How do professionals learn to keep secrets?

It’s called integrity!

@Tropical_Willie Where does one develop integrity then?

I’ve worked with many clients, both businesses and individuals, who are very well-known. Yes, I know some juicy things about all of them. I don’t say a word to anybody. I would never even share the fact that these people and entities are my clients. The mere fact that I work with them is something that I keep confidential. That’s simply the way it is, and it can’t be any other way.

We build up enough self-esteem so that we don’t have to blab to get attention.

@RedDeerGuy1 That’s a good question. Both are good questions: your OP and your second question in response to @Tropical_Willie. I’m trying to figure out how to answer.

I know I wasn’t born being able to keep secrets. Neither was I born with integrity. It’s something I learned as a child.

I learned it first from my parents. They are serious-minded individuals. They take life seriously, and they taught that to me. I think that’s where it started.

Taking life seriously means that I don’t treat other people flippantly. I treat them respectfully. Respect means that when someone tells me something in private, I honor their privacy. I think that’s it. I respect other people, so I don’t divulge what they tell me in confidence.

In addition, to @Hawaii_Jake‘s post, many university degrees include courses that teach people going into a particular profession, the legal and ethical expectations related to their field. And the potential consequences should they breach ethical standards. That might mean being debarred, or unregistered, or fined or even facing legal charges.

In most professions, there is at least an expectation that you will maintain an individual’s privacy. In some professions it is a legal requirement.

All of the above.

But to put it simply, as a professional, it is your “job” to not divulge someone’s conversation or concerns with someone else. It goes with your profession.

Exceptions are when someone plans to seriously harm or kill themselves or someone else, or in a case of child abuse. Even then, you report only to the proper authorities.

I am not understanding the question. What is there that you have to learn about keeping confidences? Do you not know what is meant by this? Can you imagine someone explaining why he blabbed about his client by saying that he flunked the course on keeping integrity?

I’ve worked for hospitals and I have never broken any HIPAA rules, and it’s really not difficult to keep patient information confidential.

First of all, usually, it is not a personal relationship with them, so it’s not like my husband or other friends know the person, so I wouldn’t even think to bring a stranger up. Even when it is someone known to other people I know, I simply feel a responsibility to protect them, aside from it being illegal to share any information. You just know you can’t talk about their situation. I’ve never had a problem keeping a secret for another.

Integrity, golden rule, respect, laws, all help contribute to doing the right thing in these cases.

You learn what is right and wrong, especially if you are training to be a professional in jobs where you need to do it, meaning keeping confidences.Just like any other job where you have a protocol for safety precautions.

If it’s not your job, you simply do it, if you know you need to. It’s not rocket science.

It’s interesting that you’ve seen a wide range of answers here for a relatively simple question, right?

I think it shows there’s two ways people gain the ability to keep confidences or show integrity.

1) They feel the importance of integrity deeply (or are told of its importance) and never need to question it. Integrity is part of their basic makeup and who they are. It’s just right. No further explanation needed.

2) They’ve thought about themselves (or the the world) without integrity and decided it’s important to them. It might be that they acted without integrity and didn’t like the results, or they witnessed someone else and didn’t like it there. But somehow they came to where they are through experience.

My wife is in the first camp. She just knows what feels right and there’s not much more to worry about. She does the right thing because it’s the right thing.

I’m more of the second camp, I have to think it through. I’ve screwed up more, and had to apologize more. I do the right thing because I’ve decided I don’t like where the wrong thing leads and who I end up being.

You could take a broader look and probably find a lot of correlation between people’s beliefs on integrity and other behaviors and interests. I would imagine the majority of those drawn to areas where confidentiality is important value those traits highly themselves.