Who do you suppose wrote the following lines, and what do you think they were writing about? “It is a body of men and women identifiable by a reference to some register or record, recognised as having a special skill and learning in some field of activity in which the public needs protection against incompetence, standards of skill and learning to be prescribed by the profession itself, holding themselves out as being willing to serve the public, voluntarily submitting themselves to self-imposed standards of conduct beyond those required by the ordinary citizen law, and undertaking to accept personal responsibility to those whom they serve for their actions and to their profession for maintaining public confidence.” And what about this? “I had better make clear what I mean when I refer to the ‘professions’. Over time, various definitions have been offered. Some concentrate on a particular level of skill or knowledge, others on status – but these days there are many occupational groups that would qualify on both counts without anyone yet thinking of them as being one of the professions. “Although definitions vary in detail, they all share one important feature in common. This is that the professions are consistently understood as being made up of people who act in a spirit of public service. That is, professionals are supposed to put the interests of the community before self-interest or that of their professional colleagues.” And this? “A profession is a vocation founded on specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to provide disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain. “This definition implies that, for a profession to be recognised as a profession, it first must be organised within a professional body.”
All of the quotes above were talking about professions, professionals and professionalism. The first quote comes from a paper entitled, The role of the professions in modern society, by Sir Edmund Liggins, a former President of the Law Society in the UK. The second comes from Self-interest detracts from the lustre of the professions, by Dr Simon Longstaff, executive director of the St James Ethics Centre. And the last one comes from a paper entitled The Professions in Society, by Clare Bellis, an actuary, who at the time was senior lecturer in actuarial studies at Macquarie University. (I contacted Ms Bellis in regard to her paper before Professional Planner went to print; she told me she is now senior lecturer in actuarial science at the University of Kent in the UK.) What’s interesting about these quotes is not how consistent they are on what it is that constitutes a “profession” – and, by extension, what being “a professional” means – because of course they’re consistent.
What’s interesting is that the first paper was published in 1976 (and quotes views on professions and professionals that had been expressed as far back as the 18th century), the second was published in 1995, and the final one was published in 2000. My point is that there has been a clear and consistent view on professions, professionals and professionalism dating back to the 1700s. So it leaves me slightly bewildered to think that in 2011 (almost 2012, in fact), there are still some people who would dispute what being a “professional” means. There are still some people who would argue about the requirements that an individual must meet in order to be regarded as a professional. And there are still some people who would seek to be called “professional” without understanding the need to adhere to these centuries-old standards and definitions. Financial planning is a relatively young industry. It’s come a very long way in a very short period of time. Other professions took centuries to rise from the status of guild or craft or society to be recognised as a profession, and financial planning wants to achieve the same thing in a matter of decades. Good luck to it. But it has to be done the right way. There actually are no shortcuts. Every member of the industry who is serious about becoming a professional must commit, wholeheartedly and without reservation, to the standards and strictures and sanctions that go along with it. Having come so far, and so quickly, it would be a real shame to fall at this hurdle – because the finishing line is in sight.
