In the business world, professionals are expected to conduct themselves in an honest, trustworthy, and overall above board manner; a manner which often times has very little to do with being a professional. Also, conducting oneself as a professional does not necessarily make one a professional and being a professional is not always very professional. Incidentally, in the professional world, calling oneself a professional is often times very unprofessional, professionally speaking.

The world of professionalism can be more than a little confusing.

To explain, professionalism is often dictated by the environment in which one works. For example, professionalism in a fast food joint involves a greasy hat and offering a side; while in a corporate office professionalism involves a three hundred dollar suit and a lot of brown nosing. Also, being professional in one environment is not necessarily professional in another; a suit in a Burger King would be far too over the top while a greasy uniform in an office would get you thrown out. The level and amount of professionalism required in a workplace is often determined based on factors of income, job description, employer, working environment, and your coworkers.

Now, being a professional can and cannot involve the points of professionalism. For example, a criminal defense attorney who wears a suit and tie, speaks in a respectful manner, is very punctual, and who works overtime on weekends at city hall is said to be a professional. On the other hand, a skilled contractor who also works at city hall, shows up for work around tenish, carries a hard hat, and speaks in a harsh slang is also a professional; not because he acts professionally, but because he is skilled in a particular trade. Being a professional is often times very tricky, as calling oneself a professional is extremely unprofessional. Most professionalism only occurs at a second hand, word of mouth, level in society and hence often times goes unnoticed or forgotten.

So, in the end the only real way to be professional is to not be a professional at all; if, and only if, you are acting as a professional should in your own profession, providing that is not too unprofessional.

Professionalism is just that simple.