22 Jul What it Means to be a True Professional.

Story #1 – My company assigned me to a client that I really had no interest in helping out for various reasons. Normally you can’t turn down client requests because “you don’t want to.” I had a 5 minute open and honest conversation with a director and I was dropped from the project and re-assigned to another client with no questions asked.

He was a true professional because he wanted to make sure that I was happy and respected my reasons for saying no. He went out of his way to help me when he really had no obligation to do so.

Story #2 – I was getting married and I was at the point where I just couldn’t handle the traveling across the country every week to go to various clients. The hard part was telling this to my manager that I needed to stop traveling.

6 weeks later, my manager helped me move me to an internal group where there were no traveling requirements. She even assigned me a career coach to help me find a job in a different company just in case she couldn’t find something local for me.

She was a true professional because she went out of her way to help me even when it negatively affected her project and possibly even meant losing me as an employee.

Story #3 – I didn’t deserve an office with a nice view and I really didn’t need one. I was fine with a cubicle. A senior colleague of mine made a case to the senior executives that I needed and deserved an office. 2 weeks later, I had my own office.

He was a true professional because he believed in me when I didn’t really believe in myself. It was more than just getting an office with a nice view. It was also the first time that I realized that if I want something I should just ask for it without being ashamed.

These 3 people are great friends to this day and you better believe that I will return the favor when the situation calls for it.

What does it mean to be a true professional to you?

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