As a consultant, I am a paid expert.<\/p>\n\t
What does it take to be an expert?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t A few things. \u00a0There is subject matter specific lingo\/vocabulary that experts use; if you know the lingo you somewhat self-identify as an expert. \u00a0Experts are sometimes published. \u00a0Experts know frameworks and the history of their subject matter. \u00a0They are knowledgeable, and can demonstrate that knowledge to others.<\/p>\n\t How do you demonstrate knowledge?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t You can answer questions about your subject…lots of them; pretty much any question a layman can think of. \u00a0You know of stats and research. \u00a0 You can be helpful to people regarding your subject matter\/industry. \u00a0You can talk about your subject in such detail that a layman could scarcely follow the conversation. \u00a0If you can talk about something in so much detail that others can’t understand you, people assume you know a lot.<\/p>\n\t One thing I have not mentioned: You don’t necessarily have to be right about your subject, just informed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t Most important questions in life do not have right answers, just trade offs. \u00a0Experts always provide their “expertise” from a certain point of view. \u00a0The assumptions that underlie their advice are not stated, and sometimes the experts themselves do not realize their underlying assumptions.<\/p>\n\t Experts are sure of themselves. \u00a0We believe people who are confident<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t This is one of the main issues with experts: \u00a0As long as a certain person knows more about a topic than you do, they can sound like an expert<\/strong>….even if they know little or are\u00a0completely\u00a0wrong.<\/p>\n\t When I was a few months into learning Spanish, a new student was listening to my conversation with someone else, and said, “Wow, you are so fluent. \u00a0How long did that take you?”. \u00a0She didn’t realize my vocabulary was limited, my verbs were conjugated wrong, and the person I was talking to probably thought I sounded like a child….as long as my Spanish was better than hers, she identified it as correct.<\/p>\n\t It is like that with experts. \u00a0Only a real expert can identify another expert. \u00a0The rest of us will identify an expert as anyone who knows more than we do about a given subject<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t A real expert is very unsure<\/strong>. \u00a0They know they are informed; however, the “right” answer is very elusive and they know it.<\/p>\n\t The only experts I hear that admit to this are academics, since their jobs are secure and they aren’t really leading people who need to believe in them. Anyone who is sure of their knowledge is either putting on a show for some other reason or they are foolish<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t The issue is that very few people want to put forward an expert who is so unsure of their ability to give the right answer<\/strong> (after all, aren’t experts supposed to be right?)….so by definition we are advancing experts who are not expert<\/strong>. \u00a0They might be knowledgeable; however, they are misleading us as to the extent of their knowledge and how\u00a0transferable\u00a0 it is to other areas they might be opining on.<\/p>\n\t The deeper your knowledge in one specific area, the less breadth you generally have across areas…you’re a technician of a sort. \u00a0We want general experts we can ask questions that apply to real life, not someone lost in the minutiae\u00a0of a single subject.<\/p>\n\t The worlds foremost expert on human cell membranes or mammal fat metabolism, cannot tell us why people are getting fat. \u00a0If they might opine on why people are getting fat (with some unuseful answer about too many calories) , I don’t think they would be able to answer what to do about it.<\/p>\n\t The fact is that we are unable to identify the right person to ask why we are getting fat…if there even is a person.<\/p>\n\t Why do we need experts<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\t The world is increasingly complex, and the store of human knowledge is increasing. It is hard to know everything, so we must increasing rely on others<\/strong>. \u00a0If we don’t believe anyone, then we are overly cynical and unlikely to help move anything forward (naysayers usually aren’t much help).<\/p>\n\t Additionally, I believe our concept of “right” has increased in specificity as science has advanced. \u00a0If someone 100 years ago were asked the “right” diet, I think they would answer something vague about enough to eat, or good balance of fruits\/vegetables, etc. \u00a0With the concept of calories and FDA percentage of vitamins and minerals the “right” diet now might be some very specific combination of foods (calories, vitamins, minerals, fat,\u00a0cholesterol, carb content etc.) designed to optimize total health (measured by homone levels or BMI or something). \u00a0In short, it is getting more difficult to find the “right” answer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t How do I identify experts<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\t The short answer is that to identify expertise you must have some yourself….or put faith in someone who selects expertise for you.<\/p>\n\t It isn’t a hard answer for me: \u00a0I attempt to educate myself (which is time consuming); or I ask someone I trust (friend of family member).\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a consultant, I am a paid expert. What does it take to be an expert? A few things. \u00a0There is subject matter specific lingo\/vocabulary that experts use; if you know the lingo you somewhat self-identify as an expert. \u00a0Experts are sometimes published. \u00a0Experts know frameworks and the history of their subject matter. \u00a0They are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[74],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3IMYj-8o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":820,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=820","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":0},"title":"What good is being smart?","author":"kellio","date":"January 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I love this question because I often hear people talk about all the awesome uses of being smart. I have a point of view on it for two main reasons: \u00a0a) I've took a bunch of standardized test in my life. \u00a0While no genius, I would generally qualify as smart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inside My Head"","block_context":{"text":"Inside My Head","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=49","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":1},"title":"Home ownership (part II): Advantages and Disadvantages","author":"kellio","date":"February 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Advantages: It is better than coming home to a rental. There is a sense of increased comfort when everything is yours and you know that if you don't like the way the kitchen is...you can tear it out and make it how you like. (Not that I'm likely to do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm doing"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm doing","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":414,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=414","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":2},"title":"So you want to be a consultant?","author":"kellio","date":"January 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are a few thoughts on what it takes to be a good consultant (something I work at everyday): Consulting is generally filled with smart people. I mean that in the high IQ, \"Gee, s\/he is really smart\" kind of way.\u00a0 That is one thing to keep in mind if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thoughts on Work"","block_context":{"text":"Thoughts on Work","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=16","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":3},"title":"The Tyranny of Goals","author":"kellio","date":"October 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Making goals and working towards them is good right? Everyone says so. It is true that the goal oriented \"get\" more than others...that makes sense. Purposefully going in a direction will more likely get you in that direction that not trying at all. You'll never accidentally end up with exactly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thoughts on Work"","block_context":{"text":"Thoughts on Work","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=92","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":4},"title":"Cynical, overly nostalgic, temperamental, and hard to please.","author":"kellio","date":"August 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I started writing something, but I lost patience to finish it.\u00a0 Its filed with all my other unpublished posts that will likely never get done. It was about routine.\u00a0 Adutlhood is about routine.\u00a0 It consumes my life. It was about acceptance of average, simply because at any given moment you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=110","url_meta":{"origin":520,"position":5},"title":"Economics…the dismal science","author":"kellio","date":"November 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Banks are not using the Fed bailout money to ease the tight credit market.\u00a0 They are using it to shore up their balance sheets and consider acquisitions of weaker banks who were perhaps not able to get as much bailout money.\u00a0 It is simply making the concept of \"too big\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories\/Observations"","block_context":{"text":"Stories\/Observations","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}