The Expert on Experts and Expertise

Ericsson’s essential point is that expertise is a function of practice not talent. One key point he makes is that:

“Successful people spontaneously do things differently from those individuals who stagnate. They have different practice histories. Elite performers engage in what we call “deliberate practice”–an effortful activity designed to improve individual target performance. There has to be some way they’re innovating in the way they do things.” [Fast Company]

There’s more wisdom in that old joke on how to get to Carnegie Hall than we care to acknowledge. Ericsson’s handbook is $130 at Amazon which feels a bit rich. He has also published what appears to be a more accessible version of the same material in The Road to Excellence. It’s still $50 for the paperback version, but that puts it into my range.

The Expert on Experts

Successful people spontaneously do things differently.”

K. Anders Ericsson , author, “Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance“

One thought on “The Expert on Experts and Expertise”

  1. An interesting post which raises questions about both experts and expertise — are the inextricably linked or mutually exclusive? Or is it more a case of pick n mix or buy one get one free?

    Expert is another of those words which is so overused that it conjures up images of a brake lining a lorry which hasn’t been a service for years and operates solely in mountainous terrains.

    Expertise on the other hand is something we all have yet frequently don’t realise although I would shy away from being called an expert in view of the well worn formula:
    x = the unknown quantity
    spurt = a drip under pressure

    Expertise is know how and know how is tacit in a world that waxes lyrical about the benefits of tacit yet still prizes explicit above all else especially when it comes to payment……I am just filling in my tacit return for the Inland Revenue but sense they might want something a tad more explicit.

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