respond to it really well too.

Jenn carefully selected her preferred candidate and extends an offer.  The candidate accepts.  You know what’s coming….the candidate’s company counters–financially sweetening the pot.  Then the candidate reneges on their acceptance to Jenn’s offer.  Jenn re-counters, but not with money. She meets with the candidate again and re-emphasizes (of all things) just how Axis’s professional values will enhance the quality of the candidates work life AND how it will drive the company’s success in the future.

Shortly after that the candidate resigned from their company and joined Axis.  Jenn is thrilled and so is the candidate.

This particular candidate left a well-known, well-established leader in the telecom industry. They left a prestigious job for something that they felt had even greater appeal.  Jenn tells me that a significant factor in the candidates decision to leave was Axis’s commitment to professionalism (and all that goes with that).  In fact, she indicated that virtually every candidate she interviewed for that particular job found great appeal in the emphasis Axis was putting on professional values.

The war for talent is real so don’t overlook recruitment as yet another (in a long list) of ways that professionalism makes your organization more competitive.

Thanks to Jenn in her willingness to share…