“Professional” isn’t often meant to be derogatory. But it’s an expert with specialized knowledge who will insist on nine different definitions of a group. Sometimes it’s lawyers who do this, but other experts in niche subjects are just as likely to. Their identity—and the measure of their value—can become deeply tied to the specialized knowledge they possess. And that knowledge, which ought to serve the goals of the program, instead begins to serve its own, often conflicting goals. It becomes master of the people who wield it.
