Think you're smart? Here's three stories you should be able to tell.

Are you an expert? Can you tell these three stories to build our trust?

1.Here's a hard lesson I learned.

We learn a bit by reading, we learn more by doing, we learn most by messing up. What's the hardest lesson you've learned - the one that makes you feel most embarrassed to recall? The truly hard lesson is the one where you look back to some dark place and say "I never want to go there again… and here’s how I make sure I won’t.”

So tell me: what hard lesson have you learned?

2. Here's a rule I broke.

When you're a novice, you spend your whole time learning and applying rules. By the time you become competent, you can apply the rules almost without thinking. When you’re an expert you know that rules aren't set in stone.

Your gut tells you when rules are out of date. Experts write new rules.

We pay attention to rule breakers. If you’re a cheat, you break the rules we see you punished. This tells us “that rule still stands”.  If you’re a rebel, you break the rules and we see you vindicated (think of the Suffragettes). This tells us “that old rule no longer applies”.

Tell me: which rule have you confidently broken? (And what happened?)

3. Here’s a secret I know.

The lessons you’ve learned in your dark places, the rules you re-wrote - these belong to you. They are your secret sauce. Secrets really grab our attention because they represent information-plus-status. It’s like the moment some kid said to you in the playground “I know something you don’t know.” That kid had power over you and you won’t let it rest til you know what she knows. 

Tell me: one secret you’ve learned along the way to becoming an expert?