Time to read: 4 minutes

Article at a glance:

• Expertise—knowledge, experience, and strong instincts—is valuable. The danger is an “expert mindset,” where knowing becomes more important than learning.
• The expert mindset can shut down collaboration from both directions: experts may stop seeking other perspectives, while others may assume their own perspectives aren’t valuable.
• The best experts practice Occhiolism and intellectual humility. They bring what they know to the conversation while staying curious, asking questions, and being willing to change their minds.
• Expertise should increase the quality of exploration, not end exploration. At Redmond, mastery and curiosity work together to help people find the best imaginable.

Every culture develops certain “taboos,” and there are some words that seem to have taken on that title at Redmond.

One of them is “expertise” and “expert.”

So let’s talk about it.

Imagine two marketing psychology experts who each have 30 years of experience in their field. They’ve both worked with hundreds of organizations, have an alphabet of degrees and certifications behind their names, and have authored books on their subject.

An outdoor equipment company hires them both to help revitalize their marketing strategy.

The first expert shows up, tours the company, talks to the C-Suite executives, and concludes “I’ve seen almost this exact situation before, and we can apply the same tactics that worked there to engage your customers and crush your competition. Get me a whiteboard, and I’ll show you what to do.”

The second tours the company, talks to executives, and says, “I know a lot about marketing psychology, but I don’t know your specific customer or associates. I have some ideas for questions to ask them both so we can figure out where to start revamping your marketing strategy.” That expert then talks to people around the company, looks at customer data, asks questions, and takes her time to work with teams to understand the market, customer, and factors that might be impacting their sales.

Which expert would you want to work with? The one who thinks she knows, or the one who asks questions?

These are two experienced, knowledgeable experts with two totally different mindsets. While their valuable experience might largely be the same, their attitudes and approach make all the difference when it comes to collaboration and creating impact!

Experts vs Expert Mindset

“Sometimes, the more we know, the less we see around us.” -Liz Wiseman

We don’t dislike experts or expertise at Redmond. Knowledge and the strong instincts that come from experience (especially when combined with natural wiring) are super helpful!

But the trap we want to avoid is the “expert mindset,” or the mindset that we know everything and there’s no more to learn. Individuals can fall into that trap, and so can organizations.

So how do we utilize expertise at Redmond without getting stuck in expert mindset?

Collaborating With Experts

When working with experts, whether they’re a Redmond associate, a partner, or a creator outside of Redmond, we aren’t looking for someone who has all the answers. We don’t want a consultant or teacher-student type of relationship, or a hierarchy where the expert believes they know everything and doesn’t want other perspectives, and where everyone else stops sharing perspectives because they think the expert knows everything.

We like to collaborate with masters who have learned and experienced a lot, but who are also curious and excited to keep growing. We like to work with someone who can change their mind and honestly say, “I don’t know. Let’s explore that.”

The bottom line: Expertise should increase the quality of exploration, not end exploration.

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Occhiolism is Key

No matter how much knowledge or experience someone has, it’s essential to keep practicing Occhiolism and maintain intellectual humility (which is basically just knowing that you’ll always have biases and incomplete opinions, aka Occhiolism).

If an expert values learning rather than knowing, they know every situation is different, and that the world is constantly changing. What worked before in one situation might not work for this one, though it can be a starting point for exploration. They say stuff like “I’ve seen a similar situation before, and here’s what worked then. But what’s different about this situation? What can we try that helped before? What should we do differently?”

You may very well be an expert in your area, and that’s great! We need your perspective and knowledge. We also need your curiosity and growth.

It’s also important to know that just because you have experience doesn’t automatically make your perspective more valuable than someone else’s. Around here, some of the most helpful perspectives we receive come from brand new associates!

Keep Occhiolism front and center. Keep that thirst for understanding, not for knowing. No matter how much you learn and know, there’s always more room to grow!

Keep Learning, Stay Curious

Here’s a quick review:

Expertise: Knowledge, experience, and instincts in a certain area.

Expert mindset: When knowing becomes more important than learning.

The expert's trap that shuts down collaboration:

“I know this, so I don't need your perspective.”

The trap non-experts can fall into:

“They know this, so my perspective probably isn't valuable.”

You can have an expert mindset without being an expert, and you can be an expert without assuming you know.

While knowledge and experience are incredibly valuable, it doesn’t mean you have all the answers.

At Redmond, commit to exploring until we find the best imaginable, together. Experts and masters can help us do that by contributing their valuable experience and perspective, but that doesn’t end the conversation. It’s the beginning of new exploration!

Want to keep exploring? Try these resources.

Resources

The 5th Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge

Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work by Liz Wiseman

What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire, and the Self-Knowledge Imperative by Jim Collins

“The Power of Not Knowing” by Liz Wiseman

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