Profession vs Craft: Pay Attention if you are into HR & Leadership Training

There is a reason Henry Mintzberg is one of the greatest management thinkers in our planet.

Henry Mintzberg, in one of his books, offers a sharp and compelling perspective on two types of work: the profession and the craft.

Profession: One can learn fundamentals of management such as accounting, operations, marketing in a MBA course. One can do a course on Udemy in the area of Data Science and gain competence.

Craft: Some types of competence are only built because of dialogue, observations and guidance from a Guru. For instance, Swami Chinmayananda spent years under the guidance of Tapovan Maharaj & Swami Sivananda in the Himalayas. Just like a sportsperson develops under the watchful gaze of a coach!

This has immediate applications in a work-scenario:

Is leadership a profession or a craft?

Is people management a profession or a craft?

Is an HR job in the profession or craft category?

Does my career require focus on building professional or craft-like competencies?

In this post, we pay attention to the leadership development and people management.

#profession #craft #Mintzberg #leadership #people #Guru

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