Professionalism is doing what needs to be done

Looking through my notes I found the following:

One of the problems with any organization is that people like doing what they like to do, not necessarily the things that need to be done.

Now, of course, how do people know what needs to be done?

As people are going about their work, what they know best is their direct and immediate commitments. A promise they gave a colleague. A call that needs to be answered. A mail that is begging for a reply.

Only if one steps away from this reactive pattern and looks at the results that can be seen from the outside, can one get the clarity on what needs to be done.

And this leads us to the definition of professionalism:

Professionalism: Doing what needs to be done, rather than what you want to do.