Becoming an expert - Can you? Should you?

What you will get from this article: A framework for understanding at what level you (and others) are operating in a given endeavor:

Expert: The level of the chef - One who can understand how to create a novel recipe to achieve a desired flavor profile. [I am going to use 'expert' as a label in this context - I hope you will indulge me if the definition is not strictly accurate]

Assembler: The level of a person who is able to pick the right recipe book and create a meal from a proven approach.

It will help you do the following:

• Figure out in which endeavors you wish to be an assembler vs an expert
• Make the assessment of others to determine whether or not to trust them as an expert or an assembler (eg. Linkedin 'thought leaders')

______________________________________________________________

Content regurgtators

This article was first published on Linkedin, which has become a firehose of content from 'Linkedin top voices' and other influencers. At the time of writing (February 2023), ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, and it immediately became apparent to me that we have had a version of this in the form of many 'assemblers', with the only difference being that ChatGPT has a broader input data set to draw inferences and conclusions from. They both have the same limitations.

The assembler vs the expert

If you were to ask me to make you a negroni cocktail, I would be able to confidently do so, having read the recipe some years ago and knowing that Gin, Vermouth and Campari are required. I would even singe a slice of orange rind and drop that in for you - I am an 'assembler' of cocktails.

If you told me that you liked negronis and would like me to make you something with a similar taste profile, I would be stumped. I don't have a base understanding of the ingredient interplay, much less what they stimulate in terms of taste response when mixed. Now, an expert would be able to take their encyclopedic knowledge of the liquor universe and using fluid intelligence infer a different combination that would work eg A 'Black Manhattan': Made with rye whiskey, Averna, and sweet vermouth.

Linguistic experts have a similar ability - I can tell you that 'inteligencia' is the Spanish word for 'intelligence' - I know that specific translation, but a linguist could tell you that the root of "inteligencia" is "inteligent-", which comes from the Latin word "intelligentia", meaning "understanding" or "perception". By understanding the root, they can get to the desired derivation without having previously seen the result.

We can't be experts in every field (and maybe none)

Let's go back to cocktails for a moment - If you were to tell me that you wanted a Negroni, but that you didn't have Vermouth, I wouldn't be qualified to tell you what to do - I have 1 recipe and can't deviate from it successfully (Not expert).

My question to you is: In which areas do you want to become an expert? It should be obvious (particularly if you believe Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000hr theory) that we just don't have time to become experts in many things. My concern for knowledge workers who don't become experts in something is that they could be easily replaced by generative AI in the medium term.

Don't be fooled by an assembler claiming to be an expert: There are countless people who are deluding themselves (and others) into thinking that they are experts in a specific field, when in fact they have a recipe book that doesn't account for random variables. A great example is that person who has seen success at one company (Maybe was early at Salesforce) and thinks that they can simply apply the Salesforce recipe to all B2B contexts - They fail because they don't understand what needed to be true for the Salesforce recipe to work.

Experts can explain to you why the recipe is the way it is and can adapt if the context/ingredients are different. You won't be surprised to know that I am not a fan of formulaic 'off the shelf' sales methodologies for this reason.

The call to action

1. Figure out what you are going to be expert in - Future-proof yourself.
2. When evaluating 'expert' advice, ask, "Why" and see if they have a good example. One of my favorite tests for a sales manager is this exchange:

Me: How much quota coverage do you need in the pipeline?

Them: 4X [Stated confidently]

Me: Why?

Them: So that we can definitely hit our number.

Me: [They don't get it - 4X implies a win-rate of 25%... Win-rate means all deals with a close-date of this month, accounting for those that we lose, slip and downgrade.]

Bonus thoughts on age, ChatGPT and 'Thought leaders'

One of the gifts of age is the ability to recognize patterns and connect the dots in a way that people with fewer miles on the clock can do. It turns out that this is at the expense of being able to come up with novel approaches, which wanes with age according to British psychologist Raymond Cattell.

I'll summarize his perspective by saying that when you are young you can better solve abstract problems that you haven't previously encountered and discover new facts (this is called, 'Fluid intelligence'). Later in life your accumulated knowledge and experience gives you the wisdom that allows you to understand what the facts mean and what to do with that insight ( this is called, 'Crystallized intelligence').

ChatGPT does not possess fluid intelligence, which involves reasoning, problem-solving, and abstract thinking [I checked, by asking ChatGPT and it told me as much]. If you read much of what is written by today's 'thought leaders' you will see that in fact they aren't leading thought in as much as repackaging them and making them accessible (Just like ChatGPT - And without doubt it is still a valuable service). My observation is that one of two things will happen:

1) These voices will become irrelevant because generative AI will be able to repackage information on-demand for you, and hence an 'assembler' doing the same is irrelevant [Cue the Sub-stack unsubscribing].

2) The 'assemblers' will thrive, because they will use AI to generate an increasing volume of content, differentiated by their ability to pick a niche topic area whereby they give superior prompts to the generative AI tool.

My writing is based on our work with companies who are using our applied EQ ('RevenueEQ'?)approach to bringing the best out of go-to-market teams. Message me if you want to be part of this next generation of people development.