Being A Professional In Business (2023)

Welcome back to episode 25 of Baktari MDs' CRASH CEO SCHOOL! In this weeks episode we talk about the definition of being a PRO and how you can elevate your professional game! Ever wondered what it means to be a pro and how you can be respected as one? All of the tips and trick you need are right here! Find out all of this and more in the full episode! 

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    Jonathan Baktari MD is the CEO of eNational Testing, e7 Health, & US Drug Test Centers. Jonathan Baktari MD brings over 20 years of clinical, administrative, and entrepreneurial experience. He has been a triple board-certified physician specializing in internal medicine, pulmonary, and critical care medicine.
    Jonathan Baktari MD is a preeminent, national business thought leader interviewed in The Washington Post, USA Today, Forbes, Barron’s, and many other national publications. He is also an opinion writer for The Hill and the Toronto Star.
    He is the host of a highly-rated podcast Baktari MD as well as a guest on over 50 podcasts. Jonathan Baktari MD was formerly the Medical Director of The Valley Health Systems, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Culinary Health Fund. He also served as clinical faculty for several medical schools, including the University of Nevada and Touro University.
   Jonathan Baktari MD is also the author of the highly-rated course High Converting Call Class where he shares his secrets of increasing revenue through incoming phone calls.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;05;11
Unknown
And what that taught me is once you have a certain standard for the product that you're putting out,

00;00;05;11 - 00;00;17;05
Unknown
you can't study for a C, right. In a pass fail course. So I think that is a really great real life example of what professionals strive to do.

00;00;35;24 - 00;00;58;24
Unknown
Hi. Welcome to another episode of Baktari MD. As you know, this year we've been doing Crash CEO School, where we give you all the skills you need to become an amazing leader in your organization. Today, I want to talk about a very broad topic that sometimes is misunderstood or people maybe not really think about it, which is what it is to be a professional.

00;00;58;26 - 00;01;32;26
Unknown
I think a lot of people feel that professionals are just athletes or people who've gone through medical school or who have become a violinist or what have you. But professional is actually a stature that anyone in any field could achieve by adopting the same traits that we expect in a professional athlete, in a professional singer. Anyone who is considered a professional that really resonates with people and at the end of it, it really means something.

00;01;33;03 - 00;02;06;09
Unknown
So you probably would not expect, you know, a basketball player to show up an hour late for a game. You wouldn't expect someone who's putting on a concert to forget what night the concert was. And so while we don't really talk about it, being a professional means a set of standards that would apply no matter what field you're in, whether you own a landscaping business, whether you have a moving company, whether you run a pawn shop, it doesn't really matter.

00;02;06;11 - 00;02;30;27
Unknown
The fact that being a professional is something that anyone can be in any field is means that you have to strive for it. Even if you feel that the industry you're in or the work you're doing doesn't really call out for the person to be a professional. Professionals’ label or status is given to someone who upholds a certain standard.

00;02;30;29 - 00;02;32;06
Unknown
And we're going to talk about that.

00;02;32;06 - 00;02;51;22
Unknown
What is it about being a professional that's very obvious and people recognize it when they see it, but it's not always clearly defined, right? So if I'm a young person and I want to strive to be a professional in whatever I'm in, I'm starting to do or whatever business I've started. What does that mean

00;02;51;25 - 00;02;55;04
Unknown
that I'm going to hold myself out as a pro in this industry?

00;02;55;04 - 00;03;25;19
Unknown
Well, you know, let's let's break it down a little bit. Let's get a little bit granular. And I think we can get to the core of what a professional looks like and what it takes to be a professional. Because at the end of the day, if you are a pro in your industry, whatever it may be, your chances of succeeding are going to be significantly higher, not only in the eyes of your clients, your customers, but even the people you bring on to their organization.

00;03;25;21 - 00;04;00;22
Unknown
I don't think it's any secret that people take pride in their organization if it's run professionally. If there are pros at the helm of it, you can only imagine what that does to the overall morale of staff customers, everyone. So there is something very important about achieving this status that you, your company, are professional. Like I said, even if it involves something that maybe traditionally people, you know, might not feel like driving an Uber is really a profession, but it is.

00;04;00;24 - 00;04;13;11
Unknown
And what you will find is no matter what industry you're in, even in that industry, when you see a pro, you will know it, right? It's going to hit you over the head. So let's go over it

00;04;13;11 - 00;04;29;19
Unknown
To get granular. The first thing that people associate with being a professional is competence, right? Because you could have everything else, but if you're not competent in what you're doing and that shows it, there's no way you can sort of get the professional label right.

00;04;29;21 - 00;04;48;25
Unknown
So professional means you've been in the industry, you understand it. Now, I understand some people are getting into a field, so technically you may not be a pro yet, but you're on the road to being a professional and that should be the goal where you have a really amazing handle on what you're doing and your confidence level is through the roof.

00;04;48;25 - 00;05;16;06
Unknown
The main thing about professionals and competence is no matter where they are in that learning curve, to become an expert in their industry, the one trade is no matter where they are on the learning curve, that they're striving for more. Right. So someone who is may not be as professional may get a certain level of competency. You may take a course, you may spend one year, you know, shadowing someone.

00;05;16;06 - 00;05;46;23
Unknown
But but then you kind of stop. And I think this is one of those traits that's pretty obvious to see versus someone who's always striving to get to the next level. And it's sort of an intangible, but for whatever reason, people seem to recognize someone who is striving to continue to become more and more competent. So competency and being a professional are tied, you know, hand in hand.

00;05;46;23 - 00;06;10;19
Unknown
Right? If you let's take sports we'll do a lot of sports analogy because I think everyone can relate to it. If someone is not a great, great basketball player, they’re simply will not become a pro in the NBA no matter how many these other traits we talk about that you may have. At its core, you have to be competent at what you do and often very competent.

00;06;10;21 - 00;06;25;29
Unknown
So you can't substitute other traits for being you know, the Michael Jordan ideally of what you're you're trying to do. And even if you're not Michael Jordan, you should certainly have that as a goal to be the best. So

00;06;25;29 - 00;06;36;01
Unknown
in terms of competency, it's there and the ones that are competent are always striving for a higher level. They never pause and say, okay, I think I got enough of it.

00;06;36;06 - 00;07;00;21
Unknown
They're always learning, going to conferences, trying to grow, talking to other people in the industry. You can see that when someone is really at the top of their game, but they're still going to conferences, looking out for more advice, reading and reaching out to other people. So they themselves can get even better. First real mark of a pro competency and this strive to always be getting better.

00;07;00;21 - 00;07;05;25
Unknown
The second thing that is really important is reliance and dependability.

00;07;05;25 - 00;07;10;00
Unknown
If people can't rely on you, if you're not dependable,

00;07;10;00 - 00;07;33;29
Unknown
one day you say one thing and the next day you say another, or you're late, or you have excuses for this and that. I think what happens is that even though you may be ultra competent, if they can't count on you, right? I mean, if LeBron James would show up late to a third of those all his basketball games, it wouldn't really matter how good he is.

00;07;33;29 - 00;07;40;14
Unknown
He probably wouldn't be in the NBA. And that's an exaggeration. But you see that if you don't have reliability

00;07;40;14 - 00;07;52;09
Unknown
and dependency, that it will jeopardize even your competence. So you need competence. But then let's add the other missing ingredients, which is, number one, reliability and dependance.

00;07;52;09 - 00;08;02;19
Unknown
The next one is ethics and honesty. And by that, I really mean, you know, you want to deal to deal with people fairly, right?

00;08;02;19 - 00;08;04;05
Unknown
You want to

00;08;04;05 - 00;08;26;21
Unknown
do the right thing in the right situations. Often you'll see when you're dealing with someone who's very competent but also is very fair. Right. They're not they don't try to take advantage of a situation. They're not going to exaggerate. If something is this way or that way, they're they're going to focus on being straightforward and direct.

00;08;26;23 - 00;08;43;11
Unknown
And I think that compliments the competency. Right. So if you have competency without the reliability, without the dependency, and then there's an issue in terms of dealing with people fairly, because that can undermine your professionalism.

00;08;43;11 - 00;09;06;21
Unknown
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00;09;06;24 - 00;09;16;28
Unknown
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00;09;16;28 - 00;09;24;26
Unknown
The next one is compassion and empathy. What you will see running through every true professional

00;09;24;26 - 00;09;34;29
Unknown
is empathy, compassion and enthusiasm for clients, for colleagues, for other people in the industry.

00;09;35;02 - 00;10;16;25
Unknown
You know, I have one friend of mine who's a big giant in his industry, but, you know, one besides knowing them more than anyone else in that industry. He will answer anyone's phone call and help anybody give advice to anybody and without any expectation of anything in return. That along with his competency and knowledge base, you know, makes him the real authority in this industry because not only does he have all this information, but his ability to have compassion, empathy for people in the industry, for people and in his organization, for his clients, elevate his stature as a professional.

00;10;16;25 - 00;10;27;29
Unknown
The next one is probably here, even though then down the list is probably one of the most important, which is striving for putting out your best product, right?

00;10;27;29 - 00;10;38;15
Unknown
I think people who are not professional, the kind of product they put out, may vary from day to day or month to month or if there's a personal crisis in their lives.

00;10;38;18 - 00;10;54;05
Unknown
One of the best examples I like to give of this is you rarely, rarely see it, but let's say professional athlete who had a fight with their spouse the night before. It is possible, but you rarely, you know, see that impacting

00;10;54;05 - 00;11;06;00
Unknown
their performance, whether it's a male or female, whatever, or if let's say they were involved in a bad business deal the day before or they got some bad news.

00;11;06;00 - 00;11;22;28
Unknown
By and large, rarely do you look at someone on stage or an athlete on TV and say, well, he must have had a bad day yesterday, or you know, something must be going on with him. So what does that tell you then? If you can like,

00;11;22;28 - 00;11;29;27
Unknown
you know, say that about your accountant, right? If you go in a meeting with your accountant and he's a little off and you're like, wow.

00;11;30;00 - 00;11;40;20
Unknown
And then you find out something's going on with, you know, your your TV repair guy or whatever. The point is, what is going on in their lives?

00;11;40;20 - 00;12;07;00
Unknown
I mean, everyone's human. I'm not saying if something tragic happens, it won't impact the person, but I'm talking about the ups and downs of daily lives, not the sort of once every ten year life events, which is horrible, but the regular ups and downs of daily living, you know, getting a ticket in the morning when you drive to work, whatever it is, those kind of things when it comes to a professional, has minimal to no impact on the product they put out.

00;12;07;00 - 00;12;43;03
Unknown
Doesn't mean they're not thinking about it, doesn't mean whatever, they're human. We're all human. But the ability to have those things impact, meaning what's going on necessarily. You know, it what's going on in their personal lives or other aspects of their lives impacting the product they put out. And in fact, there are some people where if they feel they can't put out their A-game because of what's going on, often, you know, they'll take a break or take a week off, whatever, because they're so, so ingrained to only being able to put out one product.

00;12;43;03 - 00;13;00;11
Unknown
You know, it's interesting. I was trying to think of an example where this applied to me and I actually one of the most glaring ones that I recall was when I was in college in my last semester of college, I was given an opportunity to take a course pass fail.

00;13;00;11 - 00;13;05;29
Unknown
So I figured, well, wow, an opportunity to get class for pass fail.

00;13;06;02 - 00;13;14;04
Unknown
So I'm going to take this really hard advanced biology class, but I'm not going to have to work that hard because

00;13;14;04 - 00;13;29;00
Unknown
pass fail. So all I have to do is study for a C, I'll pass and I'll be able to take it easy in this course. So what was interesting is so I started the course saying, okay, let's study for a C, right?

00;13;29;02 - 00;13;32;25
Unknown
And I'll be able to kick back. But, you know, it's interesting,

00;13;32;25 - 00;13;50;09
Unknown
I couldn't calibrate what a C look like, right? Because I was trying to get A's in college and so I didn't know how to study for a C And I tried I really tried my best to just study only to get a C or B minus, whatever.

00;13;50;11 - 00;13;58;01
Unknown
And what was interesting is I took the final and I got it back and, you know, I got an A.

00;13;58;01 - 00;14;16;04
Unknown
And what that taught me is once you have a certain standard for the product that you're putting out, you can't study for a C, right. In a pass fail course. So I think that is a really great real life example of what professionals strive to do.

00;14;16;08 - 00;14;39;17
Unknown
They don't have another product, right? They don't have multiple gears that they're going to put out. And you know, you see this in sometimes with people who are not professional, like, well, that client is only paying me this, so I'm going to, you know, given the product, but I'm not going to give them the product or, you know, usually when I do this, I don't get much credit.

00;14;39;17 - 00;15;06;11
Unknown
The credit goes somewhere else. I'm not going to put out the product or sometimes just even gratitude no one's ever going to know I put out this level of whatever. So who cares? Like, nobody will ever know. So let me give my B product or my C product. And then sometimes there's just the circumstances. You know, like this is really not a valuable client or we're doing this for free any way.

00;15;06;13 - 00;15;28;16
Unknown
So if you know people that can put out a different product depending on the circumstances, you know, that tells you in the area of being a professional that they probably have some room for improvement. So the real pros do not have multiple gears and put out product depending on circumstances.

00;15;28;16 - 00;15;46;10
Unknown
Okay. Well, thank you so much. Listen, if you liked this kind of content, please comment like and subscribe. If you have your own definition of being a professional, please leave it in the comments section. If you think I missed something or if you want to add something, feel free. I'm more than happy to address those comments.

00;15;46;13 - 00;15;48;27
Unknown
Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.