Marc-eting

Rethinking Expertise

I have to admit that I’ve arrived gracefully late to the Podcast party. I’ve never been a fan of proprietary systems and as such have had a personal grudge against Apple for the way in which they force their users into the Apple system. Having said that I think Apple is an amazing company when it comes to technology, design and marketing. It stands to reason that considering my geek status I’d eventually get hooked onto the iPod train.

The past Christmas I added the iPod Touch to my Wish List at Amazon throwing caution to the wind under the safe assumption that no one would buy it. As you’ve no doubt ascertained I was wrong, and I now am the proud owner of a 16Gb Touch. When I first hooked it up I had anticipated I’d use it to watch movies on the train ride to the office but after exploring the podcast directory in iTunes I’ve become engrossed in the concept of Podcasting.

While I was whittling down my list of 85 podcasts I came across an interesting discussion on the Invisible Hand podcast about expertise. The show discusses Harry Collins new book “Rethinking Expertise” and had some interesting insights into what makes someone an expert. The concept I found most interesting was the idea that there are two types of experts, interactional and contributory.

Let’s take the second type first. The basic idea behind a contributory expert is someone who is a true expert in a subject. If their expertise is statistics they can do complex statistical functions such as running logarithmic regressions. If their expertise is functional MRI, they can sit behind the machine and give you a full body scan and then open up the side to fix the machine if it breaks.

Conversely an interactional expert is someone who knows enough about a subject that they can speak intelligently about a subject but cannot actually employ the skills that would make them a true contributory expert. It was mentioned that if you had a contributory expert speak with an interactional expert they would be unable to ascertain that the interactional expert did not possess the skills needed to actual contribute to their field of expertise. The only test to see if someone is an interactional or contributory expert is to ask them to perform a task that only a contributory expert would know.

As I think about this it becomes abundantly clear that many if not all of most business I work with are comprised of interactional experts. It’s better characterized as industry expertise, but is a concept that is well worth understanding. Companies need to understand the role of their employees and the skills needed to make them a success. I’m sure there’s an optimal balance of interactional and contributory expertise and its probably something we need to look at to develop a smart organization.

If you want to hear more check out the podcast at theinvisiblehandpodcast.com and if you want to buy the book support the Invisible Hand by buying through their Amazon affiliate link which is available on their site.

Tags: book review, contributory, expertise, Harry Collins, interactional, invisible hand, MRI, podcast, Podcast party