Promises, Promises
I often joke that people have two different responses upon learning that I have a law degree. One is “Oh, you went to law school? That’s so cool!” The other is, “Ugh, lawyers are the cause of everything that’s wrong in our world.” What I always find interesting is that they are sincere in each reaction even though it takes living with some cognitive dissonance. Lawyers are bad, but graduating from law school means you’ve done something difficult that not everyone is willing to do.
Originally, at least as far back as the Middle Ages, there were three professions, also called the learned professions: the Church, Medicine, and the Law. All three required scholarly preparation and the role of the practitioner was in one way or another to serve as a link to knowledge for those who did not have this education. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-03199-3_2
Each, in different ways, were considered a calling with responsibilities to a specific set of behaviors, ethics and morals. To this day, people take an oath to uphold those responsibilities upon completing their both their education and preparation and before they can begin their work. Now, in every one of these professions there are horror stories of people who have violated those oaths and forgotten those foundational values and principles, but that reality doesn’t negate the existence of the higher purpose. That higher purpose is one of the reasons people find misbehavior in these professions so offensive.
That’s one of the reasons why for many years, it was a violation of professional standards, and certainly uncouth, for doctors and lawyers to advertise. I still don’t know why anyone would choose a doctor for many of the procedures I see advertised based on billboards along the highway. But medicine, law, and some would argue, even religion, have become big business and those oaths have become pesky things that seem to get in the way of business purposes.
When I teach the Leadership Dance workshop, I remind participants that following a lead on the floor is entirely an option. The same is true in our organizational and community life. Now, it gets more and more difficult to say no to a leader when one’s livelihood is on the line. But, lawyers, doctors, and pastors, (and personally, I include educators in this though they don’t take an actual oath), have a responsibility to something higher than a business purpose. Whether it is “do no harm” or to “support the Constitution of the United States,” that oath is supposed to override personal interest and the mundane purposes of making money.
Beyond the “learned professions”: many other people take oaths or responsibility when they take jobs in the military, hold office, join a police force or become a public servant. Unfortunately, the taking of an oath, like the idea of having a special responsibility to the public, seems to have lost importance over the years.
On the other hand, one doesn’t have to take a public oath to take on the responsibility of meeting the highest standards in all aspects of our lives. Some of us have taken marital vows. Others of us have joined an organization, whether work or community related, making at least an implicit promise to be honest in our dealings with other members and to take on responsibility for the work of the organization.
In a workshop many years ago, Barbara Glanz, author of C.A.R.E Packages for the Workplace: Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work, asked participants this question. “Do you know the definition of a saint?” The answer: “A person who does everything they say they will do.”
Are you living up to your promises? Are you making the right promises? Are any of your promises in conflict with each other? Is your organization’s purpose still something you believe in and can continue to make a promise to? If not, do you need to part ways?
Our promises matter to ourselves, our organizations and to the world around us. It might be worth taking a moment to think about the oaths and promises you’ve made in your life and your work.
Take care,
Gage