Experts vs Imitators

From https://fs.blog/experts-vs-imitators/

If you want the highest quality of information, you have to speak to the best people. The trouble is that many claim to be experts, but aren't. A safeguard is to take your time to distinguish real experts from imitators. Example of imitators: A money manager who borrows talking points from Buffet but has no deeper understanding of the craft.

Some things to look for:

• Imitators can't answer questions at a deeper level

  • Imitators don't fully understand the ideas they are talking about. Their knowledge is shallow. As a result, the can't get into details, talk about first principles or non-standard cases.

• Imitators can't adapt their vocabulary

  • They can only use the vocabulary that they were taught which generally is full of jargon. Since they didn't understand the ideas behind the vocabulary, they can't adapt the way they talk about those ideas.

• Imitators get frustrated when you say you don't understand

  • This is a result of being overly concerned with the appearance of expertise. They might not be able to maintain that if they have to really get into the weeds of the explanation. Real experts are excited about digging deeper because they get to share the craft and love the genuine curiosity about something that they deeply care about.

• Experts can tell you all the ways they have failed

  • They know and accept that some forms of failure is often part of learning process. Imitators are less likely to own up to mistakes because they are afraid that it will tarnish the image that they are trying to protect.

• Imitators don't know the limit of their expertise

  • Experts know what they know and what they don't know. To understand boundaries of your understanding, you have to explore and be in the weeds. Imitators can't tell when they are crossing the boundary into things they don't understand.

A distinction:

Popularizers: Those who know more than the laymen, are good at clearly and memorably communicating ideas. For example, original research or listening to an expert is not condusive to a wider audience. Another person could take that study and convert it into a more readable and transmissible format.

Populaizers are often mistaken for experts. The person with the real expertise is often not the person who made the subject popular.