Professionalism will never steer us wrong. Holding back on comments, reserving judgments, and keeping ‘us’ out of our responses enables a space in which much can happen.

The opposite, where comments are too-easy to come by, where judgments are without understanding, and where ‘us’ drives the entire process, we actually and in fact find process (and might I say progress) shut down.

Not much can happen in a space encroached upon by opinion.

Opportunity needs a nurturing space to grow as much as any of us.

We give a child room to grow. We hold back our warnings We refuse to utter threats. We do not dare foretell the future for we get it that a child is a living being, capable of much, wired to grow and to expand, equipped with intuitive strengths that will in fact lead him or her forward naturally.

The same is true of ourselves and each other. Nurtured with safe spaces we will naturally grow, we will mature, we will get to that next level, we will find our passion and go after it. These things need not be made up, but they can certainly be shut down.

Our organizations and our opportunities, our teams and our projects are the same. Nurtured with safe spaces they will naturally grow, mature, get to that next level and congruent with inherent passion.

Professionalism understands this and holds back on comments, judgments and opinion. For nothing shuts opportunity down faster than these things.

Wisdom is clear but also subtle. We must be the same. Walking in wisdom and in that professional space where ‘what we think’ takes a back seat, we find expansion and growth that we never dreamed of.

Humility understands that there are many more pieces to any pie than what we are seeing at any given time. We are not omniscient.