Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
Preface: The purpose of “Uncle Russ” is to provoke thought. Uncle Russ is not arrogant enough to think that he has all the answers, and, in some cases, he has no answers at all but only questions. I hope upon reading this, you can discover both questions and answers to consider.
Engineer, sales, estimator, designer, inspector, fitter, project manager, accountant, or administrator—
regardless of our role in the fire protection industry, we have the obligation to represent ourselves and the companies for which we work as professionals. While it might be difficult to place a specific definition with the term “professional,” I believe we “know it when we see it.”
Professionalism is manifested in multiple ways, but at this time I focus on just two—appearance and speech. Fair or not, we judge someone’s professionalism on physical cues such as how they look and sound. I recognize that negative impressions can be overcome but it costs time, and as a result, money to do so. As a result, it is shortsighted and inefficient to place unnecessary obstacles that we must overcome.
HOW WE LOOK
Professionals are compensated and amateurs are not. With this in mind, we expect that a professional has a higher skill set than an amateur. We also expect a higher level of decorum and behavior.
Case in point—many of you know of Dennis Rodman, a hall-of-fame professional basketball player. However, when seeking an example of someone who “looks” professional, Dennis would not come to mind. On the other hand, Michael Jordan is also a hall-of-fame professional basketball player, perhaps the best player ever to play the game, but unlike Dennis, he “looks” professional.
Dennis Rodman is colorful. Athletes, entertainers, and actors can be colorful. However, no one wants a “colorful” inspector, project manager, or fitter. We want a professional, and how someone appears is our first cue in measuring.
This is not to say that we must dress and groom to a particular look. We dress for the job at hand. If an inspector were to show up for an annual fire pump test wearing a coat and tie, it would be natural to question whether he or she understands the job at hand. Conversely, if a project manager were to attend a construction coordination meeting wearing a tank top, shorts, and flip-flops, it would likely cast doubts about their qualifications. When asked about how we should dress, I like to use the word “crisp.” We dress for the job looking sharp and competent.
One thing to keep in mind. If we are not sure what “look” might be appropriate, then dress up, not down. For example, if I am meeting with a prospective customer and I am unsure of their culture, I wear a coat and tie. If I arrive to find that I am “overdressed,” it is easy to remove the tie or take off the coat. However, it is extremely difficult to overcome being “underdressed.”
It seems today that some take pride in dressing sloppily or down. I hear it said, “I work at home, or I do not interact with customers or vendors in person, so why does it matter if I wear my pajamas or exercise gear”? I believe that dressing for work helps us “to be at work.” For me, it is easier to be on the job if I am dressed for it. If I dress for the beach, it is harder for me to be mentally at work.
HOW WE SPEAK
Professionals use speech to their advantage. Just as our competency is judged by our appearance, it is also evaluated by how well we speak. Professionals talk in ways that connotate job mastery, intelligence, and self-control. One particular point is there is no place for vulgarity. We all know that there are words and phrases that have no place when speaking as a professional. I continue to be amazed at how vulgarity has become so commonplace that many are desensitized to it. This happened to me.
It took a conscious and concerted effort on my part to speak in a professional manner, particularly when things were emotionally charged. However, I discovered that when I speak calmly and quietly and use words that are not offensive, people hear me better. I have a son-in-law who is a 20-year highway patrol veteran. He never swears or loses control of his speech. During ride-a-longs, I have watched him diffuse extremely volatile situations, and he does it by not responding to vulgar verbal attacks with his own vulgarity. When I questioned him about it, he explained to me that if he gives back tit for tat, people do not “hear” him.
Last, do not fall into the trap of using vulgarity because your customer or associate does so. I will never forget when I had a long-time customer complain about one of our best consultant’s poor speech habits. He told me that even though he (the customer) swears and cusses up a storm, he did not want his consultant to do so. He stated, “I pay for this person to represent my professional side.” Ok—lesson learned.
In conclusion, the way we dress and speak matters. Again, I understand that we can often overcome the obstacles created by our non-professional appearance or speech, but why place an unnecessary barrier between us and a customer, supplier, vendor, or associate simply because we are too lazy or rebellious to act in a way that does not create obstacle? Ask, “Do I present myself as a professional or not?”. Something to think about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Russell B. Leavitt, CFPS, SET, is Executive Chairman & Board Member of Telgian Holdings, Inc. Russell Leavitt’s Telgian roots can be traced to the genesis of the company. In 1990, he co-founded Fire Design Group, which merged with Tomes, Van Rickley and Associates (TVA) in 1991. He subsequently served in numerous executive positions including TVA Fire and Life Safety President, Managing Member of Fire Materials Group, LLC, and CEO of Telgian. Today, Leavitt serves as the Executive Chairman for Telgian Holdings, Inc., as well as the Chairman of Telgian Fire Safety and Telgian Engineering & Consulting.
Leavitt is active in numerous trade and professional associations and holds several leadership positions. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors as Immediate Past Chair of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), he has served as the Chair of the NFPA 13 Technical Committee for Fire Sprinkler System Discharge Criteria and continues to serve as a Principal Member. He is also a Principal Member of the NFPA Technical Committee for Installation and a Principal Member of NFPA 3 and NFPA 4. Leavitt also represents NFPA 13 on the Technical Committee for NFPA 909 (Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties) and 914 (Code for the Protection of Historic Structures).
Throughout his career, he has authored numerous articles and training guides, including the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) Beginning Inspector Training Program and the AFSA Online Hydraulics Training Program. In addition, he is a major contributor to several NFPA Handbooks and served as the subject matter expert for numerous NFPA live and online training programs.
Leavitt shares his more than 40 years of experience in the fire protection industry by conducting training presentations for many professional and industry organizations including the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), NFPA, and AFSA.
In 2013, he received the AFSA Henry S. Parmelee Award for dedication to the professional advancement of the fire sprinkler industry and improvement of fire safety through automatic sprinklers. He is also the recipient of the NFPA Standards Council Special Achievement Award in 2018 for his leadership of the task group which completely reorganized NFPA 13 for the 2019 edition.
Leavitt is a Level IV NICET certified technician and Certified Fire Protection Specialist who holds fire protection contracting licenses in multiple states. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.