Professional Ethics: Recommend Mindfully

Word-of-mouth plays a vital role in the creative industry. Although a track record is not built overnight, I am sure most creatives can lose count of the number of times they got a job because someone else put them on, or put in a word for them. While some creatives don’t find it hard to recommend others to clients or for projects that they are unable to work on, we have to be certain that these acts of recommendations are for the right reasons.

Without probing too deeply, a recommendation can be perceived as a selfless act, especially when it is a project that you are qualified to work on. But beneath the pile of kind words used to make that recommendation, sometimes lie unethical intentions. And the interesting part is that we sometimes err in some of these regards without knowing.

Don’t recommend a person simply because you know them. Loyalty is an excellent quality, but when it comes to professional competence should overrule loyalty when we think about recommendations. It is great to want to be thoughtful and think of returning a favour through a recommendation, but before you do that, be certain that the person you want to put forward is really the right fit for the job; that they have the skill and competence to deliver quality results, else you are only just setting them up to show their lack of expertise.

Sure enough, we are wired to think about ourselves first, even when we are in the middle of extending a kind act to another. But recommending from a transactional standpoint is unethical at the core. Recommendations should not be wielded as a social currency, but as a genuine endorsement of someone’s skills, prowess, and expertise.

It is great to have belief in someone’s potential and the trajectory you think they would follow on their creative journey. But it’s a little risky to recommend someone based on the idea you have of their creative journey, and not the reality of that journey. Recommending someone to take on work that is levels ahead of where they are can end up badly for everyone involved. The creative you recommended can get overwhelmed and be unable to keep up or deliver on the project at hand. The client you made the recommendation to can end up wasting time and other resources that they do not have. And you, well, your reputation and reliability can take a hit too.

The crux of the matter is that a good recommendation should not just be based on the relationship you have with the person you recommend, the favour you can get from them as a result, or any other one of the wrong reasons aforementioned. A recommendation should be based on the fact that you can vouch for the work, process, and results of the creative you recommend.

A recommendation should be based on the fact that you honestly think that they make a good match for the opportunity at hand, and you can put your name on the line for that. Because when you recommend a person, you are not just putting in a kind word for them, or opening the door to rooms they may not have access to, but you are backing them with your name. That means your reputation is also on the line.

So, the next time you want to recommend a creative you know, check yourself to be sure that beyond your relationship with them, you are certain they would deliver amazingly on the project at hand, and the client would be satisfied. This helps build trust in the creative ecosystem, one person at a time.