Five Attributes of Being an Expert

Experience will make your process less expensive. The person implementing it knows how to work things so that the process serves the business, and not the other way around. Experience is the act of trying, practical knowledge acquired through direct observation or participation. You could think about experience as inbound marketing.

You place yourself in a situation or context under which you attract, or pull, events and opportunities. It's your experience, so the outcome is affected by your attitude and approach. Which is where accountability comes in.

Accountability is a metric - the willingness to accept responsibility or to account for your actions. You're accountable even if you don't accept the responsibility. Your actions can still be measured.

Process is a sequence of structured activities that serve a specific goal. The process is what helps you go from input to output - from taking in knowledge to producing results. A business process is defined, follows a time line, has a recipient for the outcome - a customer - adds value, is embedded in the organization, and can span several functions.

We have the act of trying, a way to go from input to output, and a way to measure that.

Process is your friend while you gain experience. You're accountable all the while. We know that what's important gets measured. Process, however will not give you vision and direction - it's just a way to provide a structure that can help you get there. Want to be an expert?

An expert is:

• One who has tried, who has practical experience in a field.

• Conversely, one who has been tried has a few wounds to show for it. If you don't have a glorious failure or two under your belt, you're probably not ready to be an "expert" for others hoping to avoid the same thing.

• One who has acquired comprehensive knowledge and continues to learn about a field.
  

• One who has authority as appointed to them by the community for having demonstrated they know their stuff.

• One who experiments - taking the field further. I call them thinkers and tinkerers.

Your execution determines how people think about you.

Comments

[DJ Waldow]

Valeria:

I personally don't love the word expert. After all, experts are usually wrong more then they are right (my MBA prof told me that...after saying he wasn't an expert - ha ha).

I realize that was not the point of your post (necessarily), but am interested in your take.

DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow

[Valeria Maltoni]

I have nothing against the word "expert", but think that if you're going to call yourself that you should know what it means.

Like with everything else, it's usually those willing to learn who are receptive to learning. Etymology and correct use of language are a beautiful thing. It's the judgment layer that gets us all emotional about words.

Looking forward to reactions from the community.

[Russ Moon]

Agree with the definition and thanks for posting.

[Taylor Davidson]

Completely agreed that practical experience and results based on an understanding of the processes used are a prerequisite for becoming an expert.

I'm curious on your point of view on the similarities/differences between a leader and an expert, or whether it really even matters.

I typically assume that an expert is not open to embracing ideas which challenge their "expertness", while a leader tries to find ways to challenge existing worldviews, even their own. Thoughts?

[Carolyn Ann]

A cynic once told me that an expert was someone who knew more and more about less and less until they knew absolutely everything about absolutely nothing! :-) (It's an old saw, but I like it.)

I agree that an expert needs to have some failures; after all - we rarely learn from our successes. As a manager, particularly as a mid-level manager, I encouraged people to try. If they made a mistake, so what? Mentoring should be used to ensure that the mistake doesn't end the company, of course.

I've also heard it posited that an expert is someone who knows more than "you". I don't agree with that assessment - being an expert would depend more on someone's ability to convince others they know more than in any actual expertise. The world is full of this type of "expert".

Taylor, an expert can be utilized by a leader. Indeed, a good leader will tap experts for their expertise. An expert who is not open to new ideas is called a stick-in-the-mud, obstinate, obdurate and other multi-syllabic words (many of them not particularly flattering).

I will observe, though, that I've rarely noticed an expert and a leader being the same person. The concept of leadership is just too much for a quick comment.

Your last sentence, Valeria, has me quite alarmed! I'd prefer a my ending to be a little less dramatic to be well (or otherwise) thought of... Perhaps I'll wear two shirts* to the event? :-)

Carolyn Ann

*Charles 1st of England wore two heavy shirts to his execution, because he didn't want to be cold and have anyone think he was shivering because he was afraid of his (immediately forthcoming) end. So I guess he epitomizes your last sentiment... :-) (Sorry, I couldn't resist, but probably should have!)

[Gavin Heaton]

I guess we're all experts in something! But you know, I particularly like the idea of "core competence" - but it is much harder to determine. And also more personal, which is partly why I like it!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Russ - thanks for stopping by.

@Taylor - to me someone who tries and is tried and experiments to take the field further should be open to new ideas and new ways. Do you think there is an aspect to leadership that is voluntary? Also, I've seen and met leaders who were very much setting a course and not veering off it.

@Carolyn Ann - that's really funny. I reread your sentence the same way you did - must have - and had a great chuckle. Wearing two shirts is a strategy. For execution of course I meant how you come across, what you actually do, and how people perceive it, which you all covered in the comments.

@Gavin - a 2 year old is an expert at being a 2 year old. This is something our chief neurological development teacher and practitioner used to say. Good thought on core competence - knowledge needs the test of trial to become practice. Funny also how we say doctors practice medicine, yet we don't have the same kind of nomenclature for many other fields. Mind is now whirring at more examples.