As a kid growing up I remember being in constant awe of the experts around me. After all, who isn’t an expert to a 10 year old? The school nurse who knows Tums will fix a bellyache (and just about everything else) — she’s definitely an expert! The neighbor who shows you that an Alka-Seltzer tablet can bring down a seagull — a chemistry genius! And countless adults preaching their theories of life on how the world works and what it takes for you to succeed.

Then I grew up. I realized most people are just a collection of random thoughts and skills that don’t really add up to much, or as Malcolm Gladwell put it “experience heavy and theory light.”

Now 10 years into my professional career, I find myself in constant contact with people who deem themselves experts but don’t seem to possess much expertise at all. The word “expert” is thrown around so freely as if the only qualification was to have gotten enough proof-of-purchase barcodes off the side of their Fruit Loops boxes. So what does it actually take to be considered an expert in a particular field? Surely no fresh college grad can be an expert on day 1 of the job, but what does it take to get there?

Most are quick to qualify their expertise by the amount of money they’ve made, the size (or name) of the company they work for, or by quickly dismissing others opinions. Most experts will also claim to rely on their gut to make decisions, but most are taking shots in the dark. A real expert’s gut comes from experience. My gut instinct when I come face to face with a bear is to run. I learned that somewhere along the way. If no one ever told me that bears kill people, my gut would’ve been to snuggle that 1,000 pound couch potato.

I had an interview with a tech company some years back and remember being offended when they told me if offered the job, I’d be paid a low base salary and given a bonus on my performance. I thought “How dare they! Don’t they trust my expertise?!?” But the truth is, they don’t need to. If I was a true expert, my experience would have translated into results and I would have been compensated appropriately.

The big problem with these so called “experts” is that their misinformation spreads and dilutes everyone else’s expertise. If only there was a way to credential these people and verify whether or not you should even be listening.

I’m going to start labeling experts as people that meet the following criteria that I’ve so humbly titled “The Guiding Laws of an Expert”:

The Guiding Laws of an Expert

1) Be puzzled by conventional wisdom.

Steven Levitt conducted a study in his book “Freakonomics” on the conventional wisdom that a backyard pool is safer than having a gun in the house. While most parents would choose the pool, his study concluded that children are 100x more likely to drown in a backyard pool than they are to die playing with a gun. The obvious isn’t always so obvious.

2) Understand the past and present of your industry.

Nothing kills credibility faster than ignorance. Get the name of the 1st US President wrong in a room of historians, and it no longer matters if the rest of the words coming out of your mouth are pure genius.

3) Conduct your own research and experiments that result in conclusive answers.

Collecting other peoples theories are fine, but an expert should be someone who can share something new. I’m talking about real experiments. If you’re marketing toys and you’ve asked your 2 little brothers which toy they like best, that does not constitute a focus group.

4) Have a well-documented track record of success.

Research is a must, but an expert has to connect the dots. If your studies don’t lead to more accurate predictions, you don’t get the title.