Throughout our lives we accept challenges without knowing the entirety of the involvement. The term, “fake it ’til you make it” is often used to describe this common practice. This is often a necessary step in achievement, as it is often impossible to gain sufficient knowledge without experience and we need to have experiences to gain knowledge.

As we mature, we gain a wide variety of experiences and we become more capable of predicting the outcomes of our efforts. Through various failures, we also learn our limitations. Some people are better at knowing their capabilities and limitations than others. Some people are delusional when it comes to their capabilities and limitations, which can make it very difficult for them to find achievement, especially within a process that is new to them. One of the solutions that they have for this is to not look for achievement.

The biggest fear should be when we know that we can do something but know nothing about what we need to do.

Share a great idea; include the original idea and the progression of ideas that led to the final result.
• Give examples of failures and the overcoming of obstacles.
• Describe methodologies.
• Cover strategies.
• When explaining something complex, attempt to simplify as much as possible.

When comparing Unconventional Experts with traditional institution-guided experts, it is important to understands that the institution establishes the requirements for mastery. The educational standards are set through post graduate work. The work environment sets standards through comparisons, from organization to organization. The work a CFO does, within a manufacture, will be very similar, from one manufacturer to the next. If a company is going public, the expertise from one company to the next can be published and shared. This is both an asset and a fault, as traditional institution-guided experts who are exposed to anomalies, they will be more apt to grasp an established way of thinking; which may or may not provide the best path.

Unconventional Experts sit on the opposite side of this scenario. Their area of expertise might surround an anomaly that cannot be well addressed by a traditional institution-guided expert. For example, an Unconventional Expert marketing person might be able to consistently and successfully market niche products to new markets. Onlookers might try to uncover the secret sauce in this ability. To this Unconventional Expert, there is an individual work-process that lives outside of institution-guided thought, but seems to find success, whenever put in motion.

As Unconventional Experts define themselves, they are defining three things:
1) Their individual work-process.
2) Their areas of expertise – as they exist outside of the establishment.
3) The level of their expertise – as compared to other experts.

The third point requires:
1) A certain kind of deep respect for all experts.
2) An appreciation of achievements, and a vague understanding of how one could possibly get there.
3) A realistic understanding of how much time and effort it takes to reach such levels of expertise, which facilitates the deep respect.

Watching a top magician perform an original sleight-of-hand card trick, one might ask themselves, could I learn that? In some cases, a talent is so deep, that only those who start at a certain age and commit their life’s work to it are qualified. What is the secret sauce to the trick? One doesn’t know, as magicians never show. it might be years of practice related to hand/eye coordination. It might be a strong technical understanding, that uses technology to facilitate the trick. As an onlooker of expert-level work, there will never be a clear picture of the road to achievement, but there needs to be an appreciation and a similar commitment.

Homework:
Identify Unconventional Experts, traditional institution-guided experts and those who might be both. Look deeply at their expert achievements and try to understand the level of commitment required to get there.

Exposure to expert:
Find groups of experts through forums.
Find a mentor.

Unconventional Expert Creed
No-one starts a journey as an expert. Within an individual, there needs to be a drive that gets them there. The concept behind Unconventional Experts is simply the recognition and definition of those who are, or are becoming experts, outside of the institution-guided education that usually leads to work within traditional institution-guided expert positions.

The danger in using the word expert resides in the fact that it is often used as a title or achievement. When something is a title or achievement, there should be a standard that sets the bar. Within traditional institution-guided expert professions and trades, there bar for expert-level and master-level work is more tangible. For Unconventional Experts, it is based on comparisons and the expert is the one who is responsible to compare.

The top priority for Unconventional Experts is to reach their fullest potential within their area of expertise. To do so, they need to know how far human potential can reach. If a self-proclaimed expert lives in a bubble and thinks that they are pushing the envelop of potential when they are only scratching the surface, they are not experts. While Unconventional Experts forge their own path, there is an additional component in bearing witness to similar experts and having a realistic understanding of what constitutes expertise.

The creed of the Unconventional Expert is not in what they know, but within what they don’t know. There is no award for being an Unconventional Expert and many unconventional achievements will go unnoticed, as they often stand outside of conventional thought.

The creed of the Unconventional Expert will be much like their individual work process. Feeding intellectual curiosity, initiating activity without hesitation, gaining relevant information, strategizing, commit to to work as a project, creating ideas, testing ideas, accepting failure as a part of the process, using failure as a platform for new and better ideas; eventually, finding some level of mastery.