EXPERT VS. PROFESSIONAL: Expertise Vs. Certificate

It is good to separate a professional from an expert.

A professional is a person with some “badge” from some authority. The “badge” might be a certificate, a diploma, or anything that certifies—i.e., ensures people around—that a person has the knowledge and skill to reach specific endpoints. “Certify” and “certainty” grow from the same root. Thus, we have professional accountants, physicians, lawyers, engineers, etc. Yet, having the “badge” does not make an expert.

Expertise comes from a different direction—from the repeatable reaching of endpoints.

And we can have professionals who are not experts and experts who do not care about getting the badge. There are curious stories of how people without diplomas won cases and successfully cured people. The largest group will be expert professionals. 

What would we prefer when we need work done? Usually, an expert. Are there situations when a professional-not-an-expert will do? Yes, when the endpoint is to certify something using her “badge.”

{EXPERT, EXPERT FUNNEL, CRAPPY JOINT, COMMON SENSE, FAIL FORWARD}