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The Dangers of Self-Acclaimed Expertise and Knowing How to Discern Information with Bukola Omokehinde
348 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, Bukola talks about the importance of deepening your competence and also discerning information in this big loud noisy world. This episode can't be summarised, honestly. Dive in and soak in the cornucopia of wisdom here.
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Transcript
The Illusion of Expertise
00:00:05
Speaker
I think the process of mastery and experience is what a lot of people try to rush. And sometimes it can be confusing as to whether it is an attempt to beauty your personal brand or are you just telling the blatant lie online? It's gotten so ridiculous to the point where you can clearly see that this person doesn't have the credibility within this space.
00:00:31
Speaker
I hope you're doing well. I hope you're doing fine. And I know I'm throwing this question to the wind because no one is yet to answer me in real time. But if you're listening to this episode, I hope that you check in on yourself and see how you're doing. Because this is a question that we ask everyone. Oh, how are you? But many times we fail to check in with ourselves to actually know how we have.
00:00:53
Speaker
So how are you really doing?
Introduction to Competence Discussion
00:00:56
Speaker
Today's episode is beautiful. It's an episode where you get to see me share something that I'm passionate about. And not just passionate about, topical issue that I think needs to be discussed, especially in today's world where things are moving so fast. And it looks like we all have to participate in the make-believe life that everyone is proliferating these days.
00:01:17
Speaker
And you hear me share about the importance of building competence and how what separates the competent person and the person that is actually making noise is time. And instead of focusing on making a lot of noise about an expertise that we have no business in,
00:01:36
Speaker
We should actually spend the time pouring into our knowledge bank, building our skill set, improving ourselves, and it will pay off on the long term. I also shed light on the widespread pandemic of people claiming to be experts in things that they're not, and how we should be wary and discerning of where we're getting information from. This is loaded, this is deep,
00:02:02
Speaker
This will get you thinking. And if you're that kind of girl or guy that loves to have deep conversations, that loves to challenge the status quo, then this is the podcast episode for you. So sit back and let's dive in. Well, before we dive in, I like that you do me a favor by ensuring that you look to see if you're subscribed to this podcast. I have found from just looking at the analytics that most of the people that listen to the podcast
00:02:30
Speaker
and not subscribed. So wherever you're listening to this podcast, whether it be Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever, ensure that you're subscribed and also please share the podcast with your friends, your family, your loved ones, everyone that you believe would benefit from the value and the insights that we share weekly. It will really mean the world to me. So now you can sit back and let's dive in.
Unveiling True Success Stories
00:02:56
Speaker
All right. The Growth podcast is a space where we share the real stories behind the stories. We take you behind the scenes of the success stories we read and see online. We lift the wheel and ask the questions that no one else is asking. To expand your mind and break the limits that society and quite frankly yourself have placed on it.
00:03:19
Speaker
and all these is to get you to realize that. Your version of success is attainable for you too. I woke up this morning feeling very grumpy and I had a strong headache before going to church today and of course the cost of my headache is not something that I do want to talk about because it's very embarrassing.
00:03:39
Speaker
So I'd like to keep that to myself. However, I feel a little more energized because I came back from church and I spent just one hour sitting down with my partner and having a conversation on what I'll be talking to you guys about today. I think this conversation is topical.
Competence vs. Self-Proclaimed Expertise
00:03:57
Speaker
Before even having this conversation today, I've been in small pockets, having talks about this with my friends, getting their thoughts and ideas, just to know if I am the only one thinking about things in this way and all of the conversations that I've had with people as resonated and as reflected in need to speak about these things. And so from the topic of the conversation, you already have an idea and a window into what we'll be talking about.
00:04:28
Speaker
We will be talking about competence, the importance of deepening your expertise. We'll also, and I think this is very important, shine lights and awareness into the recent proliferation of self-acclaimed aspects. These days, people are claiming
00:04:43
Speaker
and building a perception online of what maybe they would like to be but they already claim an expertise in the thing now and sometimes it can be confusing as to whether it is an attempt to building your personal brand or are you just telling the blatant lie online and I think we find out in which is where I think a lot of us need to pay attention to especially as young people is how we can distill and discern
00:05:07
Speaker
the kind of information that we are consuming and from whom that information is coming from so these are like three facets of things i'll be talking about in this podcast today and where i'd like to start is given a good definition of what competence is
00:05:23
Speaker
So I went online and I tried to dig up the most appropriate definition for this conversation. And so competence has been described as the combination of training, skills, experience, and knowledge that a person has and the ability to apply them to perform a task successfully.
00:05:44
Speaker
So I'll say that again, competence can be described as a combination of training, skills, experience, and knowledge that a person has and the ability to apply them to perform a task successfully. And I think it's important at this point that we do unpack this definition that I have given because it would give us context into understanding what competence is. And so when we are doing our deciphering of who is competent and who is not competent,
00:06:12
Speaker
we would have a point and a roadmap of what we should be looking at. So this will require me to touch on two things that I've given within the definition. The first thing is training and the second thing is expertise.
The Thin Line: Personal Branding or Deceit?
00:06:25
Speaker
So what is training really? Training is
00:06:29
Speaker
having an informal or informal education within the space that we're claiming to be an expert in. So I'll give an example. If I come out today and put on my LinkedIn bio on Instagram, that I am a personal finance expert. What that means is that I have to show some level of training within that space. So it could be that I had my bachelor's in finance, or I have taken maybe an unstructured program, saved back or served out one of those
00:06:57
Speaker
education I have these days on finance that shows that credibility when it comes to training within that space. Because this forms the crux of the claim that I'm making. It shows that I have knowledge and I have gone to build the skills that are required for me to perform within that space. The second thing is experience. And what makes you an experienced person?
00:07:22
Speaker
is by doing. So you have a track record of working on the kind of problems that you're seeing that you're solving. And track record isn't just a one-off thing. It isn't just something that you do within a year. You have a track record within a year. It doesn't make you an expert. It makes you
00:07:38
Speaker
to be someone who is building your proficiency within that space. I think the process of mastery and experience is what a lot of people try to rush and so when they have spent one month solving a particular problem they are quick to call themselves experts and call themselves competent quote-unquote within that space but with the definition and surrounding elements that I have shared on what competency and expertise means
00:08:03
Speaker
we can all agree that a one month, one year, even two years doesn't make you an ESPAT. So why we want to rush into putting a tag of ESPAT, we need to be very wary about the way that we are presenting ourselves because sometimes there's really that clear and fine line between personal branding and telling it lie, which is something that we're going to talk about in this episode.
00:08:30
Speaker
But I wanted to share the definition and also break that definition down into different parts, just so we have an understanding of the framework through which we're going to be having this conversation. Now, I think this brings us to just understanding the elements behind why people claim expertise when they are not. And this takes me back to my teenage years when my mom would say, empty barrels make the loudest noise.
00:08:58
Speaker
And literally, empty barrels actually make the loudest noise. The ones that have oil or water or some content in it don't scream as loud as the empty ones. But if we relive that surreal world context, we find that a lot of times there's noise around things that are not real. And for us as young people and individuals, it's very important that we're able to separate what is noise and what is value.
00:09:28
Speaker
because the fine line seems to now be blurred, especially with the way the world has been set up now. So I think this goes back to kind of like where the problem is stemming from. And it's really from the fact that the world has now become a global village. Everything has become so small, you're easily able to connect with anyone anywhere in the world. And also there's a lot of noise in the world. Things are fighting for attention.
00:09:55
Speaker
And for you to be seen, for you to be heard, it means that you need to have an element of make-believe online. And this is where I think we address personal branding. Personal branding has been a topic that I have talked about even from the university, because I just find that it's important that as individuals, we're able to first of all be self-aware of all we have.
00:10:21
Speaker
and learn how to communicate that to the external world. As much as a lot of people have their skepticism about how
00:10:30
Speaker
the online world, social media should be used. It's actually a world in its own right. And there's a lot of popularity contests going on. And so to set yourself a path and to get the kind of recognition that you're looking for, you need to know what your brand is and be able to communicate that to the world.
Critique of Exaggerated Online Claims
00:10:53
Speaker
But you find that of late,
00:10:54
Speaker
there's been a conflation between what is personal branding and what is actually telling a blatant lie. I was on LinkedIn just somehow as I go and this is no shade to anyone but I just saw a profile of someone claiming to be one of the world's leading champions of personal development and I'm like what does that even mean?
00:11:16
Speaker
What does that even mean? It's currently in the same world. You find someone who is in their second year in university saying that they help people in employment,
00:11:29
Speaker
to elevate within their careers. You hear people who have actually never held a job before, never gotten a job before, say that they help people to find jobs. Like it's gotten so ridiculous, the point where you can clearly see that this person doesn't have the credibility within this space. As much as we're trying to garnish our image and trying to portray
00:11:53
Speaker
something that is appealing to the online world. I think it's very important that we let her image and be with the confines of what is truthful and not tell a lie because we're trying to get cheap popularity or make quick money. But what you find is when people brand themselves to be experts, they actually get what they're looking for. They get clients, they get clouds, they get all of these things.
00:12:18
Speaker
But it works on the short term, because on the long term, when we go behind the veil, when we go behind the clouds, when we go behind the hype, we actually see that there's nothing really of value there. And again, this is not to shade anyone, really. It's just to share my thoughts around these things and also to get us thinking about where we're getting information from.
00:12:41
Speaker
So we go behind these scenes and we see that there's really no value here. It's all just noise. So to wrap up this reset of our conversation, I think it's important that as young people, instead of spending time trying to build a castle on top of a foundation that is not set,
00:13:01
Speaker
It's important that we spend that time building our value, building our competency, such that on a long-term episode, and we're not running on the high of cheap clouds, quick publicity, and nothing at the end of the day. I think it's also important that I mention here that it's not just individuals that do these things. Even corporations these days are trying to be competitive and set themselves apart from other companies
00:13:29
Speaker
by claiming spurious things that they are not doing.
Corporate Claims and Authenticity
00:13:34
Speaker
So because there's been a lot of importance and value around ESG and diversity and inclusion, it seems cool for companies to say that that's what they are doing. They are doing things in regards to diversity and inclusion. There's a company that cares about gender equality and we promote women the same way we promote men.
00:13:52
Speaker
promote people from minority ethnic groups the same way we promote people from you know majority ethnic groups and it's just a lot of words and nothing a lot of words and nothing so it's important that also as a job candidate as somebody who is interested in a company
00:14:09
Speaker
So look beyond the worst that you're seeing online and actually have conversations with the people that are walking in there. Do your investigation and research to see if this company is what they say they have. Don't get me wrong, I think there's an element of truth in faking it till you make it. But don't fake it to a point where everything is completely fake. There's this thing that I love to see and which is a principle that I live by.
00:14:30
Speaker
I want the real deal to be better than the hype or to be at least at par with the hype. I think for me it's because I want a situation whereby when somebody meets me in person they're like oh my god you're really who you say you are online. I find that a lot of people don't you know it's under-impressive when I meet you and I'm like I cannot wrap my head around who you are
00:14:55
Speaker
in person and what I am seeing online like this seems like two different worlds so it's important as individuals we are not over inflating the competence that we have we're not over inflating who we really have because sometimes this hype can prevent us from spending the time deepening the
00:15:14
Speaker
skills and the knowledge that we have in this space that we want to be known as experts in in such a way that it's just all noise and time really tells time really is the separator of who is making noise and who is not because with time we can see where the value is so it's very important that for us as young people
00:15:35
Speaker
we are spending that time deepening our competence. And we are not spuriously claiming to be experts in fields that we have no business in. So right now, I'd like to move on to the final bit of this conversation, which I think is the most important bit on how we can distill between noise and competence and just really knowing where we should be consuming information from and from whom we should even be consuming the information from.
00:16:05
Speaker
So the first thing I think is very important is as individuals, we need to have a high standard for our consumption of information. So have a standard set for yourself on where you're consuming information. TikTok is great. TikTok has helped a lot of people, but there are just certain things like when it comes to finance, when it comes to parents, when it comes to certain things, I will listen to TikTok for maybe entertainment.
00:16:32
Speaker
But if I really want to live by the principles, I need to think and go behind what is being said and see if that person actually has the credibility to say the things that they are saying. Because these days, anybody can take a ring light, anybody can start a podcast and talk about things that interest them. But we don't have to always listen to everything. Not everything that is being said by everyone is gospel. So we have to have a high standard of for ourselves,
00:16:59
Speaker
on where and from whom we're consuming information from.
00:17:03
Speaker
You can learn a lot from Instagram, you can learn a lot from TikTok, you can learn a lot from LinkedIn. But it's important that you do your research and really look at, there are certain things, for instance, if you're teaching me how to DIY, I mean, that doesn't need any training in any way, doesn't need any expertise, if you just have that level of creativity and you're showing me something, I will do it. But there are just certain topics and certain matters that just requires that depth and that knowledge that you cannot just,
00:17:31
Speaker
taking and soaking every information that has been thrown at you. So it's important that you go behind the scenes to look at where is the speaker coming
The True Value of Competence Over Time
00:17:40
Speaker
from? Does he have the training? Does he have the experience? So those two things that I mentioned at the beginning, we always have to go and reference it and ask those questions. Does he or does she have this training? Does he or does she have this experience?
00:17:54
Speaker
to speak on this topic. Is that credibility there? The second thing is to be circumspect about the credibility of the person that you're getting the information from, which again, I think just references the thing that I said about, you know, is this person a noisemaker? Is this person trying to ride on the wave of something? Or does this person actually have that background, that experience, and that exposure to the topic that they are talking about?
00:18:18
Speaker
So I will not come out today and tell you that, or I want to start talking about how to be a great parent. Because first of all, I don't have a child. I'm not working in any space that has anything to do with children. So I'm just not the person you should listen to when it comes to that kind of topic. And this even brings me to a personal example.
00:18:40
Speaker
My friend wanted to invite me for a program at University of Lagos and I was told to talk about how as a young person who is a student
00:18:50
Speaker
how you can view side also when you're at university. And I said, I love to talk to young people, but truthfully, I am not the best person to be able to speak on this topic because when I was in university, I didn't do anything side also related. I was living on mommy and daddy's money, period. And so I just, I'm not the person to speak about these things.
00:19:11
Speaker
If I'm going to speak about this, it will require me to go online, do some kind of research, and just talk about it based on the information that I've gotten online. But I like to speak on things that I have direct exposure and experience to. So that for me was just an example of me staying true to myself.
00:19:30
Speaker
I knew that that event was going to give me the publicity that I want or going to put me in front of the audience, young people that I do care about. But I'm not going to do that to the detriment of what I believe, my personal principle of building credibility and being a competent person to speak on certain topics. I wouldn't do that. And so that was just a personal example of a time where I was presented with speaking on something that
00:19:57
Speaker
I just didn't have any business with and I was true to saying, it's not me. I can find someone that can be able to give advice on this, but I'm just not the one. One other thing is likes and followers does not automatically translate to credibility.
00:20:16
Speaker
The fact that somebody is having a lot of likes on Instagram or LinkedIn or has a lot of followers doesn't mean that they have the credibility to be able to speak on certain things. And this is not to discredit anyone who has spent time giving followers or whatever, but this is for you as a receiver, for you as a consumer to be able to distill and discern between what should be heard and what shouldn't be heard.
00:20:42
Speaker
I like to say this, yeah, this is not an insult. Likes and followers does not equate to sense. In fact, I have all of these likes and followers. It doesn't mean I am sensible. Because at the end of the day, the algorithm can favor a particular person who is writing about a particular topic. But it does not automatically mean that because they have these likes and followers, then it should be the person that I should be listening to on this given topic. Still go back to what I said in the beginning of
00:21:11
Speaker
doing your research, doing your own discernment on whether this person has the training, has the expertise to speak about these things that he is saying. And finally, it's important that we should understand that building competence is not something that you do in a rush. It's not something that one day I have learned about personal finance and it means that, oh, I have to speak on this topic. It's something that comes with a progressive, active, and deliberate development in yourself. I'll give an example of myself.
00:21:41
Speaker
I enjoy everything that has to do with people and organization. How can organizations be effective? How can people effectively contribute to the development of an organization? How can they be better trained and better skilled to be able to contribute to the organization? And what value can they also take from the organization that will build their own professional portfolio? Those are things that I enjoy. I'm not just going to wake up one day and say, okay, because I like this thing, then it means I will go ahead and do it.
00:22:11
Speaker
Got in my CIP certification, which is certification for people development professional within the UK. I'm also currently taking a part time master's program in organizational psychology. I have been reading books and continue to develop myself in this space.
00:22:25
Speaker
such that I have this credibility that I've been talking about from the beginning. So as much as I would like to be seen as a person within this space, I also want to view that expertise that would then make me a person of record within this space. So guys,
00:22:43
Speaker
View competence and also decipher and distill the information that you're receiving, who is sharing that information with you. Is it noise? Is it empty barrel? Or is it actual value that you should be paying attention to? Welcome to my tech talk. And like I said, I just wanted to rant on this podcast. I also wanted to expose the proliferation of these things that I've been seeing on Instagram and LinkedIn.
00:23:11
Speaker
and also share with you as young people how I am learning to discern and distill between noise and value. Please like, share, and comment if you're able to on Instagram. Share this particular episode with your friends. I think they will love it, and they will love you for sharing this with them. And I'll see you in the next episode. Bye.