Professionalism

Hello people! How have you been?

Back here again, with some delay, but I promise to catch up. And after giving our dear Mr Trump a break, this week we have the pleasure of taking him back as a basis for our learning.

He's had a few complicated weeks. Very intense, with many decisions and some personal problems. Some newspapers and different sources are beginning to make statistics and articles about how the new president is taking these first few days. The quick summary of these analysis would be that he has done a lot in a short time, although not necessarily something of all that is good.

I would like to pause for a second to reflect on something that had already come into the spotlight during the campaign months. Trump's candidacy was attractive to many people, largely because he was not a professional politician. And I will be very sincere at this point. If I had not heard him speak and had not bothered to understand who this guy is, that idea of ​​being someone outside of traditional politics would have been attractive to me as well. And I honestly believe that I would have been wrong to take that as a positive point.

In politics, as in any other profession, there are good and bad professionals. There are people with good ideas and desire to collaborate to generate a more fair society and there are others whose unique interest is to enrich themselves personally. In between, a wide range of varieties. I insist, as in any profession.

Here comes the reflection on our field. It is always easier to criticize than to investigate. It is easier to talk than to learn. To destroy than to understand the reality of what is happening. If you are in the position of making decisions, I would like to tell you something. In this one, as in so many other issues, please do not take the example of "Mr President". To successfully perform on a leading position, it is essential to understand what the story is about. You need to act like a real professional. I do not mean that you should be an engineer to lead an engineering team. Or lawyer to lead a legal team. But you definitely need to understand what these teams are doing to guide them to their goals. A leader should be, in any discipline, the best professional in his team.

And what is a good professional? He is the one who cares to understand the details of what he is going to be dealing with. It is the one who does not settle for what he has been told, but investigates, compares information from different sources, makes sure to build his opinion on a solid foundation. And finally, he is the one who has the ability to surround himself with specialists and accept their opinions.

Let me give you a simple example. Mr Trump is not a professional politician. As such, he does not know the fundamentals of political relations, the processes of public administration, nor the lines of international relations. He for sure has seen, read, and probably received explanations as he was undergoing the process to be president. But he has not experienced them. This lack of knowledge has led him to launch in his first days of government several "executive orders", for example. Some went more or less unnoticed, but others had immediate repercussions. He ordered to freeze public spending and that meant that many people saw postponed their hiring in different administrations. He issued a travel ban to the United States and caused chaos at airports, airlines, people who do not know whether or not they can go home (yes, people living in the United States). He named people with little experience in politics, exposed them to professionals, and they had to resign before a single month on the seat.

And we can not see what we do not know that we do not see. That's a phrase I've always wanted to use. It's a little comical, but it's very true. How could we expect to be able to anticipate the consequences of our actions if we have no idea about how the system works? How could I surround myself with people who do know the system in depth if I do not have the criteria to understand what they are telling me? And finally, if I do not have the humility to recognize that I do not have all the data, how am I going to be able to learn? Or to accept being counseled?

Professionalism, understood as the sum of experience and humility, is the basic component of any leader. For any team. In any context. No one says you can not lead without this, but you probably will not be the brightest leader on the planet. Want an example? Keep an eye on the news from the White House.

I leave you. I'll be back in these days.