Not So Professional After All

I am a member of the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers (MAPS). I cannot resist it and must quote from their website in the About Us segment: (as taken from “The aims of MAPS)

• To uphold and enforce actively high ethical standards and professionalism by all members in the speaking business.

• To provide members with the resources and guidance in order that they can contribute to the performance, productivity and profitability of organisations.

This is why I couldn’t help myself and am compelled to share with you two of its aims. Two Saturdays ago, I attended a MAPS meeting – I was nominated as Vice-President for Education & Training and thought it would be interesting to see how they manage and run things – considering that everyone in it was professional and all.

What I experienced that Saturday was somewhat shocking – and that’s putting it mildly. This is what I encountered – there were literally two separate camps – very much like the political camps we have. Both these camps were doing their best to dominate the Executive Committee who didn’t look like they wanted to be there at all.

There were others who were doing a bit of campaigning in trying to get as many people on their side as possible – shades of a mini general election were playing right in front of me – it was arresting to tell you the truth. It was almost like watching a B grade horror movie – it was bad, but you couldn’t take your eyes of it and was curious to find out who was going to get slashed next.

The President elect had his own team, but the Pièce de résistance * was when he abruptly got up and left when the people he wanted on the new committee were not elected. The way he did it was both disrespectful and unceremonious – like a child deprived of a candy bar, he sulked, picked up his belongings gave an excuse that he wasn’t feeling well and skulked away to the sound of many jaws dropping open.

This is what I realized that day – that it was nothing more than a gathering of adults behaving like spoilt brats. They didn’t come across as wise individuals who wanted to “…uphold and enforce actively high ethical standards and professionalism…” neither were they able to “…provide members with the resources and guidance…”

There were a few good people and you could see how uncomfortable they were at the fiasco taking place. What the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers need to know is this: in order to gain respect, you must first respect yourselves. It cannot be demanded and it has to be earned – just like the titles you carry – earn it and you will do yourselves proud.

In case you’re wondering, in light of how unprofessional everything was, I declined the nomination and left early.

* Pièce de résistance is a French term (circa 1839), translated into English literally as "piece of resistance", referring to the best part or feature of something (as in a meal), a showpiece, or highlight.