What we should especially wish for in 2008: Regaining professionalism.

In general, there is plenty of knowledge. Dwindling professionalism of economic players costs the economy billions of Euros or dollars every year. The crisis in the money economy, unsatisfactory results in the automotive industry, the failure of many politicians, countless professional ‘blunders’ which can also happen to executive consultants, just to name a few ‘hot spots’, are attributable to dwindling professionalism. The deterioration of professionalism stems from a destruction of time gone wild. One gets increasingly the impression that he who has no time is good, important and in demand. One could almost think that people are trying to not have time, because they expect their prestige to increase and they would like to give the impression that without them nothing is happening. Recently, a German manager tried to justify his income amounting to millions by saying that, in general, he is working eighty (80) hours per week. Nobody called for his dismissal even though there is no more convincing evidence for inaptitude than a manager who is supposed to lead, working eighty hours per week. How sick is a society that does not feel that this is wrong, that does not feel it is running the risk of being lead by overstrained managers?

Professionalism has got something to do with maximum performance. In order to render a first class performance one has to have the ability to concentrate and bundle one’s energy to utilize one’s time at full capacity.

Those of us, who ask ahead of a conference why it is taking place and what the expected result is going to be, do have spare time. Only those of us who can express what is essential in only a few words, have time. He, who can live without an appointment book filled to the brim, has time. Only those of us, who can distinguish ability from inability and meaning from nonsense, do have spare time.

To have spare time means to keep calm and to keep the distance.

If we want to regain professionalism we need time to calmness and distance. And we have to fight a reckless fight against everything that robs us of time and calmness and against everything that curtails the distance and makes us feel cornered. If we want to regain professionalism, we need to eliminate the racket around us in order to get in touch with our inside, to listen to ourselves and to connect with our soul.

True professionalism requires harmony of body and soul. The New Year is still young and fresh enough to wish for something from the beginning. Surely, not just ‘something’, but the most important thing that is going to make us successful: Professionalism. Today there is hardly anybody in the position to say he owns his own living space and that he is always able to keep the healthy necessary distance so his environment. In this respect we are all invited to decidedly advocate reclaiming professionalism. He who has the time and the calmness, who is able to keep the distance, does not have to search for new management techniques and rules because he is going to be able to put lots on the right track. For us executive consultants this means that we are going to be able to be more of a partner in dialogue for our clients, instead of gathering broken pieces.