It baffles me when people who know very little about something but yet talk as if they know everything. Why would they ignore the direction of an expert and why would they think they know better. It almost seems as though some people have a lack of trust in experts, especially in a crisis. It’s clear when they talk that they do not have all the facts or the knowledge to talk the way they do. But yet they go on and on about how they are the smartest person in the room on any given subject, while the expert in the room has to listen. It’s just painful. Yet the expert waits for their moment to speak. Speak about the whole picture and all the parts. Speak about how they have learned through more than 10,000 hours of life experience, that there are wrong roads to take with lots of bumps, and that there are clear paths to success with little obstacles in the way. They’ve done the research, lived through the pain of making mistakes, and seen the path to success. But yet here we are again. Sitting in a boardroom full of people listening to someone pontificate about how they know best about a subject that impacts revenue and everyone’s job at the table. We all know where this is going – nowhere. It’s all about escape. How do we get out of this meeting as quickly as we can? Sure, the experts try to speak up but can’t get a word in. Nobody wins. The good news is there is a flip side and most high trajectory companies recognize and prevent non-experts from taking up time. They see right away they cannot afford to give airtime to non-experts if they expect to hit their revenue targets. Below is a link to a couple of stories related to my experiences in this area.
