My Frustration with the Expert Epidemic

I think I’ve pinned down what frustrates me with the expert epidemic.

My friend Robin is an expert in marketing. In those dark years before the internet Robin sold advertising for newspapers, magazines and TV. She worked with clients on how to setup and present themselves at trade shows to be more effective. She has worked with major corporations as well as mom and pop shops. In the advent of the internet Robin has learned about social media, google analytics, and keywords. Robin knows marketing. She easily could setup shop as the “Marketing Expert”, but she doesn’t. On a daily basis Robin practices her trade working with clients as a marketing professional.

Now let’s look at this new breed of expert. In essence they can declare themselves to be experts in anything. In fact they can have as much if not more experience than Robin has in marketing in their respective field of expertise. The difference between Robin and this new breed is that Robin is primarily a practitioner, and the new breed are would-be teachers.

I think teachers, as purveyors of knowledge, are essential to society. Those sources of wisdom are the reason we continuously evolve as a species, but this isn’t teaching in the traditional sense. Traditional teachers instruct you on how to do something, why it is or isn’t correct, and how to fix any potential problems. Traditional teachers give you more background for the specific subject they are teaching, and they usually have some form of scale to indicate competency.

The new breed predominantly teaches you one system, the one they learned or developed, that worked for them. They will usually explain how it works, but I’ve never seen an expert walk you through the steps to take when their system fails. The new breed definitely doesn’t preform any quality control to ensure the students are proficient in what they’ve learned, or even qualified to be taking their course to begin with. No these experts mass produce students with no discernible standard of quality.

In the world of publishing, self publishing experts provide hopeful authors with just enough information to be dangerous. These authors are encouraged to share their stories with the world, and are provided with the knowledge of how to do so. Unfortunately society is inundated by books ranging from masterpieces to the unbearable. In the case of the unbearable it may have had the opportunity to be polished into a masterpiece had the author not bought into the self publishing expert’s pitch that anyone can, and should become a published author.

Had that author refined his or her manuscript, worked with a published author, sought out a good editor, and gone through beta testing then working with a self publishing expert wouldn’t bother me. Sadly that’s really unlikely to occur; most people take the self publishing course then publish.

The majority of the new breed that fills the ranks of the expert epidemic are more concerned with lining their pockets than the ramifications of their actions. This attitude is the crux of my frustration. Luckily when the number of customers, who’s results are mediocre or worse, begins to rise the expert’s disciples will begin to exit the market. If an expert’s results are brought into question, eventually, he’ll fade away thanks to the Laissez Faire System.

In the end it’s my hope that all of the charlatans are weeded out, and we are left with the real experts, the professionals like Robin. I just wish I didn’t have to live through the expert epidemic to get to that day.

 

 © Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.