Erik Bloomquist: What is a professional?

Erik Bloomquist, Senior Principal Scientist at Merck Oncology, shared the following on LinkedIn:

“‘What is a professional?'”

This is the question asked at the end of every episode of The Professionals, a weekly program on NHK World and one of my favorite TV shows. Each week, the program follows a Japanese professional with some recent episodes being a beekeeper, a fish shop owner, and a copy editor. It’s utterly fascinating and so inspiring to watch these men and women devote their all to their craft.

Just this weekend they interviewed a pediatric heart surgeon. When asked what is a professional, he responded “Rather than being held back by existing methods, you step forward again and again and aim for rhe best results. You develop new methods without compromise.” Right on and a great answer.

After watching the program many times, I have often wondered what would happen if they interviewed a statistician. First of all, who would they interview? and second how would he or she respond to the question posed at the beginning? I don’t think there is one right answer, but I bet it would include items such as collaboration, devotion, critical thinking, numeric sense, and a focus on new ideas.

It’s helpful for each of us to think how we would respond to this question and to try to make it a part of your daily work. If you haven’t give it a shot. I would respond “a professional is someone who never stops trying to better understand their craft, who constantly examines assumptions no matter how small, and strives to improve upon their work through this process.”

Anyways, hope you get a chance to check out the program sometime. Here’s a link to the website.”

Source: Erik Bloomquist/LinkedIn