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In the late 1950s,
Judge Elbert Tuttle delivered a commencement address at Emory University in
which he spelled out his concept of the professional. Eric Berson read the
following to the members at the ATR meeting in Boston on May 2-3, 2003.
The professional man is
in essence one who provides service. But the service he renders is something
more than that of the laborer, even the skilled laborer. It is a service
that wells up from the entire complex of his personality. True, some
specialized and highly developed techniques may be included, but their mode
of expression is given its deepest meaning by the personality of the
practitioner. In a very real sense his professional service cannot be
separate from his personal being. He has no goods to sell, no land to till.
His only asset is himself. It turns out that there is no right price for
service, for what is a share of a man worth? If he does not contain the
quality of integrity, he is worthless. If he does, he is priceless. The
value is either nothing or it is infinite.
So do not try to set a price on yourselves. Do not measure out your
professional services on an apothecaries’ scale and say, “Only this for so
much.” Do not debase yourselves by equating your souls to what they will
bring in the market. Do not be a miser, hoarding your talents and abilities
and knowledge, either among yourselves or in your dealings with your
clients….
Rather be reckless and spendthrift, pouring out your talent to all to whom
it can be of service! Throw it away, waste it, and in the spending it will
be increased. Do not keep a watchful eye lest you slip, and give away a
little bit of what you might have sold. Do not censor your thoughts to gain
a wide audience. Like love, talent is only useful in its expenditure, and it
is never exhausted. Certain it is that man must eat; so set what price you
must on your service. But never confuse the performance, which is great,
with the compensation, be it money, power, or fame, which is trivial.
… The job is there, you will see it, and your strength is such, as you
graduate…that you need not consider what the task will cost you. It is not
enough that you do your duty. The richness of life lies in the performance
which is above and beyond the call of duty.1
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1Elbert F. Tuttle, Heroism in War and Peach,
13 Emory U.Q. 129, 138-59 (1957).
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