Demonstrating Expertise
Businesses using the societal web to engage in conversation seek to create an online representation of the business, the knowledge, and the individual person who is conversing. The conversation enables others to listen to what we have to say, to understand our knowledge, and to question our intentions and motives in order to gain a better understanding of who we are and how we work. These conversations, as we’ve discussed in other articles, can lead to co-operative working between people of like mind, and from there to collaborations and more.
One of the things that encourages co-operation is recognizing expertise that one party has and another requires. When that expertise is recognized the conversation enables both parties to provide clarity on the expertise itself and how it can be applied in the circumstances at the time.
But expertise is not enough.
Expertise on its own merely denotes knowledge of how to apply a particular skill in certain circumstances. What makes expertise powerful is when it is given the authority of being provided by not ‘an’ expert in the field but by ‘the’ expert in the field. The importance of being ‘the’ expert in terms of success in business can’t be underestimated. ‘The’ experts in particular areas of sport command enormous salaries for being at the pinnacle of their game. For example, Jenson Button in 2010, irrespective of the outcome of the 2009 season, will command a much higher income and salary as a result of him demonstrating that he is ‘the’ expert in Braun Formula One motorcars.
Jenson Button did not decide this; the commentators, sports writers and general public gave him that level of authority when watching him perform and demonstrating his expertise.
Jerry Garcia – The lead singer of a band called The Grateful Dead – famously said that
it’s not good enough to be considered the best of the best,
you have to be considered the only person who does what you do
There are some very important messages in here. Not that you are the best, but that you are considered to be the only person who does what you do, ‘the’ expert. With authority (“considered to be” by others).
Becoming “The”
In the Societal Web we can do this quickly, we achieve becoming the only person who does what we do, ‘the’ expert, by demonstrating knowledge of our niche and being the only person demonstrating that expertise effectively in that niche. If our niche is too wide then there are many experts; we become ‘an’ expert in that market. “The” is the definite article. “An” is indefinite. The world does not remember ‘An’ s, but people remember ‘The’.
To become the expert you have to narrow your niche, narrow it to the extreme. Rather than being a photographer, consider becoming the worlds premier social networking profile photographer. in almost any field you can demonstrate credibility through testimonials and examples, share photographic knowledge and be approachable and real, but be niche.
You won’t lose referrals, you’ll gain them; you won’t lose credibility, you’ll gain it; you won’t lose breadth, you will gain depth.
Being “The” expert with authority granted by you peers is not just important, it’s essential.
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