There’s been much to do lately about what qualifies someone to be an expert. Whether it’s discussions on Brazen Careerist, a quick how-to guide in a New York Times bestseller or past posts on this very blog, expertise seems to be something that’s a bit tricky to define and explain. Many people proclaim themselves to be experts, but not as many are. Unless they happen to have “M.D.” after their names, or “Professor” before them.
Believe it or not, I’ve been called an expert in many areas that I personally thought that I had no business being an expert in. I helped to teach dating classes when my love life was at an all-time low (though they went surprisingly well). I made presentations to clients on topics that I only had a rudimentary knowledge of (thanks, Wikipedia!). And then there’s the time my friend Ben asked me to cut his hair because I had at one point worked at a hair salon (as a receptionist, hence the problem).
The issue with expertise is much like the problem with art. How do you define someone as an artist? I was once taught that there were three criteria that should be used as a base for defining an artist:
- Has the person self-identified as an artist?
- Do others agree that this person is an artist?
- Does their art stand the test of time?
You must have the answer of “yes” to all three of these questions to be deemed an artist who has produced real art. It’s how we can distinguish the professionals from the amateurs. It’s what makes the Mona Lisa a fixture in the Louvre and your preschool drawings a fixture in the box in your parents’ attic. So I propose a similar set of criteria for experts that must all be fulfilled completely in the positive in order to prove their expert-ness:
- Has the person self-identified as an expert?
- Do others agree that this person is an expert?
- Does the content that they produce give reliable and valid results that stand the test of time?
So if you proclaim yourself, say, a social media expert, you will not only have to have others agree that you have expertise in social media, but will also be able to produce real, calculable information and results that prove your expertise is correct (higher click-through rates, a certain number of active followers, a high ROI, etc). Those who cannot fulfill all three areas are not experts.
So in conclusion: Tony Robbins? Expert. Doctors? Experts. The guy who hangs out by the bus stop yelling obscenities into his shoe? Not an expert.
The next time someone tells you that they are an expert, check their credentials, what others say about them, and whether what they offer is valid and reliable. You might end up being more of an expert than they are!
