Expert ≠ Professional

Want to stir people up?  Get them talking about the group projects they worked on (or are working on) while in business school!  You’ll likely hear comments like:

***”Boy oh boy, that Judy was a piece of work! She never ever carried her portion of the load.”

***”I got so sick of Tony, he was so full of himself.”

***”Once, just once, I wish Audrey would have something of substance to share.”

There are lots of reasons for the frustration (e.g. lack of established processes, misunderstandings, inexperience, conflicting cultural norms, etc) but most of the comments you’ll likely hear about center on faulty interpersonal dynamics.

Take, for instance, the marketing project that a fellow student (let’s call him John) hijacked when I was in grad school.  Turns out, John was an expert marketer.  Plus, he was an impressive guy.  Trouble was, he hijacked the project.  There were five people on the team, but practically speaking, there was only one brain.  And there was only one way—John’s.

John didn’t really learn anything, he merely executed what he already knew.  The only thing the four others on the so-called team got was a big dose of frustration—as their potential learning experience had been wasted.

Oh sure, the project received kudo’s from the professor (who was unaware of what had transpired). And , of course, John  received the acclaim he had hoped for.  Plus, every member of the group received impressive grades.  Still, this begs the question, “in this instance did John (the expert) conduct himself as a profession would?”   (to ensure clarity and intent, note that I’m not asking if John was unprofessional.)

For my money, the answer is no—John didn’t conduct himself as a professional would.  Despite the appearance of a positive outcome for the project, it was really a failure.  No one really learned anything—which, after all, was the purpose of the exercise.  And the project wasn’t intended to act as a platform for any one individual’s ego.

John’s colleagues felt that John was out for John.  From that point forward, they distrusted him.  This isn’t surprising as John had violated four mind-sets (#’s 1, 2, 6 and 7).

As we advocate in The Power of Professionalism (page 41) technical competence is important.  But technical competence, even when demonstrated by someone considered ‘expert’, doesn’t automatically equate to ‘professional’.   That’s just as true in the workplace as it is in business school study groups.