Unprofessionalism in Business: Why It’s More Than Just Bad Etiquette

In the complex landscape of doing business, you either find yourself: 1) stepping into agreements you thought would benefit you, or 2) agreements you shouldn’t have dealt with in the first place (especially if you listen to your gut). The experience accumulates through long discussions, cryptic email threads, or a myriad of spoken and unspoken contracts. Yet, my patience in navigating these uncharted protocols in the name of professionalism is wearing thin. It’s not the dense legalese or the strenuous negotiations that make me weary; it’s the lack of basic courtesy, honesty, and accountability that seem to be the exceptions rather than the rules.

Dishonesty about Expertise

When a business boasts of a particular expertise, you expect them to deliver on their word. But too often, I’ve found that the skills promised on paper or in pitch meetings are nothing more than mirages in the desert of hard work. A bout of grandiose self-advertisement can lead to a disastrous disconnect between expectation and reality, as I once discovered firsthand.

An event planner I found on a reputable business service site claimed to be a professional event planner, promising to fully manage outreach and event efforts. However, the closer the event got and on the day of the event, our…