TRUE PROFESSIONALISM : The Courage to Care About Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career,   ISBN:9780684840048

Customer Rating: 

I thought that this book would extend the concept of professionalism out of its traditional realm and into the world of business. But I was dismayed to find that professionalism as Maister thinks of it doesn't apply to me... because I work for a corporation. Maister sees a "professional" as someone who provides a service to a client, and who could work as a sole practitioner. His book seems to be mostly geared towards lawyers and consultants, and more specifically law firms or consulting firms.

Also, it often seems like, because I work for a corporation, with no real expectation of autonomy, I already by default have the skills he claims professionals so badly need - like the ability to work as part of a team or to accept management.

Half of the book is spent implying that professionals (or possibly people overall) are unable to be internally motivated to excellence, and repeatedly insisting that the only way to make them perform at a high level is to have an external force demand that they do so, and strictly enforce those demands. He describes such a policy as "intolerant" and uses this word A LOT. He further suggests that professionals should want and accept this, because they too should realize that they can't achieve excellence on their own.
It is a little offensive, and I would imagine that such a firm taking such a faithless approach would have great success among the average, but would drive away the best.

The other half of the book, strangely, implies that actually you can't change people that much, and should adjust your firm to contain only people who share the same standards and values.

This book is sometimes called inspiring and perhaps that is because Maister suggests that a fulfilling professional career is in fact possible (even though many may feel like it's "just a job"). And he does offer some decent, albeit obvious, advice about how to get there (think about times in your work when you were happy, or clients that you liked, and then DO THAT - find more of that kind of work, or that kind of client).

Overall I thought this book was quite muddled, with mediocre advice presented in a poorly organized way.

Note about the Kindle edition: this book has a lot of lists, and about half of the lists are incorrectly formatted in the Kindle edition (they appear as a long run-on block of text instead of a bullet list). Also, this book in print form has quotes from the main text set off in little side boxes meant to emphasize important ideas. In the Kindle edition there are no boxes; instead the quotes are just repeated in line in bold text, producing a weird effect of redundancy.

Customer Rating: 

This is a great book for people just starting out in the accounting industry. I highly recommend everyone who enters to read it.

Customer Rating: 

Got this book for my husband to read while deployed.
The book got here in a good time. Would buy from again.
thanks

Customer Rating: 

This is a must read for any managing partner of a law firm. I bought 20 copies and gave them to our partners as a must read.

Customer Rating: 

This is a feel good book attempting to make an argument that people in business can be "professionals." By definition, business people exist to create and manage a business entity inorder to generate a profit. Professionals are licensed individuals. They are mandated by law is to protect the public's health, safety and welfare through the services that they provide to the community. This book is an attempt to corrupt and diminish the definition of professionalism.