Experts can see things that other people cannot.
We established in the previous section that a top priority for a subject matter expert is to establish trust. Immediately thereafter it is to define a common vision. Seeing what your customer needs and then helping them obtain that desired future is the mark of a truly exceptional and valuable SME.
Many years ago, I worked as a programmer at a large software development company. I worked with some exceptionally talented technical people. One day I entered a colleague’s office and found three programmers huddled around a computer monitor.
On the screen was the hex dump of a program they were working on. (For those not familiar, a hex dump is a hexadecimal representation of computer memory. Here is a hex dump of my name, Alan Berrey: 416c616e20426572726579)
The senior programmer was pointing at the screen filled with the hex dump and translating the code into English in his mind, saying, “Move A2 to A1. Compare A1 to A3. Jump to . . . ” Then he stopped suddenly. “Wait! There it is!” He pointed at a code on a screen that looked like 84C2. “That pointer is wrong!”
I quickly realized that this senior programmer could see something that I could not. He could view hexadecimal code, translate it into English, and traverse the program in his mind. This is a unique and, in the right circumstances, useful skill.
Vision, it turns out, is a universal attribute of expertise. Experts see things that other people do not see. This is not to say that experts have superior visual acuity. They see the same things as everyone else, but they have superior perception of what they see.
Take for example the radiologist at a hospital. This person is trained to recognize features in images that are not obvious to the rest of us. The radiologist sees things that we do not see. Not because the image that the radiologist is looking at is any different than the one we are looking at, but because the radiologist is able to apply refined judgment.
It is proven that expert tennis players see a serve differently from the average tennis hobbyist. Chess masters see a game arrangement differently than average players. Expert painters see art differently than average observers.
So, SMEs should routinely ask themselves, “Given what I see, what do I perceive or know about this situation? And, given that perception, how will people be better as a consequence of working with me? How will their future improve?
Expert vision is what your audience needs from you and your expert vision should include three things:
In this section we’ll cover many of the ideas that SMEs will use to capitalize on their unique vision and convey their vision to customers and colleagues in compelling ways.
