[Updated] What makes an expert?

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The conference panel moderator was kind but insistent, and so was I.

Our session was starting in a few minutes, and she was going over how to introduce me. She wanted to call me an “audience engagement expert,” which made me uncomfortable. Surely there were other people with more expertise?

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When the moment came, sitting in front of a full room with the lights shining on my face, she introduced me as an expert anyway. And despite my discomfort, it was fine. Nobody stood up and shouted “I object!” The Expertise Police did not drag me off the stage.

To her, my years of experience working on engagement projects, first in my own newsroom and then as a consultant for many others, made me an expert. And isn’t expertise in the eye of the beholder?

This is one of the ways the outdated career ladder model works against us. When we view professional progress only in terms of upward mobility, we are less likely to claim our expertise. There will almost always be someone higher up the ladder than us.

In this model, expert status becomes a comparative exercise, where only those at the top count as experts. Just listen to renowned author Isabel Allende’s instant reaction when Julia Louis-Dreyfus, of Seinfeld and Veep fame, introduces her on the Wiser Than Me podcast:

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Please welcome a woman who is way wiser than me, Isabel Allende.

Isabel Allende: Julia, I’m not wiser than you. Just your imagination.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: I guarantee that you are.

Isabel Allende: I pretend a lot. I lie a lot. So that you get the wrong impression.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: So you’re a faker? Which I get to a certain extent. We’re all fakers. Right? I mean, we have to sort of fake our way through certain situations.

If an 80-year-old recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom doesn’t claim her experience, is there any hope for the rest of us? I say there is.

Where you climb vs. how you think

We can let go of comparisons when it comes to claiming our own expertise. It’s not about reaching the top of some centuries-old career concept.

It’s also not about the amount of time you have practiced. Malcolm Gladwell famously shared the 10,000-hour rule for achieving expertise in his book Outliers, based on a study of violin players. However, more recent studies have debunked how much practice matters for performance.

Instead, in psychology expert thought is considered to have four main elements: it is intuitive, automatic, strategic, and flexible. Experts apply their past experience to produce better results and seek challenges.

It’s very different to think of expertise in terms of how you approach problems, instead of whether you’re at the top of your field. This opens us up to consider a wider range of experience, as in reverse mentoring programs where younger employees may train more senior people in digital skills.

As you look back on your own career journey, you’ll likely see areas where you’ve moved into expert-level thought patterns. And the next time someone deems you an expert in one of those areas, you won’t try to argue.

Happy navigating,
Bridget

🎩 Hat tip this week to my friend Alison for recommending the Wiser Than Me podcast. Thanks Ali!

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