Knowing = excellence. Not knowing = path to excellence. Think you know = run for your life.

In business, it has been my experience that I love to deal with two types of people. Those who know; in terms of their craft or profession, and those who don't know. Dealing with people who really know their craft are people who I consider to be practitioners. They have a definable, authentic, and repeatable approach that above all else, demonstrate real results for their clients or co-workers.

Those who aren't afraid to admit they don't know, on the other hand, are also a joy to work with. They are open to new ideas, take the time to learn new information and are humble enough to recognize that everyone can learn something new. In fact, I consider myself a person who often 'doesn't know' but take the time to learn something new so that I eventually 'know.'

What is dangerous, however, are those in the business profession who think they know, but really don't. These individual's are found in every industry and in every market and they are growing by the second. The reason being is with the access to information at an all time high, we can pass ourselves as 'experts' in something without ever really having any credentials at all. Case in point, here is me pretending to know something about Astrophysics:

Have you ever heard of cataclysmic variable stars? No? - you're kidding me! Well, hear's the deal; they're binary systems where one of the stars is stealing material from the other star due to their close proximity. Easy enough right?! Okay, then you have to understand that this material forms a kind of pancake around the star called an accretion disk (remember that from the good 'ol days in high school science). Now, although we’ve actually never imaged one of these systems before, we now have a very, very good theoretical model of how they work. Let me walk you through it. - from http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/category/astrophysics/

I don't know about you, but if I didn't read the first part of my blog, I would have thought my little blurb on astrophysics actually sounded pretty credible - wouldn't you agree? Problem is, I don't have any idea what any of that meant; I simply looked it up on the internet and phrased it like I did.

So here's my point - if you want to deal with someone in business ask them what they have accomplished. What are their definable, authentic, and repeatable approaches to their craft that have demonstrated real results. Ask for the the proof because now more than ever, these people will have you believe they're experts. But their only expertise is how to sound like one - not actually being one.

I wish you all the success in the world, now go out and BE the difference!

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