Professionalism is a mask we wear on top of our everyday personality, and is really a layer of formality through which our expertise is brought to the fore.  The formality we express depends on the specific situation we’re in in any given moment.

That does not mean that professional interactions are impersonal. To the contrary, everything is personal.  Whether it’s an encounter between a boss and employee or a customer service rep with a customer, every interaction begins and ends with the people underneath the mask of professionalism.

It is obviously possible to drop this mask.  Indeed, we usually dispense with it entirely during, for example, a gathering of friends.  There are also times when the personal peeks through the mask while we’re wearing it.  I would even say this is required, as it helps build a strong rapport between employees, employees and customers, etc.  While we may appreciate and admire the professional, it’s the person underneath we connect with.

The pleasant times when the mask can slip are pretty easy to handle.  A coworker announces they’ve gotten engaged, or a customer calls to praise an employee – this is exactly when you want to let your mask slip a little.

It’s during the unpleasant times when you absolutely must keep the mask in place.  A customer calls to complain and starts yelling at an employee.  A boss jumps right to the threat of termination at the first sign of unwanted behavior from an employee.  Taking off your mask like this is not merely unprofessional, it demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the person you’re dealing with.  This is not something you want to do if you expect to have a continued relationship with the other person: The customer will have a bad reputation among the employees at that company, and the boss will become known as a tyrant.

Would you respect or want to do business with someone who demonstrated such behavior?

Your mask sets the tone of your reputation. Wear it well.

The timecard website of a recruiting company I worked for briefly last week has a message on it that suggests using Internet Explorer 6, and the page you access to change your password is not secured with SSL.  You would think that a technical recruiting company would be more on top of things than that.

This is just a fluff post, not meant to be taken seriously.

I say 2010 as ‘Two-Thousand Ten.’  No ‘and.’  It’s a minor pet peeve when someone says ‘Twenty Ten.’  It just doesn’t sound right.  After all, no one said ‘Twenty Oh-Nine’ for the year 2009, did they? No. So why use that format for 2010? Also, was 1010 ‘Ten Ten?’ No, it was ‘One-Thousand Ten.’

This is strictly a ‘thousand’ thing.  1999 was ‘Nineteen Ninety-Nine.’ 2009 was ‘Two-Thousand Nine.’ 2109 will probably be ‘Twenty-One Oh-Nine’ rather than ‘Twenty-One Nine.’

So now you know how to say the year correctly.

I am generally wary of C-level people because I’ve seen firsthand how little accountability there is for executives.  Trust is earned and not given, etc.  That said, I’ve worked with some truly amazing executives in my career.  (Related: I believe this lack of accountability is the single largest flaw in American capitalism.)

I am somewhat noise-phobic.  I have days when noise doesn’t bother me much.  On my worst days an unexpected loud noise makes me want to run and hide, literally.  For some reason mornings are worse than the rest of the day.  My worst day ever was waiting for a concert to start in Seattle during Seafair.  I had a panic attack and started running.  I’ve blacked out the run – I don’t remember it at all.  I ‘woke up’ after about five minutes, about fifteen blocks away.  Fortunately, that’s the only panic attack I’ve ever had.

I don’t think the real time web is nearly as important as some people make it out to be.  Real-time is great for conferences and breaking news, but that’s about it.

I love cars and trucks and driving.  I also think motor vehicles are first and foremost deadly weapons and that driver training should reflect this fact.  How strongly do I feel about this?  I think anyone who takes a life while driving under the influence should go to jail for the rest of theirs.

Also on the subject of vehicles, I think using a large truck or SUV for a daily commute is utterly ridiculous for the vast majority of people.

One last thing about vehicles and driving: Almost 3000 people were killed on September 11, 2001.  About the same number of people are killed every single month on America’s roads.  From a Federal policy standpoint, why don’t we have a War on Bad Drivers?

I think this recession we’re in is much more than a recession.  Certainly not a depression (not even close) but definitely a large-scale correction.  I’m seeing a rise in entrepreneurialism, and once this correction is over we’ll see that most of the jobs that have been lost have moved to new, small, nimble businesses. (Related: There are ten times as many books about being a good employee as there are about entrepreneurialism. This is the exact opposite of how it should be.)

I don’t like cooked vegetables.  No, not even that one.  Corn and potatoes aren’t vegetables, they’re starches.

I bought my first domain, jeffharbert.com, in February 2000.

I don’t like horror movies.

I think reality TV, in fact popular culture in general, is pretty lame.  Yes, including Harry Potter, Twilight, zombies, and dinosaurs.

I’m a huge Star Trek fan.  My favorite character is the Doctor from Voyager.  My least favorite character is Jonathan Archer from Enterprise.  My favorite series is DS9, but only by a lobe.

On the subject of our political leadership: Republicans are hypocrites.  They’ve dropped nearly every single traditional conservative ideal.  Small government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility have been utterly abandoned.  They’re pro-life but against universal health care, as if the right to life (a phrase the right loves to use) ends as soon as you’re born.  They’re no longer conservatives, they’re authoritarians.  Democrats, for their part, have forgotten what it’s like to have an original idea or a spine, and they rarely do what they say they’ll do.  Their promises are meaningless.  Neither party serves the people who vote for them, they serve corporate interests.

In the 3rd grade I had a 10th grade reading level.

USA Today is written at the 6th grade level.  The Wall Street Journal, the 8th.  I was both deeply disappointed and utterly unsurprised when I found this out.

I despise advertising.  I am a marketer/advertiser’s worst nightmare.  I’m a huge fan of Seth Godin and his "permission, not interruption" approach to marketing.

I love the convenience of big cities – Seattle will always be my adopted home town – but I’m a country boy at heart.  (Related: We just bought a house in the country and I’m loving the hell out of it!)

I’ve driven across the US twice, both times from Seattle to North Carolina.

I’m a huge process improvement nerd, and I’m very good at it.  PI can be applied to nearly everything – cooking, traveling, mowing the lawn, you name it.

I generally dislike corporate-speak.

I looked into starting my own record label in 1988 or so.

I will never again drive the stretch of I-95 between DC and Baltimore.  Ever.  It has the worst traffic I’ve ever seen, and this is coming from someone who lived in Seattle for ten years.

Red lights piss me off.  Specifically, any intersection that makes me stop pisses me off.  Everything should be overpasses and cloverleafs.

Some people have a fascination with anything deep-fried. I am not one of them.

I won first place in a Halloween costume contest when I was in the 4th grade. The costume was of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and it was made almost entirely of green paper napkins stapled together.

I despise textspeak.

I’m a big fan of DIY skills, even simple ones.  I must confess that I look a bit askance at people who can’t change their own oil.

1 – Replace exhaust system on the Sentra.
2 – Replace all four struts on the Sentra, and possibly the front control arm bushings.
3 – Put new wheels and tires on the Sentra.
4 – Replace heater core in the Ranger.
5 – Finish installing electric radiator fan in the Ranger.
6 – Finish installing under-hood battery charger in the Ranger.
7 – Recycle cardboard boxes currently taking up space in the back yard and driveway.
8 – Stack lumber more neatly in the back yard.
9 – Install under-hood battery charger in the Metro.
10 – Change the oil and filter in the Protege.
11 – Unpack new shop vac.
12 – Assemble Adirondack chair kit.
13 – Assemble freestanding hammock.
14 – Put 10-gallon aquarium on Freecycle.

1-8 have to be done by the end of next week.

BTW, I’m doing all the automotive work myself, not having a shop do it.