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Difference between a professional and an employee mindset · ContraMinds Podcast - Unlocking Personal Growth and Professional Excellence

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Contra Minds.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast about people, minds, strategy and culture.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I am going to be talking about what makes a difference in being a professional and an employee.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is a topic that's kind of intrigued me for many, many years.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: First, let's try to understand who's a professional and who's an employee.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: A professional is somebody who's taken up a profession.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: It could be music, it could be medicine, it could be law, it could be design, it could be sports.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: People taken up that profession and are trying to be the best in that profession.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: They've taken it up as their life's cost and they go about trying to be the best in their game.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Employees are people who have a certain skill.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: You could be coding, you could be in finance, you could be in marketing, you could be in manufacturing, people who have a certain skill and they've decided to kind of give that skill or capability to an organization to meet its goals.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So what does it take for employees to be like professionals?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And what's the mindset difference between being a professional and being an employee?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm going to be talking about.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: These are my personal views, something that I've seen over years.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea is to kind of pick up some learnings and see if we can juxtapose them into the life of an employee and see if you know careers can be made by these learnings.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is really what I'm going to be talking about.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when I really look at professionals and when I actually go back and then say, hey, if you are a coder, how do you become the Ronaldo of coding?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you are say in production or if you are in finance or if you are in marketing or if you are in design, how do you really become the Nadal of Accounting?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you want to be the Federer of Style or Sales, how do you really become the Federer of Sales?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So what does it take to be the best in what you do?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And imagine an organization having professionals at every level and having a culture and a thinking of actually having such professionals across every level in the organization.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my belief is that the organization actually will be very, very different.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the kind of success and innovations that would happen would be at a very different level.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So what does it take for professionals to be professionals?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of outlining ten points that I believe makes professionals what they are.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing that I've seen in professionals is they love what they do.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of fun in what profession they've kind of picked up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're not doing it for the sake of doing it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: They've desired to be the best in that profession and they just go about doing it because they just love that area.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what I see as the first point, which is really it's not for money alone.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: They've kind of taken up taken up a passion for that area and they just really love the work that they do.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really what makes a professional a professional.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that I've seen is the first difference between a professional and an employee.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: They just really don't know what they're going to earn the next month, but they just love what they do.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: They go about, you know, doing that work and over a period of time they start kind of making money.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: But clearly the first difference is about loving what you do.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is key.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: The second point that makes a difference between these professionals and you know and if you really want to be a professional employee, if I were to call it, is the passion to commit themselves to that cause.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are somebody like a Messi, or if you are somebody like a Nadal or a Federer, the kind of commitment they bring in and the intensity that they bring into that profession is completely different.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: You may love that pass from Messi or you may really enjoy the passing shot of a Federer, but the hours and hours of hard work, perseverance and intensity that's gone in is pretty much what you enjoy at that moment.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of commitment that goes behind that particular shot.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's really the key.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So the second point really is what's your passion to commit yourself to that job that you are doing?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you really want to be a professional, you've got to kind of look at the passion to commit yourself to that particular profession that you kind of decided to pick up for your life.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: The third difference that I see is process is more important than immediate outcomes.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: What they really go about doing, and this they do over many, many years, right?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they just kind of go to the gym, they kind of go to the best coaches, they go and practice for hours and hours, hours together.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So they are really not looking at, you know, what's going to happen, you know, at the end of the month, what's going to happen at the end of the quarter, what's going to happen at the end of the year.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: But because they've kind of picked up a profession that they love, they've decided to commit themselves to that cost for life, they put themselves through a process.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this process is not based on immediate outcomes, but it is a process where they go about doing incremental improvement every hour, every day.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what is important.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an employee, go back and look at what's the process that you're putting in place every day to become the best in what you do.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the third point you should kind of look at.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth is really think longevity.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I've seen, you know, as a huge difference in these professionals.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: If imagine if you don't get paid, would you still do that job?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: My belief is that if you are a professional, the fact that you've committed to that profession, you have to ensure that you are the best in that profession.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, they go about doing it because they just love doing it.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, clearly the longevity in actually being a Federer, in being an Adile, in being a Messi, is very, very important because that's their life's cost.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, you know, the fact that even at 60, even at 80, the fact that they are the best in what they do and they basically go about building the capability over a long over the long term is what makes a huge difference to them.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that is definitely a huge difference between being a professional and being an employee.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've always heard that, okay, if you're over 50, if you're over 40, you know, you pretty much start thinking retirement.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: But clearly, in the case of these professionals, the longevity is really, really long.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So they go about actually adapting themselves when they are playing, when they are not playing, and the expertise remains with them till they live.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So think longevity because there is a potential to be the best at any age and that's really very, very important.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an employee, think longevity.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: There could be technologies that would come in and go, there could be you know different organization structures that would come and go, but you need to build your core expertise and think long term.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking long term means really putting a process in place day after day, year after year, to be the best in what you do.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's the fourth point.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth point is really professionals compete with themselves.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an employee, do you compete with yourself?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So the questions I would always ask is, are you the singles champion in your field?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a singles champion, then you need to win tournament after tournament.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: You need to put a process in place, you need to ensure that you are the best in what you do.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So are you the singles champion in your profession?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what these professionals do.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a lawyer, then you're the best corporate lawyer, you are the best criminal lawyer, you're the best designer, you're the best musician, you're the best photographer.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: These are professions where they just decide to be the singles champions in their field.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an employee, are you the singles champions in your field?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is really what makes a difference between being an employee and being a professional.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: The sixth point is really learning and unlearning every day.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: This these professionals do day in and day out.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: They stop learning after, you know, a match, that's going to be disaster.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what they really do is they unlearn after every win, they unlearn after every loss, they learn to win the next match.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So they go about building this learning and unlearning every day.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: But what I see with being an employee, I would say a majority of them, not all of them, that they stop learning after they get a degree.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: They stop learning after they start to work.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And most of them think it's their birthright to, you know, be recognized, to be promoted, to get an increment.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: But clearly this is not the case with professionals.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: You may have played a great match, but and you may be the best in that particular field, but on that day, in that match, you may lose.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, recognition and you know promotions and maybe being the best seed in that tournament is not permanent.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to earn it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And imagine hours and hours and days and days and years and years of effort being actually going in flames when it's not a match that they win.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly it's far more harder to be a professional than being an employee.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to be an employee with a professional mindset, then you got to learn and unlearn every day.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that you should strive for.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is something again which makes a huge difference when I see the work ethic of professionals and the work ethic of employees.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really look at others to you know validate their expertise.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: They go about evaluating it themselves.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Am I playing the best shot at this point?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they go about practicing each of these techniques over and over again.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So they are being honest to themselves.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: They may be the best in what they do, but they go about saying, hey, looks like my opponent is better in this area.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now how do I improve myself?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an employee, don't look for validation from others.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do an honest appraisal of your effort, strength, and weakness and be a harsh critic of yourself.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that I've seen professionals do.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: They go to the courtroom, they go to a movie and they kind of go about making a movie and then they say, hey, this is a movie that's not done well in the box office.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now I need to kind of you know regroup, find what's gone wrong, they go about giving a next hit.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly being honest to yourself is a pre-professional trait employees should pick up.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're your own CEO, career enhancement officer.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: The career that you pick up, you owe it to yourself to actually grow.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: You can't expect anybody else to drive your career.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this is really how professionals work.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I join as a junior in a law firm.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just have to find ways and means of learning every day, becoming the best in what I do.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And over a period of time I may run my own law firm.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: They go about building expertise in these areas and therefore they are their own career enhancement officers.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are an employee, what is your contribution to enhancing your own career?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: You owe it to yourself.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to be a professional employee, imagine you are your own CEO, career enhancement officer, and you have to go about building that yourself.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: The organization benefits from it, but you benefit more than the organization.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it's important to learn this from the professionals and see if you can apply it back in your own career.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: The ninth point that I have is really if it's a 90 minutes football match, it really requires these professionals to actually go back and practice many, many hours to actually play that 90 minutes.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, to play a 90-minute match, it's hours of intense practice that they do.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the question that I have is what is your practice schedule?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: So do you have a practice schedule as an employee?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So do you you have nine hours or eight hours of work every day?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine if 90 minutes requires this kind of intensity to actually showcase the capability and the technique to win a match, to lose a match.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: All these are all part of the game, but clearly the fact that 90 minutes has got 900 hours of practice.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So what is your eight-hour work need?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: The best employees who are professionals really put this to work.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore ask yourself, what is my practice schedule and do I have one?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: The last one that I believe makes a difference between being a professional and an employee is ask this question yourself.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Can you start your own academy or school after retirement?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Would somebody join you?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And would somebody want to take up the expertise that you have built?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: These are what professionals do.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So they are extremely proficient in the career, and once their career is over, when there is a retirement, they start, they start their own academy.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: They kind of go in and inspire the next generation.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: They prepare the ground for youngsters to grow and succeed.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So would you be having your own academy?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this need not be just an academy, but go back and look at how many youngsters have you groomed?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: How many of them are leaders every, you know, every three years, every five years?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And do you have an academy on your own where people kind of look up and then say, hey, I grew because of, you know, so and so.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly, as you kind of grow in your career, you must be capable of building your own academy.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: You must be built, you must be able to kind of go back and then say that this is an expertise that I can actually, you know, spend my life with and groom many people who come to this profession.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly, if you are an employee and you want to inculcate a professional mindset, these are the ten points that I believe makes a difference between being an employee and being a professional.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want employees and if you are one, and if you want to build a professional mindset, think about these ten points.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Go about actually setting up a schedule, a process, an intensity, and believe me, you will make a difference first to yourself and then to your organization.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.