What makes an expert an expert?

Last week Kevin Ott posted an article about some backlash against the practices of some SEO experts. It got me thinking about the multitude of people that call themselves experts. They dub themselves with that moniker, but they don’t appear to know any more about their chosen subject than any one else. The web seems to be clogged with “experts” that know less than you or I.

So, what makes an expert an expert?

I consider myself to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. The follow up to that is “master of none,” but I’m not sure that that really fits for me. I have managed to become very proficient in a number of areas. At least proficient enough to be able to spot a phony expert when I see one. I read once that if you read at least two different books on a subject, that qualifies you to be an expert. That may be true of a very limited number of subjects (although I would even question that), but it seems to fall well short of “expert” in my estimation. If I am going into surgery, even something as minor as an ingrown toenail, I want to know that my doctor has done more than read a couple of books on the subject. By the two-book standard, I qualify as an expert in at least a dozen different fields.

Webster’s defines an expert as “a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority.” Although there are quite a few people who have positioned themselves as experts, many seen to fall well short of the defined standard. It is about skill and knowledge, not about reputation and positioning. It’s not even about length of service. Much of my education and background is in business, more specifically, the food service industry. I have read a lot of articles over the years by people who have worked in that industry for years that were completly off target.

Being an exert means you know what you’re talking about. It means you have developed a level of knowledge, and a proficiency that is beyond what the average person knows. That doesn’t come from living in your own little world and regurgitating the same old info. It means working and studying to stay ahead of the pack.

Being an expert comes from studying. It comes form reading what you can from multiple sources. That doesn’t mean just passively taking it in, but actively studying what you are reading. When you read something, question whether what the author is saying makes sense. Too often the fact that someone has written a book gets them classified as an expert. It doesn’t. It classifies them as an author. Expert comes from knowing.

If you have to constantly tell people that you’re an exert, then you’re not. If you really want to be an expert. Work at it. Read. Study. Practice. Then show the world what you’ve got. The truth will come out through what you say and do.

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