Professionalism, Power, and the Right to Be Seen
We don’t talk enough about what happens when the job you accept quietly turns into something else — something larger, less supported, and more emotionally complex.
For many professionals, particularly those from historically marginalized backgrounds, the transition into a new role can carry layers of unseen expectation. The position may look promising on paper. The interview may have felt aligned. But once the door closes behind you, something begins to shift.
You’re doing the job.
And then, you’re doing more than the job.
But somehow, you’re still being treated as less than your title.
When “Other Duties” Become the Job
Most professionals understand that job descriptions can’t account for everything. Flexibility is a given. But there’s a difference between a dynamic role and a bait-and-switch.
Being asked to take on major institutional initiatives; especially those tied to federal funding, cross-campus collaboration, or long-term strategic goals, should involve prior disclosure, clarity of scope, and appropriate compensation. When that doesn’t happen, the issue isn’t flexibility. It’s transparency and trust.
Power Shows Up in Small Moments
Even more insidious than the job creep are the moments when your professional identity is misnamed, minimized, or redefined by others.
Being called the wrong title in meetings. Being talked down to by senior leaders. Being referred to as support staff when you're in a director-level role. These moments are not just clerical errors. They are often racialized, gendered, and status-reinforcing signals.
And when they happen repeatedly, they erode something far more valuable than your résumé — they chip away at your sense of dignity and belonging.
Mental Health and the Hidden Labor of “Keeping It Together”
When these microaggressions and shifting expectations accumulate, the emotional labor required to maintain professionalism becomes invisible but exhausting.
Sometimes, the most radical act of self-preservation is stepping away for a mental health day. Not because you're falling apart, but because you're refusing to be stretched any further.
Boundaries, after all, are a form of leadership.
Disclosure Shouldn’t Invite Scrutiny
Many professionals quietly navigate chronic health conditions, caregiving responsibilities, or neurodivergence. When they do decide to disclose in order to request an accommodation or to simply to be honest, it should be met with empathy and action, not retaliation or reassignment.
Unfortunately, too many workplaces respond to vulnerability with surveillance. A performance review. A sudden shift in tone. A loss of trust.
We must do better. And the law agrees. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) exist to protect people from exactly this kind of treatment.
What Professionals Can Do
What Leaders and Institutions Must Do
Build a culture where people are seen, heard, and safe.
“We do not live single-issue lives.” — Audre Lorde
And we don’t work in single-issue jobs, either. Our full selves come to work; whole, brilliant, and complex. It’s time our workplaces caught up.
Professionalism is not about perfection or compliance. It’s about presence, power, and being seen for who you are and what you do.
Let’s protect that. For ourselves and for each other.