Friday, November 4, 2011

Experts and pseudo experts

Most of us take pride in our knowledge. We are knowledge workers after all. But let us face it, we can't know all there is to be known about all the topics that come up in our daily lives. This means that even when we are experts in our areas of choice, there are a vast number of allied and other topics where we know a lot less / next-to-nothing.

Yet, in our attempt to impress ourselves and those in front of us, we express opinions confidently; argue points with such assurance that belies the underlying assumptions, lack of research and our own uncertainty. I am not surprised that the more successful people practice this more often than others! So much so that it has become a deeply ingrained habit / sub conscious process; that the intent to mislead is subtly and deeply buried under our other personality traits.


It is logical then that we are not just one or the other. Rather, a combination of both aspects. In a small number of cases, we are indeed experts. In all others, we are pseudo experts because we convey the impression of expertise - often to the detriment of our clients.

Will it hurt us too badly if we place our assumptions and uncertainties on the table in a balanced way (yes, I believe balance is the key, despite its subjectivity) so that we don't engage in this professional deception? It does require conscious effort though.

It definitely won't hurt too if our clients are less bedazzled by our apparent technical brilliance; are able to distinguish between facts, analyses, opinions and well-spun fiction.

3 comments:

  1. Nice!! But Sucessful person needs to be a pseudo experts??

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  2. Well correct but who decide that the person is an expert or pseudo expert. Sometimes the person has to pose as an expert just to extract more knowledge from the real SME to edify himself. Untill and unless the pseudo expert is trying to unnecesarily bully others, it could be a good way to learn.

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  3. if you cud guess the name of the person who posted the above comment.....I shall owe you a treat..........

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