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Ken Poshedly wondered: <<Unfortunately, Sarah's rant and many of the
subsequent follow-ups underscore once more the lack of respect our
profession receives from those outside.>>
It's worth noting that no professions is inherently deserving of
respect. Only people are, and professions that routinely produce
people who are worthy of our respect are seen as respectable
professions. As you note:
<<many, many of us have overcome this sorry state of affairs and
maintain good and proper working relationships with our subjectmatter
experts (SME's).>>
And with managers, including (in two of my previous jobs) some at the
utmost pinnacle of the organization. Much though we may wish for
someone (STC, for instance) to hire a magician to instantaneously
transform the image of our profession and to provide managers with a
clue, it ain't gonna happen. Among other things, it only takes a few
bad apples to poison the environment against us, and no profession is
free of such characters.
The unfortunate reality is that at each new job, we're likely to have
to demonstrate conclusively to our new colleagues that we're worthy
of respect. Nobody can do this for us. The fortunate reality is that
if you have reasonable people skills, this isn't particularly hard to
do. You just need to remember to make it part of your daily routine.
<<But the mere fact that newcomers or relative newbies experience
this problem shows how little consideration is given to those who
explain to the great unwashed HOW and WHY things work.>>
I'm something of a misanthrope (though I hide it well <g>), and
suspect that many people out there have been burned so often that
they simply treat all newcomers as suspect until proven otherwise.
It's our job to provide the good example that helps change these
attitudes.
<<Nobody disses attorneys, MD's and various other professionals.>>
Oh really? There are probably more nasty lawyer jokes out there than
any other kind of humor, doctors are similarly dissed all the time by
comics--and more seriously, by patients--priests are in the news for
a wide range of bad reasons, and on and on. "Management consultants"
as a class are roundly mocked, yet they can still ask for and get
kilobucks per day in consulting fees. It's human nature to generalize
from specific examples, and there are enough bad examples in any
profession that nobody is immune to criticism.
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