Leading for Innovation: And Organizing for Results

5.1. Being a Good Professional

It has never been easy to be a professional in both senses of the word good: technically expert and morally responsible. This difficulty is augmented in a world that is rapidly changing due to technology, globalization, and powerful market forces. Radically altered senses of time and space have placed added strain on the ability to be a good professional—indeed, even to know what are one's responsibilities.

Whereas the notion of an expert professional is relatively straightforward, the idea of the responsible professional requires comment. In our view, responsible professionals are persons who rely on moral and ethical principles to guide them, feel a sense of obligation to company and community, and contribute ...