It's all about attitude and mentality.

I stumbled across the musings of a very interesting (and somewhat inspiring) character called Yann Girard yesterday. I don't necessarily agree 100% with a lot of his views, but they were an engrossing and thought-provoking rabbit-hole plunge nonetheless.

But then, I saw something that totally resonated with me. It was something I'd been privately thinking about for a long time, but felt it was a bit 'out there' to vocalise.

Well, maybe it's time to get it out of my system. Let's talk about experts.

People have traditionally trusted experts and revered them across all areas of society, especially business. That's not the case these days in our post-truth era. Yay for that.

It's easy to say you're an expert, throwing it around the place as a descriptor or promoted label for a specific skill, type of sector, viewpoint or target audience.

The problem for me, is when experts start to believe their own hype and build up what I see as a 'sealed cocoon of myhighwayism'.

Admittedly, that ain't going to be a plausible hashtag or dictionary phrase anytime soon.

But what I mean, is that there is a tendency for experts to constantly fall back on their tried and tested approaches or ideas, sticking to what they know about really well - and to heck with anything that might be a little bit different or another option. Very much a case of 'my way or the highway' (see, there was a certain logic with my terminology!)

Most of all, I've often thought that being an expert means you believe you've 'made it' and you know all the important stuff there is to know on the subject. Which is really sad, as surely life is all about constantly learning, experiencing, being open to new ideas and preparing to adapt and engage in different ways. Successful brands and people have been doing this for years. And yes, I'm sure I'm mostly preaching to the choir here.

Sadly though, I've met and heard more than my fair share of self-proclaimed experts in recent years who blatantly haven't kept apace with latest technology, trends or worst of all, considered new opinions and approaches. And these people are the ones talking to brands, clients, colleagues, students and the media - making our jobs that much harder.

And that's my real beef. Or issue, if you're a vegetarian/vegan. #LameGag

Without making me sound like an idiot obsessed with semantics, I'd love it if we all thought twice about calling ourselves experts and started using other terms instead.

Skilled. Talented. Experienced. Qualified. Specialist. Professional. Thought-leader.

I'm cool with all those.

I'm sure it's probably just me and a crazy terminology thing - but I genuinely believe that if we embrace these type of words instead of 'expert', then we'll subconsciously have a different mindset. More open to new ideas, concepts and opinions, and seen by colleagues and clients as a much more valuable and engaging partner or consultant to work with. And yes, I like those two words as well.

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Oh, I almost forgot.

I can at least take comfort in the knowledge that I'm not completely on my own with this somewhat retentive rant. As I said, this all came front of my mind after reading a random blog. So, if only for my own sanity, here's the best (edited) bits of what Yann had written that piqued my interest, and which neatly echo my own sentiments:

In the beginner’s mind there are countless possibilities. There are countless possibilities to do new things. Countless opportunities to do things in a new, creative and innovative way.

In an expert’s mind on the other hand there are just a few solutions. The solutions the expert already knows. The ways of doing things the expert is already really good at. For an expert there are barely any possibilities. There are mainly dangers and risks.

There are no other ways than the expert way. Even if the expert might see some of the new and creative ways of doing things he won’t be able to use them because he would lose his expert status and be a beginner once again.

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So there we go. I'd never advocate that a beginner is better than someone experienced, as that's just crazy talk - but I do hope there might be others who agree that being an expert is not something that we should simply aspire to be.

Either way, expert or no expert... I love working with people who have the magic mix of experience, right attitude and an active open mind. It's inspiring and productive stuff.

Having any of those is a pretty solid piece of a successful career in any industry, I'd say.