Professional Subordination - Part 2

Not sure I agree with everything presented here...

When a true genius enters the world, you will know him by this sign.  All the dunces will be in confederacy against him.  -  Johnathan Swift

Mike & Mark,

I rarely disagree with your advice or concepts, but this cast gave me pause.  In an ideal world, this approach might represent the zenith of professionalism.  In the real world, or at least the corner that I occupy, a person behaving in this fashion would probably not be considered professional but rather a brown-nosing synchophant.  While I recognize the necessity to declare a battle lost, and move ahead with a selected option, going from stern opposition to an option one day to cheerleading for it the following day would seem to strain any manager's credibility with his or her directs.

In 30 years and 7 or 8 different large organizations, I have met exactly one leader that was so respected that her word on an issue was the FINAL word.  Anyone who continued to complain or fight was effectively chewed up and spit out, managerially and intellectually, she was that good at her job.  That is the exception to the rule as near as I can tell.

While I can't or wouldn't condone slow-walking a project based on my disagreement with its underlying principles,  I don't consider expressing reservations about it, even to my staff, to be unprofessional.  My credibility with my people is more valuable to me than towing the proverbial "company line" on every issue.  Just my thoughts.