When the Experts are just Plain Wrong

whether they are a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief (I had to do that:)). Seriously, we all look to the experts for sage and sound advice. In business and our personal lives, we trust them to help us see more deeply into whatever situation we're facing.

What happens when the experts are wrong?

We retain business experts to help us learn about new markets and situations. We rely on them to fill in our gaps, to add their in-depth knowledge to our business planning. We seek out those with demonstrated success and longevity in a specific market, who have the hands on experience to help us succeed.

But what if these experts are stuck in their own status quo thinking? What if they can't see the future, the changes, the evolution that's happening in their own field of expertise? What if their expertise is jaded (and diminished) by the 'way they've always done it'?

We have to take responsibility for our own destiny.

I'm speaking from my own experience here. These past few weeks I have been working with an 'expert' in a particular field of new interest for my own business. I hired a person whom I thought was the best. Great experience, lots of references from close associates. I was so excited!

Almost from the beginning of our work together I had the strong belief that my expert's recommendations were out of sync with my focus. Did I listen to my own internal warning system? Nope. I kept changing my approach, my plan, my thinking to follow his guidance. I stuffed my own knowing into the closet and followed the experts' advice.

Your intuition can be stronger than the best expert around!

I found myself feeling less and less excited about the work. I started to dread focusing on this aspect of my business. I was grumpy and confused. The more advice I received from my expert, the more lost I felt.

Last week I sat down and took a strong look at what was happening around this project. Here's what I found:

My core focus had shifted so much I didn't recognize the work anymore. Neither did my friends, who I approached for their thoughts. My audience had shifted as well - suddenly I was focused on a whole different group. The work had been diluted to the point that I cringed as I reviewed it.

I'd been transformed into this 'expert's' version of me.

I lost myself in the process. Wow. I dug a little deeper and realized that this expert did know his stuff. Problem is that his experience and focus was in a different niche of his broad market than the one I wanted to address. We were (and are) out of sync. Needless to say - we've gone our separate ways and I'm now digging out to find the original core of my ideas.

I've learned a valuable lesson. Thanks to this experience - the core ideas are returning even stronger. Not because of what the expert told me to do. His advice sent me off in the wrong direction for what I intended to accomplish. Now I'm taking what I've learned from my friends and mentors about this new area -and filtering what is right for me, my goals and my work. My ideas and my commitment are stronger than ever - because I'm trusting my intuition and my own expertise to know what's right for me.

Don't dismiss your own knowing, no matter what the experts say.