Which expert would you choose?

Triggers & Polls

Recently I opened a LinkedIn profile and found a very interesting poll posted by someone whose journey in business I really appreciate and admire.

Would you ever say for yourself publicly that you are an expert (perhaps even the best) in your field of business?

Yes, I’m a leader. – 36%
No, I wouldn’t dare to say that. – 38%
No, I’m still learning to become one. – 28 %

So, roughly 1/3 openly admit they are experts, and 2/3 think they are not, whereby 1/2 see this as a done deal, and 1/2 still believe there’s hope.

All this made me wonder – if all these people worked in the same industry, and I needed help from the field, who would I choose to work with?

 

Personal Experience

As always with humans, the face value of the issue is never what it seems to be.

This reminded me of my experience from teaching. During the first meeting, while interviewing the new student(s), I would always meet three different profiles of people:

1. I’m OK with the insert any language, I just need a few lessons because I have some minor issues with communication.
2. a) I learned the language before, but I forgot everything, b) I’ve never officially learned the language, just picked up some things by watching TV, listening to the music, or meeting random people, therefore, I really need / would like to start from the beginning.
3. I learned the language insert any specific period, location, duration, occasion, etc., but I lack insert any specific grammar segment, vocabulary, skill, etc.. I would like insert any specific objective, goal, outcome, etc.

That would be the student(s) general self-assessment. However, the actual reality would look more like this:

1. The student(s) who thought they had some minor issues with communication actually had major issues with communication because: they were usually lacking even the most basic language structures, they had a very poor vocabulary, and they had very limited communication skills in general.
2. Those who wanted to start from the beginning would usually benefit more from confidence training than the actual language course because their language level was much higher than the self-assessed. They could usually communicate rather well, regardless of their level, or more precisely, particularly for their level, but they would constantly dumb down their knowledge, competencies, and skills by apologizing for any (usually self-perceived) mistakes they’d make and by continuously stressing how dumb they are.
3. The student(s) who knew specifics about their current state and their needs were actually highly accurate in their self-assessment (c. > 90%) regardless of their age or previous experience.

Now, since I’ve always found it equally challenging both to explain to people who think they know something that they actually don’t (obviously, we are not talking about personal opinions, beliefs, etc. but rather about specifics such as certain grammar structures) and to be in a constant search of that little trigger that would switch someone’s self-confidence on (and keep it that way), personally, I always preferred to work with the third group of students, even though this was the most demanding type of work preparation-wise for me as a teacher. We both/all knew where we were and where we were going, and it’s so much easier to get ahead if you have a clear road before you, no matter how bumpy it may get.

 

Projections & Transfers & The Dunning-Kruger Effect

As someone already mentioned in the poll comments, the Dunning-Kruger effect should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results, as additionally supported by my own personal experience in teaching described above. Basically, the Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence, and vice versa. Therefore, the Dunning-Kruger effect could be one of the prisms through which both situations could be interpreted.

To get back to the actual subject of this contemplation – Which expert would you choose? – let’s take a look at the results from another, a bit different angle. Another inherently human trait, other than being biased, is to project and transfer our views, beliefs, and attitudes from one area, subject, situation, etc. to another.

Thus, someone who overestimates their capabilities in the segment of communicating in a foreign language will most likely overestimate their capabilities in the segment of general communication, etc. Likewise, a person who lacks confidence in the same area will most likely lack confidence in another, at least seemingly similar area. The list goes on, creating a loop where the difference between the actual and self-perceived competence becomes rather (and even more) blurred.

 

Bottom line, at least for me

Another inherently human thing to do is to make decisions based on our previous personal experiences, which is exactly what I would do in this situation.

Having to choose between someone who thinks they are expert but potentially are not, someone who does not believe they are good enough, and someone who openly admits they are still learning, I would definitely opt for the last one. Who knows, perhaps we can learn something together.

From my personal experience, the greatest opportunity for development comes from the situation where both sides have a chance to grow by learning something new. There is no better win than a win-win, and no one should settle for less, regardless of their own personal choice (of experts).