Being An Expert

10/11/2004

"It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious." - Alfred North Whitehead

Being An Expert

When I was a kid, one of my favorite television characters was Professor Irwin Corey. He proclaimed himself to be the "World's Foremost Authority." He would conduct these incredibly funny rambling interviews with Johnny Carson where he discoursed nonsensically about every subject under the sun.

I thought about Professor Corey when I ran across an old article from BottomLine Personal (November 30, 1986) entitled "Be an Expert In Something: Whatever It Is." In this article Dr. William Appleton, from the Harvard Medical School, observes that "true expertise, which means developing a deep, thorough knowledge of one particular area, has rewards that many of us would never consider... There's a lot of pleasure in being an expert. It gives you a second interest outside your job, something to organize your life around. There's a big benefit to the psyche in knowing a subject thoroughly and being consulted about it by others. Your self-confidence increases as people come to you with questions or for advice. You begin to regard yourself as knowledgeable and worthy of respect rather than as ordinary.... By taking the focus away from your job, a strong interest provides a wonderful way to unwind and avoid burnout."

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