It seems like my life is full of people who think they are experts but lack the education, experience, or resources to actually be an expert.
As a result they waste my time and energy as they pretend to be more resourceful than they really are. It’s frustrating beyond belief because I can see through them right away… but it’s really hard to tell an impostor "It’s OK, you don’t know." Instead endless streams of "blah" come out of their mouths. And it drives me insane.
Take the internet for instance. I’m no expert, even though I own and develop a lot of sites I would still call myself a novice in most areas of web development. So when someone asks me a question I use one of three options:
- I know the answer and offer it.
- I don’t know the answer and punt.
- I want to know the answer and I tell the person "I don’t know, but I’m going to try to find out."
That’s a pretty honest answer. I expect the same thing from the people I interact with about things I’m seeking advice on. I’m teachable, inquisitive, and I have loads of problems I need solutions for.
Here are the options for an impostor responding to a question approached with:
- I know the answer and offer it.
- If I don’t know, but I’ll talk your ear off out of embarrassment of not knowing.
- Even though I don’t know the answer, I will talk out of all the orifices of my body to convince you that I know.
I just wish I could come up with a polite way of telling impostors, "You are wasting my time right now. I’m going to talk to someone who is an expert now."
The cool thing about truly intelligent people in my life is that they are unafraid to punt. In fact, one sure fire way I can tell if someone is an expert on something or not is by mentally noting if they ever punt. If they don’t… I know they are an impostor.
Of course, the real problem with impostors is that they are persistent and ever-present.
Most Commented Posts
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « YMX Hosting goes live
- » Way Out West Promo
SPEAK / ADD YOUR COMMENT
Comments are moderated.
