Professional competence

“ Still there have been developed in the other leading professions, those that are regarded as the most reputable and noteworthy, certain recognized principles which serve to guide their members in many ways. The full comprehension of such principles as an authoritative guide tends to a correct measurement of the real value of one's professional work. Likewise, while supplying certain ideals at the outset, they may aid in determining the lines of effort and action which will tend to elevate the profession itself and to the attainment of individual success in its pursuits. ”

“ The preparation of the aspirant to professional standing and distinction, or even to the most modest success, thus involves wise counsel from older and more experienced minds, from the earliest to the latest years of this long apprenticeship. ”

“ It is remarkable that, while many of these contributions may be attributed to the laudable motive of professional reputation and advancement on the part of practitioners not yet sufficiently known to the public, a great number are from Gentlemen whose position in the confidence of their respective Governments or in the Republic of Arts and Letters is of the highest eminence, and who can have been actuated by no such personal motives. ”

“ The highest degree of skill is not to be expected, nor can it reasonably be required, of all. The instruction given was * * * * undoubtedly correct, and no more would be required of him. But, upon legal principles, could so much be required of him? We think not. If it could, then every professional man would be bound to possess the highest attainment, and to exercise the greatest skill in his profession. ”

“ The profession which you have chosen is one of the most honorable, but at the same time you should not forget that it is a profession crowded with men of merit, that competition is very keen and professional success difficult to secure without years of close application to study, and a careful cultivation of the habit of speaking with simplicity, readiness and precision. ”

“ To attain eminence in one of the learned professions it is necessary for a man’s colleagues to think highly of his professional knowledge and attainments. It is not always possible for the leaders in your profession to know you personally, but if you can write they soon know what manner of man you are. ”

“ The standard of work that ensures a successful professional career is now technically very high and nothing but years of determined study can equip you for equal competition with the rest in the field. ”

“ I count it superfluous to advise you that professional success cannot be attained without a careful study of principles, and without that skill in the application of principles which is to be gained only by constant practice. ”

“ The choice rests with himself; he will be what he wants to be, or what he is able to be—professor, engineer, physician, member of the bar, an administrator or a functionary. In each of his qualifications he renders an important service to the public, he exercises an honorable profession; let him be competent and expert, that concerns society. ”

“ The professional avenues of distinction which, early in the twentieth century, were only three or four, had, by the end of the century, been multiplied tenfold by the birth or creation of new Professions. ”

“ So with the engineer, the surveyor, the accountant, or the technician generally, who has to maintain standards of service and of efficiency against the bias of profit-making. So with the manager, the secretary, or the officer of a corporation — for here business as- sumes most nearly the aspect of a profession — who has to reconcile the trust imposed on him by his employers with the duty he owes to himself and to those whose service he in turn controls. ”

“ And among the public servants who hold professional and technical posts, professional and technical training for them shall be arranged in accordance with the requirements for continued education among professional and technical persons. ”

“ As a rule, also, men who have been technically trained are, by virtue of their education, men who are endowed with a professional feeling which does not to the same extent exist among those men who have risen from the rank and file. ”

“ For their special behoof little need be said; they have acquired and practise unconsciously the principles already recommended; in order to improve in the matter of breaks they must work on professional lines, and may, within the limits which their powers prescribe, follow professional play. ”

“ But if you now devote yourselves to the acquisition of professional knowledge, energetically and systematically, you will be secure of public confidence and professional esteem; and whether you are destined to be eminent leaders in medicine, or merely honorable members of the profession, you will enjoy that reward which is independent of fame and wealth—the consciousness of having done your duty. ”

“ I confess that natural aptitude justifies in a measure the expressions "a born lawyer," "a born doctor," etc.; still, more of what we call professional skill is obtained by training than by derivation. ”

“ Everything that exercises the mind fits it for its work; but professional education is indispensable to professional men. And the profession, par excellence, of every man of this generation is war. Country overrides all personal considerations. Lawyer, minister, what not, a man's first duty is the salvation of his country. ”

“ Your professional knowledge and skill will, on the one hand, enable you to drive quacks out of practice, whilst your knowledge of the habits of the people and your sympathy with them will secure you, on the other, a cordial reception in native homes. ”

“ And our most progressive centers are looking upon him as a specialist, an educational expert, and demanding in him an educational and a professional equipment commensurate with the larger, more difficult, and most important work. ”

“ Just as the success of the worker under Scientific Management assures such admiration by his fellow-workers as will serve as an incentive toward further success, so the professional standing attained by success in Scientific Management acts as an incentive to those in more responsible positions. ”

“ Do not get the professional point of view. There is nothing narrower or more unserviceable than the professional point of view, to have the attitude toward life that it centers in your profession. It does not. ”

“ A clear head and a cool judgment are among the most necessary qualities. Urbane and affable in his manners; your first-class professional is an accomplished gentleman; his knowledge of the world and daily contact with people of all conditions allow him to assimilate himself with quiet dignity with persons of all rank in the social scale of life. ”

“ THE PROFESSIONAL TYPE
This, then, is the composite photograph of the successful professional man: He is more mental than physical; more scientific, philosophic, humanitarian, and idealistic than commercial; more social and friendly than exclusive and reserved; more ambitious for professional high standing or achievement than for wealth or power. Unless the aspirant to professional honors has some or all of these qualifications in a considerable degree, he would better turn his attention to some other vocation where there is not so much competition. ”

“ The professional—the chronic—exercises an ingenuity, and devotes an amount of time and labour to the perfecting of his craft which, if applied directly to his allotted task, would bring him out at the top of his form. ”

“ Gentlemen, a serious duty bearing alike on your professional studies and on the pursuits of your leisure moments is the due and progressive training of your intellectual powers. A serious duty. This training, no longer cribb'd. cabin'd and confin'd by the imperious requirements of examination standards, involves not only the discipline of those faculties whose powers have been cultivated, but also, and more especially of those which are weak or which have been overlooked and neglected. ”

“ The practitioner owes to his client, with unshaken fidelity, the exertion of all the industry and application of which he is capable to become perfect master of the questions at issue, to look at them in all their bearings, to place himself in the opposite interest, and to consider and be prepared as far as possible, for all that may be said or done on the contrary part. The duty of full and constant preparation, is too evident to require much elaboration. ”

“ Dangers of Specialization in Professional Work.—We are beginning to see that this process may be carried so far that a shallow and a cheap person may so fill the exacting and narrow routine of a specialty of manual work or professional service as to check ambition and power to achieve a full and rich personality. ”

“ Like all experts, they had to depend, not upon mere energy, untutored enthusiasm, and good-will, but upon careful training and single-minded devotion to a special task, and at the same time proper provision had to be made for coördinating the results of this highly specialized work. ”

“ The Profession to which you belong is the portal to all those places of power, honour, and emolument. In that Profession knowledge and industry are almost sure to attain distinction and pre-eminence. It may be said men have risen to eminence at the bar without the aid of lectures, or the laborious study we now propose. ”

“ Since this is true, who is better qualified by training, by education, and by experience to conduct this education than the employment supervisor and his assistants? If he is properly chosen for his work, he has a special scientific knowledge of human nature; he knows not only the talents and aptitudes of every member of the force, but also knows the best way for developing and bringing out these talents and aptitudes. He knows for just what vocation each one under his tutelage is suited. ”

“ The results of such work are likely to be narrow or one-sided. Each member should consider every phase of the matter and not minimize his own versatility. Remember that the layman may discover a radical inconsistency in professional practice. ”

“ If the man who is called to the task has a talent for organisation and administration, he will be a law to himself, and if he does not possess these qualifications, no stereotyped rules will avail to supply their place. ”

“ Now, on the other hand, contemplate the situation of the public servant who has entered upon his place through the portal of the competitive examination. To begin with, he is proud of owing his success not to the favor of anybody, but to his own personal merit; and there is nothing that stimulates a healthy ambition more than just pride of achievement. ”

“ The work is more specialized, hence requires more carefully selected men.
2. With standardized methods comes a knowledge to the managers of the qualifications of the "standard men" who can best do the work and continuously thrive. ”

“ Laborers whose duties are in a large measure matters of routine must be guided by the skill of a class higher in quality and smaller in number than their own, and these again by the technical knowledge of leaders in research. ”

“ There is not one among us whose education is not fully equal to your own; not one, indeed, but who is chosen, granting first his criminal tendencies, because he is a specialist in his own particular field—in commerce, in the government diplomatic service, in the professions of law and medicine, in the ranks of pure science. ”

“ The present effort will be under the chief conduct of one who, from his experience and practice, has derived means and opportunities of knowing the wants, and understanding the interests, of the class to whom he has the honour to belong. And it will be the object at all times to enlist in behalf of this enterprise the talent and services of all superior minds and zealous hearts in the various kindred professions. ”

“ Of all experts, I may be permitted to say perhaps, that the most eminent are those connected with the professions, for we must rank the professions higher than the arts, just as the arts are above the trades. We have three great professions, to wit, the Ministry, Medicine, and Law. If we could have before us the most prominent Minister, the most celebrated Physician, and the most eminent Lawyer, we would probably have three men standing equally high in public esteem. ”

“ When one ceases to deal with men in large gangs or groups, and proceeds to study each workman as an individual, if the workman fails to do his task, some competent teacher should be sent to show him exactly how his work can best be done, to guide, help, and encourage him, and, at the same time, to study his possibilities as a workman. ”

“ It is likely that the time will soon come when all offices requiring peculiar skill or especial training will be filled on the basis of efficiency, determined by competitive examination or other tests of ability. ”

“ Being each one chosen for his knowledge and personal skill in his specialty, they are able not only to tell the workman what he should do, but in case of necessity they do the work themselves in the presence of the workman, so as to show him not only the best but also the quickest methods. ”

“ The want of education, with which most apprentices must contend, interferes in other ways with their progress. The master is apt, in many instances, to exaggerate the difficulties to be overcome, and enlarge upon the mysteries surrounding his work-bench. ”

“ There would always be found men, he declared, who would make the choice between the wealth which may come by successful practice and a modest competency, when that modest competency was to be combined with a scientific career and the means of advancing knowledge. ”

“ It is, therefore, the indispensable duty of every Master to use his best means, that is, to take all proper methods for performance of these covenants. He must endeavour to render his Apprentice skilful and industrious, by due information and constant employment: he must enforce the duties of diligence, frugality, and honesty, by his own example, by kind and gentle usage, and by instilling into his mind the necessity and usefulness of these and all other good and virtuous habits. ”