Let's Put the Professionalism back in Gracious Professionalism

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

FIRST may get things 99% right and some people will "whine" about the 1% that isn't quite right.

It's not the complaints about the "not quite right" 1% that bother me. Even if they aren't presented in a "professional" manner, they usually prompt reasonably lucid debate about appropriate changes. No, what gets me is complaints about the 20% of the things that cannot possibly satisfy everyone because of conflicting goals. A small bit of critical thinking ought to determine that to be the real cause of the problem. Rather than whining that this or that goal isn't being met, it would help to focus attention on getting the goals to more closely align instead.


Being professional means doing things right. Being gracious means doing the right thing. They complement each other perfectly. But I think we should remember to use GP as a guide for our own behavior, not as a yardstick to measure others' shortcomings.