When “Professionalism” Becomes Public Execution

Not long ago, BBC ran a story about a senior executive fired for having a romantic relationship with a subordinate. Fair enough: companies have rules, and he broke them. But why the public spectacle? Why the headlines, the moral grandstanding, the public shaming?

The dismissal itself was professional; the public humiliation was not. What is the goal here? To make sure this person never works again? To reduce them to a cautionary tale, stripped of dignity and future?

Business loves to preach about values, culture, and responsibility. Yet when it comes to people, it often reveals its true nature: cold, punitive, merciless. A single mistake, and twenty years of work vanish in an instant—followed by the destruction of one’s reputation. This isn’t professionalism. This is cruelty dressed up as accountability.

Where is empathy in all this? Where is the recognition that humans are flawed, emotional, and yes, sometimes unprofessional? To fall in love, to stumble, to misstep—these are not crimes against humanity. They are part of being human. Should society not allow for redemption, for second chances, instead of branding people permanently?

That question extends far beyond the corporate world. Consider those who leave prison. In theory, they’ve “paid their debt.” In reality, they carry a lifelong scarlet letter: unemployable, untrusted, unwanted. Many were victims of injustice; others were political prisoners. And even those who genuinely erred—are they forever undeserving of reintegration? Where are the systems that allow them to rebuild their lives without their past trailing them like a chain?

Perhaps this is the deeper lesson: if industries treat people as disposable, maybe the only true freedom is to build something of our own. Create your own company, launch your own channel, write your own book, earn your own degree. At least then, your fate is not entirely in the hands of institutions that thrive on public punishment.

Because “professionalism” without compassion isn’t professionalism at all. It’s a machine built to punish, not to heal. And unless we remember that human beings are more than their mistakes, we will all remain at risk of being crushed by it.