Interview with Curt Mandell: Coaching, Consulting and the Challenge of Expertise
A recorded interview is offered that was conducted by Dr. Kevin Weitz and Dr. William Bergquist with Curt Mandell (a noted organizational coach and consultant) This interview concerns the challenges to be found in the 21st Century workplace regarding the role to be played by experts and the manner in which their expertise is received.
A Crisis in The Rejection of Expert Knowledge
We are living through a period in our history where people are dying (as a result of the Covid pandemic), many of whom could be saved if they followed the advice of medical experts and followed some fairly simple techniques and practices. But, while we may think this is a problem manifested by the pandemic, it is not – the problem of distrusting experts has a long history and numerous causes. This backdrop also has implications for coaching and consultants of all kinds (leadership/executive, life coaching and even sports coaching), where coaches and consultants are often considered experts, or at least deeply experienced. Experts are fallible, and laypeople are often mis-informed or in some cases (as I describe later) blatantly ignorant on certain topics they may weigh in on. Our society (and interactions in the business coaching and consulting world) requires rules and guidelines for more constructive engagement between experts and laypeople.
We hope that you find insight and perhaps some guidance in these essays—as you (and the rest of our world) face the crisis of expertise. We continue in the next issue of The Future of Coaching to explore the nature of this crisis and offer some more suggestions regarding how best to “dance” with the changing nature and dynamics of expertise.
Kevin Weitz, Psy.D.
Guest Editor
William Bergquist, Ph.D.
Editor
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