Creating a better future

Exploring the boundary between young professionalism and activism

When do we cross a line from being a “young professional” to being a “young activist”?
That’s a question that emerged in a recent survey of young professional members of Intersect in New Zealand. There are some assumptions in this question, but it’s
well worth exploring. It suggests, rightly so, that some forms of social/environmental action can conflict with our professional life. It may capture a tension that some people see between “being professional” and openly taking a stand for what we value most. It also raises issues for people who aim to align their values with the work that they do - so that we do not need to be someone else at work and in the rest of our life. Here are my reflections, as a person who identifies as a young professional and not an activist.

Pondering professions
To get to the heart of this question, I pondered what a “professional” is. Stripping this word to its essence, a professional is a person who is competent in a particular activity. According to this definition, they are someone who is “following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain”, or “engaged in one of the learned professions.”

A profession is simply “a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning.” For example, my learning (through the education system and my work/life experience) could enable me to describe myself as a professional researcher, strategy/policy advisor, facilitator, or sustainability consultant, depending on the work that I’m doing. If my vocation changes, and I commit myself to new learning, then I may become a professional in something else.

A profession is also “the body of persons engaged in an occupation or calling”. Being a professional therefore involves being part of a professional network too - i.e. a member of a community that is developing their competencies together. Many professions have formal institutions (e.g. governing authorities, qualifications providers, codes of conduct) for establishing competency and monitoring behaviour. Some examples are law, accountancy and various health professionals.

Other professions have less formal institutions. Some are like guilds, as they develop competency through close personal relationships (e.g. apprenticeships or vouching for one another). Some professions are very informal, but they still develop learning through community interactions. For example, professional artists partly develop their capabilities through exploring one another’s work.

Regardless of the profession, becoming a professional requires the development of various competencies. This involves a commitment to learning. “Being professional” also implies, to me, acting with complete integrity, authenticity, honesty and respect. This requires me to recognise the limits of my own understanding as well, so that I am open to ongoing learning.

Being active and responsive
So what’s an activist? Recently I was part of a discussion that explored some baggage associated with this word. It brought up lots of negative imagery. When I think of activists, I often imagine people protesting. I also get a sense of anger, as people often “take up the fight” to protest for or against something. I partly have these associations because many activists are angry. It’s also because our media plays a huge (and often misleading) role in portraying people taking action in an aggressive way, regardless of how they are acting.

A simple definition of an activist is someone who is “an especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause.” I’m comfortable with that definition, but I still have some tweaks of resistance to those words. Maybe that’s because of the techniques that some “activists” use. Anything based on anger, fear or being judgemental doesn’t attract me. I’m even wary of the word advocacy. I associate it with “telling people how the world should be”. I’m more interested in how we can bring out the best in people.

Unleashing the best in people can still be achieved by placing a spotlight on what we care about most in this world, and being vocal about any harms that we see. It involves a subtle shift towards attracting people to what we care about, instead of telling people that they should care. It also involves giving people opportunities to feel better (if they care about those things too) through their active involvement.

I’m not an activist, but I am very active in the things that I care about. Some socially/environmentally concerned people are now describing themselves as “active citizens.” This often refers to their active involvement in their community, with an intention to improve life for all citizens. I’m happy to be labelled an active citizen, so long as “citizen” includes all citizens of Earth. I am, after all, a living, breathing, conscious, human part of the Earth before I’m a citizen of any particular country (let alone profession).

I also like to think of myself as a responsive human being. “Being responsive” involves reacting quickly, positively and enthusiastically. It involves listening to my own needs and what the world is calling for. Our world is always sending us messages. It’s up to us to respond.

I therefore find it useful to re-phrase the question above. Rather than trying to draw a line between “professionalism” and “activism”, I find it more useful to ask: How can I be an active and responsive person throughout my life, including in my profession?

Being a responsive professional
One of the things that strikes me about many professions is that they are very resistant (i.e. non-responsive) to change. That’s because members of a profession, through their professional education and interactions, develop very similar patterns of thinking and actions. This "group mentality" is strongest in professions with the most established formal institutions (for the academically inclined, there’s lots of research on this in the field of institutional theory).

Any resistance to change limits new learning. It also leads to dilemmas in a world that is rapidly changing. How can members of a profession be responsive to major shifts in understanding, as well as urgent global issues like climate change, when they are slow to adapt? How does this relate to professional values like honesty and a commitment to ongoing learning? How can professions learn to be more responsive? These may be important questions for many people to ask in their fields of work.

How do I personally aim to be an active and responsive professional? Firstly, I’m clear about my values. I openly talk about the things I care about. I’m also happy to get involved in public events that are positive, non-partisan and fun. I never attack. I support events that encourage curiosity, playfulness, imagination, reflection and joy. These aspects bring out the best in people. They’re also essential for
learning.

My involvement in public activities does not conflict with my paid work (except the lack of pay). It may even enhance it. It certainly enhances the rest of my life. As a responsive professional, I also choose not to work on projects that conflict with my values. This is simpler for people who are self-employed, but I also know people who make this happen while working for large corporations.

Ultimately, anyone who’s keen to align their values with their work can find ways to achieve this. It does not even matter what fields we work in. If people ever ask me what kind of work they could to make the biggest difference in the environmental/sustainability area, I do not have an answer for them. I simply suggest that it's beneficial to find a vocation that suits them. Then they can bring their values into their work/profession. That way we can be true to ourself and enjoy what we do. We can also be a more positive influence in this world without creating any more divides.

Note: The image at the top comes from last year's Climate Freeze, which many young professionals were involved in.You can also find more of my posts on Re-Be.

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Comment by Lothar Hinsche on February 20, 2010 at 10:51am: Which leads to the question does the mainstream care enough - or at all - by the way information is served. I think as long as the mainstream tends to first look at his own backyard only - and not hears of other horizons -
anything –as this is starting with a blog post - thought provoking has value to change levels of attention.

Isnt it a bit like that - as soon as there is mass attention - masses do care more - when the information is served in the right way ?

And maybe a change in the usage of online social networks and the careless way of feeding private information or opinions into them -should be worth provoking some thoughts about and creating more awareness.

in a machine readable world and an internet that doesnt forget.

Comment by Lee Stewart on February 19, 2010 at 8:06am: Great post and really got me thinking about the professional role that I play in this world as a citizen. It was a long struggle but in order to align my values with my work involved the setting up of a business and etching out a unique niche in which I hope the demand is growing.

I do however believe that there becomes a fine line in which we cross over from being a responsible professional to an activist. I can sympathise with those individuals who cross that line after a period of time of not being heard or dealing with the usually long drawn out politics while they see their values and passion eroded away. A very topical example is what is happening to Peter Bethune who is being held on board the Japanese Whaling Ship. What the Japanese are doing is outrageous and pushes my values buttons to a new level and I can understand why the Sea Shepherd exist.

My question is do we need activists at a certain level to cut through the regular day to day messages and highlight the injustice that is going on around us? Or do they bring more damage to their cause by alienating the mainstream?

My thoughts are somewhere in between and I can see both sides of the fence. Given the current status of a lot of in-action then my bet is on seeing a few more responsive professionals cross that divide and become activists. Would welcome your thoughts on this and thanks Nick for a thought provoking post.