Professionalism And Friendship

I know Bill Gates and so does he! We are the best of pals and spend each Christmas vacation together. So whenever I walk upto his cabin, he’d open his books of accounts, he’s been working upon and show me how much he’s pumping in to Microsoft. Where do the finances go and how he builds his empire!

I bet 90% of you are already scoffing at the lines written above. They sound so ridiculous and irrational by all means. Half of you at this moment are telling yourself – what a sham! Or perhaps what a jerk! Some of you may question, so what if you know him – the world knows somebody or the other; but sharing statements of profit and loss is like ‘making a mountain of a mole hill’.

Nevertheless, despite knowing the boundaries between professionalism and personal ties; how many of us do actually cross the lines? How many of us actually look out for a favour from somebody, coz we have excellent personal terms? How many of us take it for granted that coz so-and-so is a cab buddy of ours we can pry into his/her work space and hang around much to his/her discomfort? Yet behave as if it’s a Constitutional right to be cheesy!

At what cost – being labelled unprofessional by all means. Some people do not understand the seriousness of a document being marked ‘Confidential’ and take easy offense when a colleague/friend/superior/subordinate tries to elude. Imagine being briefed by your VP that this is just for your eyes and ears, and a week later the VP finds out; it has now become a muse for the entire organization. He definitely isn’t going to sound pleased about the situation. What may emerge next is fire fighting, all thanks to a friendship that led one thing to the other. A perfect grapevine doing the rounds.

Now it sounds pretty much something of common sense and one may suggest, of course one’s aware of such limitations. But again the human factor and psychology comes into play. We as humans love dodging the set norms and rules. Unless and until there’s no bent of protocols one may find it tough to survive the quick bites, facts and figures. After all, close proximity can always be flaunted among informed individuals.

If you talk of ethics, and standing at the line of fire with the CEO looking over; or the Project Manager as a matter of fact too, would you oblige or shrug away and politely ask the colleague/friend to mind their business. If you choose the former you make way to being the super star of the Organization passing vital information nobody else knows. If you chose the latter, you end up being declared a smug!

So with the ball in your court, next when someone decides to shrug away; wait for a moment and tell yourself – cricket matches and shopping spree together would sound such a brilliant idea off the office hours!