As usual:
-There’s the thing / the quality / the attribute
-And there’s what it looks like
First off — anything but professionalism is nonsensical
Everything must be done PROPERLY — or not at all
Because everything has a designated purpose
And that purpose itself has a purpose
The whole model is predicated on the idea that ITS COMPONENTS WORK
(note: properly doesn’t have to mean perfectly. It must serve its purpose AS PREDICTED — no less)
Most professionalism just looks like professionalism
It has a suit, a brand, a clean shirt, a business card, a marketing pitch, a STYLE
Then it’s just as incompetent and fucking sloppy
You can have a white shirt and be the senior director or whatever — and your project is still an utter mess, wishful thinking, no organisation, no principle, no insight, and no real results
AND OF COURSE it has to be this way!
Because until the competence, the outcome, the true professionalism, true excellence, until that is demonstrated — the best you have is it’s appearance
The set of attributes that maybe CORRELATE with that quality that is actually so desirable
Of course credentialism serves exactly the same purpose
-First it’s a pre-selection. At least SOME demonstration of competence and ambition
-Second they JUSTIFY the decision FOR THE SYSTEM
You can kind of know all that and still be fooled
Or maybe you’re half-professional, and half-looks-professional
Half an empty-suit, half-competent
Half-focused on being perceived as professional — and half-focused on providing professional value
Don’t
And maybe you’re half-screening for competence,
and half-screening for justification
in front of your piece of shit boss,
and in front of yourself
you yourself want that “certificate of quality”, so that you can justify your purchase
Of course the inverse is NOT true,
Unless it’s the inverse of incompetence,
Inverse of PROFESSIONAL-LOOKING is not yet actually-professional,
It must ACTUALLY be COMPETENT, PROFESSIONAL, CAPABLE, EFFECTIVE
If it’s not — then to fucking hell with it